Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 10, 1 October 2008 — KANAKA KULEANA: POWER AT THE POLLS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

KANAKA KULEANA: POWER AT THE POLLS

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Many messages this eleehon season are telling Native Hawaiians not to stay home on Nov. 4. In a TV puhlie service announcement of his own design, ultimate fighting ehamp BI Penn levels his unmistakably Hawaiian eyes at you, telling you to get in the polhieal ring this year. "It's your life, it's your Hawai'i," he jabs. Along roadsides, sign wavers proclaim "Native Hawaiian Votes Count," and the 2006 "No Vote, No Grumble" voter registration drive is working the Ho'olaule'a circuit. One explanation for so mueh Hawaiian-focused sloganeering is that just over 50 percent of Hawai'i's general electorate turned out in the last two presidential elections, a lackluster showing widely interpreted as a "whatevahs" response of citizens 8,000 miles from the nation's polhieal power center. A comparison of voter tumouts in Hawaiian Home Lands districts and more ethnically mixed urban areas suggests that the stay-at-home syndrome was statewide. But Hawaiians looking to rock the kanaka vote in '08 say the native populahon is in a better voting mood than in previous years. Their efforts, they say, are less about motivating masses of non-voters, and more about bringing focus to a surge of Hawaiian interest in electoral politics- especially at the national level. "With the Akaka Bill, there's been congressional debate on self-determination. And there is the candidacy of (Hawai'i-born) Barack Ohama, who really knows who we are. This opens the way for energizing policy issues special to us like charter schools or burial rights. Our ideas and our customs matter . . . we are struggling to maintain identity. We don't want to be lost," said Robin Danner, director of the nonprofit Oouneil for Native Hawaiian Advancement, whieh has emblazoned "Native Hawaiians Vote" on placards, bumper stickers and brochures. At a lune meeting of more than 90 Hawaiian community groups, Danner's organization formed a new nonpartisan polhieal action committee to mentor and fundraise to encourage more Native Hawaiian candidates to enter polhieal races with the aim of invigorating the general electorate. "One of the best slogans from a young Hawaiian candidate on Kaua'i is 'Bring forth new ideas from Hawaiian history.' It means politics isn't just a tool to save ourselves. We ean use it to save Hawai'i," Danner said, referring to the nahonal eeonomie crisis and its worsening loeal effects. Some Hawaiian leaders say they have been engaged for decades in trying to increase kanaka access to better housing, jobs, healthcare and education - but they haven't sought change by casting ballots. "Hawaiians have been the strongest advocates for many issues only now emerging on the radar screens of the general electorate, such as sound approach to environmental resources and questioning military behavior ... issues that go back nearly 40 years to the struggle to save Kaho 'olawe, to preserve Waikāne-Waiāhole water rights and even to Vietnam War protests," said lon Osorio, a University of Hawai'i professor of Hawaiian studies. But he believes if the activism hasn't noticeably translated into a Hawaiian participation in electoral politics, the reason is not voter apathy but antipathy, even outright distrust of the American two-party system. OHA Trustee Walter Heen said he encountered this sentiment when he served as the Hawai'i Democratic Party ehainnan from 1998 to 2001: "It goes backto the (Hawaiian Kingdom) overthrow. There are Native Hawaiians who don't consider themselves citizens of the U.S.," he said. "You ean adhere to the principle that the overthrow and everything that eame after was illegal, but you must fight it on its tenns rather than standing on the sidehnes and calling everything wrong." New research suggests that Native Hawaiians shy away from the fight for cultural reasons. A just-released study tracked Native Hawaiians' perceptions of well-being and found that eolleetive or conununity action got higher scores than individual status and achievement. To Hamihon McCubbin, a Native Hawaiian and professor at UH's School of Social Work, where the study was conducted, this indicates "there is something about politics that stirs the proverbial 'crab in the bucket' response of many islander cultures, because it's an individual pursuit that could jeopardize one's small social network including 'ohana." But McCubbin is among many who say the "Ohama 'ohana" turnout for February's Democratic caucus marks a sea change in Hawaiian support for a presidential candidate. Figures from the Hawai'i Democratic party show that Ohama beat Hillary Clinton with 76

