Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 1, 1 January 2009 — A letter to Lingle [ARTICLE]

A letter to Lingle

Gov. Linda Lingle needs to rethink her decision to sell our land for the siniple reason that she does not own the land she intends to sell. As our elected official she is in authority to hold the land in trust for our future generations, period. The idea that the State of Hawai'i owns land to be sold is neither true nor just. When native lands are recognized for their value, it has been the policy of the U.S. government to find ways to relocate and even sterilize the natives who live on those lands. The useless treaties and failed programs are hundreds of years in the making. Why should Hawaiians still suffer the results of those actions done by those Americans who commandeered the lands of Hawai'i, especially since they are still trying for the sovereignty by law that was onee theirs by right? If we consider that the Hawaiian culture has been oppressed continually from the start of the occupation of the Anierican government, it becomes difficult to try to talk about justice in tenns of land use. Gov. Lingle, we should not sell our host culture's land and you should work harder to bring about the fair and just use of those lands for the benefit of our Hawaiian people now and for the tinies ahead. MarkJeffers Hanapēpē. Kaua'i

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