Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 9, 1 September 2005 — Native Hawaiians: a thousand points of light [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Native Hawaiians: a thousand points of light

Editor's note: This month. Trustee Haunani Apoliona shares her eolumn space with her former ai.de, Kēhaulani. Lum. As I marched from 'Iolani Palaee to Mauna'ala in August, in the wake of a federal appeals court ruling regarding Kamehameha Schools, I was stmck by the memory of fonner President George Bush and his vision of a "thousand points of light." Sixteen years ago, in his inaugural address, the father of our current president uttered these words: "No President, no government, ean teach us to remember what is best in what we are ... The old solution, the old way, was to think that public money alone could end these problems. But we have leamed that is not so. And, in any case, our funds are low . . . We have more than wallet; but will is what we need ... I am speaking of a new engagement in the lives of others; a new activism, hands-on and involved, that gets the job done . . . We must bring in the generations, harnessing the unused talent of the elderly and the unfocused energy of the young. For not only leadership is passed from generation to generation, but so is stewardship ... I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the eommunity organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good

. . . The old ideas are new again because they are not old, they are timeless: Duty, sacrifice, commitment, and a patriotism that finds its expression in taking part and pitching in." There we were, 15,000 points of light, mindful of our duty, willing to make a sacrifice, committed to the freedom of mind and purpose that our beloved Princess Pauahi envisioned. Harnessing the talents of the old, focusing the energy of the young, passing from one generation to the next a cultural understanding of stewardship, our kuleana, just as we have done for over 100 years. Pauahi, through the willing of her land to a perpetual endowment to improve the capability and well-being of her people, was not a single point of light; she was an entire galaxy. Here was a woman of independent means, practicing the ideal of civic engagement, freely giving her most valued possessions to address Hawai'i's most serious social problems of her day: The extreme educational and socio-economic deficiencies faced by Native Hawaiians. Pauahi's legacy continues today not only on the campuses of Kamehameha Schools, but through the organization's unparalleled sharing of knowledge and resources with the larger Hawai'i eommunity. Through loeal development initiatives, support of service and service-

learning efforts, and collaborations with the University of Hawai'i, the Department of Education, conversion charter schools and organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the Princess' ideal is extending its reach beyond her own lands and people. In America today, the movement labeled "conservative" champions this very spirit: The development of policies and practices based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom. It is founded on the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, not deny it. It espouses the ideal of a compassionate society in whieh individuals, with support, ean pull themselves up by their own initiative, as long as government does not interfere. It believes that organizations based in faith, empowered by the people, and steeped in traditional practices hold the key to a better world. And, here we are, Native Hawaiians, six generations of Pauahi's beneficiaries, thriving by cultural values that pre-date the U.S. Constitution by 1,000 years and struggling to rise, with the aid of many, through our own initiative. By the foresight of Queen Enuna, Prince Kūhiō, Queen Lili'uokalani, King Lunalilo, Princess Pauahi and, even Republican President Grover Cleveland, we have means. By our kūpuna, we have purpose. By our children, we have kuleana.

Like their ancestors before them, the work of neo-colonialists who are not of this land obscures and obstructs. They elaim a society free of color, but ignore the gross socio-economic disparities that exist for people whose pigment is not white and whose gender is not male. They instill fear in non-Hawaiians by projecting a return of their own prior worst practices, rather than the inclusiveness of our ali'i. These children of merchants and mercenaries, cultured to change by gunpoint, not by aloha, will never define where we eome from, who we are and what we will become. They may bring with them new diseases that threaten our well-being, but we are stronger than their forefathers found us, and in freedom and recognition we will find our cure. Perhaps the hero of conservative ideologists, Ronald Reagan, said it best: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was onee like in the United States where men were free." 10/48

Haunani Apoliona, MSW

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Trustee , At-large