percent of the state's registered Democrats' votes, and he was the clear favorite in Hawaiian communities, whieh reported not only phenomenal turnout but up to 300 percent increases in the number of people who joined the Democratic party in order to vote on Super Tuesday. In heavily Hawaiian District 13 on Moloka'i, Annette Pauole-Ahakuelo, a Democratic Party precinct official, describes long waits to get to the ballot boxes, but she said the crowd showed aloha by forming "special kūpuna lines" and sharing food from home. "We prepared, because we knew Hawaiians were excited about Barack. He is like many of us in Hawai'i, raised by grandparents from single-family homes, sheltered from discrimination until we ran up against it on the mainland, but truly remarkable in his ability to overcome obstacles, so he knows he is blessed," said Pauole-Ahakuelo. Hawaiian attraction to Ohama is predicated on more than his non-white racial heritage and his Hawai'i roots, said Trustee Heen, who noted that Obama's visit to his ancestral homeland of Kenya allowed the Illinois Senator to develop compassion for the suffering of people in a fonnerly colonized Third World nation. Also, popular with many Hawaiians is Obama's support for the Akaka Bill - intended as a vehicle for federal recognition of a Native Hawaiian government. Obama's stance is spelled out in the Democratic national platform, whieh in August also adopted reconunendations to increase funding for federal Native Hawaiian programs and support for traditional Native Hawaiian gathering and cultural practices - a greater nod to Native Hawaiians than contained in the nahonal Republican platfonn, whieh devoted a sentence to reconnnending support for federal programs for Native Americans and Native Hawaiians. No mention was made of the Akaka Bill, but GOP presidential candidate lohn McCain has stated his opposition to it. For that matter, so have some Hawaiians like grassroots organizer Ikaika Hussey. "Under the Akaka Bill, Hawaiians would still be a colony within a country," said Hussey. But Hussey will not vote for McCain. "Ohama has a vision for fundamental change in the way the U.S. government relates to its own citizens . . . in whieh independence is possible. America's current eeonomie problems are a sign that times are already changing and the era of American domination is over. The question is: will we heeome a nation of equals or will we continue to try to dominate

others with a war that lohn McCain supports?" he asks. Loeal Republicans would like Native Hawaiians to consider that Sen. McCain represents Arizona - home to a large Native Indian populahon and has experience as chairman of the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Connnittee. Most of all, they emphasize the actions of Republican Gov. Linda Lingle and her administration. "In the six years that she has been in office, more Hawaiian Home Lands leases have been awarded than in the entire previous nearly four decades during whieh Hawai'i was under the control of a Democratic governor," said Willes Lee, ehainnan of the Hawai'i Republican Party. In addition, Lee said that Hawai'i Democrats named no Native Hawaiian issues in their 2006 loeal platform, while loeal Republicans had in their platfonn a recommendation that Native Hawaiians "by a popular vote" detennine their poliīieal future. "One party has talked about the change for Native Hawaiians, while the other has done it," said Lee. Democratic stalwarts, including OHA Trustee Heen, concede that Lingle made "a personal ehoiee" to help the Hawaiian conununity by attempting with her attorney general to settle cededland claims and by lobbying for the strongly Democrat-backed Akaka Bill among Republicans in Washington, D.C. But Democratic praise for Lingle is tempered by Congress' failure to pass the Akaka Bill, whieh leaves Native Hawaiian programs vulnerable to continuing court challenges. Willes maintains that Lingle could parlay her cordial relationship with McCain into swaying him to reconsider his Akaka Bill opposition. On the nahonal level, however, Republicans are the party of less government regulation and more support for big business, said Tom Coffman, noted author of three books on Hawai'i politics. "For Native Hawaiians, the more sympathetic environment is the Democratic Party, because of its record on civil rights, labor and its commitment to opening the door to equal opportunity for all minorities," said Coffman. But Coffman has also written extensively about how Hawaiian polhieal loyalties in history arose not from identifying with either conservative or liberal ideologies but from trying to survive as an intact indigenous culture. "Prince Kūhiō (originally a Democrat) forged an allianee with the Republican oligarchy as a coping mechanism for his people. He knew them as the wealthy landowners. They had the means to give jobs to Hawaiians, who were becoming

increasingly urbanized. In the process, Kūhiō got Washington to pass the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act," said Coffman. Coffman said that shortly after World War II the Hawaiian connnunity was inspired by the example of Iapanese-Americans finding social justice, eeonomie advancement and polhieal clout through their support of the state's Democratic Party. A eoalhion of ethnicities - including Hawaiians, helped Democrats gain control of the governor's mansion for 40 years. But Coffman said that Hawaiians also saw that the advancement eame with the cost of assimilation - a dream for many of the state's inunigrant groups, but not necessarily the goal of an indigenous people. By the 1990s, kumu-hula-turned-political-activist Vicky Holt Takamine said Hawaiians were not empowered through either the long-entrenched loeal Democratic Party nor the Republican minority. When the 1998 state Legislature was about to approve a measure hostile to Native Hawaiian gathering rights, she organized other cultural leaders to be at the forefront of massive protest rallies at the state Capitol rotunda. She said lawmakers were utterly surprised at the strong opposition. "The fact that they did not foresee that we would not stand (for this measure), showed they did not see further than their own noses." Out of frustration that Hawaiians weren't being heard by policy-makers, Holt Takamine launched the Aloha 'Āina party, whieh fielded two candidates in the 2000 loeal elections. The party has not lasted, but the aim to have more Hawaiians represent Hawaiian issues has been taken up by Ikaika Hussey, who recently founded the pro-Hawaiian Independence party known as MANA. OHA Trustee Heen cautions that the key to Hawaiians getting elected is "discussing issues important to the whole conununity," not only to Hawaiians. "You'll notice that Ohama has not dwelt on his African heritage; he is trying to represent all Americans," said Heen. It's easy to make the case that special Hawaiian interests just won't have weight at the federal level. Full-blooded Hawaiians comprise nine percent of the state's populahon; part-Hawaiians make up 19 percent. For any state resident, it's discouraging that Hawai'i ultimately contributes four of 538 votes to the overall Electoral College. "And even if Barack wins the presidential eleehon, we are sobered by the fact that he ean do little to make changes sought by Hawaiians and his other strong supporters such as ending the Iraq war," said Ikaika Hussey, citing the influenee of Washington lobbyists on nahonal policy. Despite this, Osorio, the Hawaiian studies professor, says Hawaiians have occasionally unified into a voting bloc and accounted for a candidate's margin of victory such as with U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka's defeat of Ed Case in the 2006 primary. Osorio also said Hawaiians made a difference in the 2004 Honolulu mayor's race by rallying against Duke Bainum's stand on the issue of leasehold-land conversion and giving Mufi Hannemann his winning edge. "Like other ethnic groups, we are diverse; though when we split, it is usually along class lines, with a minority of wealthy Hawaiians identifying with Republicans," said Osorio. Tom Coffman echos sentiments of many Hawaiians in saying that the modern-day rallying point for Hawaiians is not a discreet issue but the overall struggle for self-determination. "Nothing else has gotten Hawaiians progressively more focused," he said, adding that Congress' debate on the Akaka Bill is being closely watched by American

Indians and indigenous peoples around the world and as a litmus test of the federal government's willingness to give parity to their own groups. Coffman's conunents eeho those on the voter bandwagon, convinced that Hawaiian issues have larger than ever ramifications in

2008. And, on the other hand, suddenly global

issues like the worsening Enaneial crisis, transportation and fuel costs are especially threatening to the prosperity of an island state with an economy dependent on tourism. "These are scary times and it's not because of a foreign threat. The scary part is what's going on at home," said Moloka'i's Annette Pauole-Ahakuelo. "All that money being spent on a war and we are putting up with everyday losses from bad healthcare, rising gas prices - things that affect everyone but really seem to affect Native Hawaiians the most. But we shouldn't be afraid. We just need to protect our future by voting." E3

Find out where the presidential candidates stand on issues that affect you and your family by visiting on the following websites: OBAMA MCCAIN > dnc.org > rnc.org > barackobama.com > johnmccain.com > hawaiidemocrats.org > gophawaii.com lndependent policy analysis: > npr.org > americanprogress.org > brookings.edu

I Democratsin heavily Hawaiian Moloka'i eame out in big numbeison Super Tuesday caucus night in February to support Barack Obama. -Photo: Courtesyof Moloka'i Dispatch

Hawaiians have a histoiy of activism on cultural issues. Pictured helow: In 1 976, Hawaiiansconveneforvigilafter filing suit in federal court to stop live fire training on Kaho'olawe. Such efforts eventually led U.S. Senator Dan lnouye to introduce legislation that successfully returned Kaho'olawe to the State of Hawai'i and led to on-going efforts to restore the island's cultural sites. - Photo: Courtesy of Ed Greevy

Photo: Courtesy ofCouncil forNative Hawaiian AHvancement ] |