Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 2, 1 February 2011 — Is there life after the Akaka hill? The case for Economic Sovereignty [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Is there life after the Akaka hill? The case for Economic Sovereignty

There was no laek of trying. Certainly, there was no wavering from committing substantial resources toward

the political wayfinding that would result in congressional recognition of Hawaiians as indigenous people and an opportunity to process the notion of a Hawaiian government. What happened? The stars seemed aligned. Democrats controlled the Congress. The President is from Hawai'i. Hawai'i's Republican Governor Lingle signed on and urged every Republican in Washington

to support its passage. Congressman Abercrombie deftly ushered it through the House of Representatives, whieh passed the bill on to what should have been a formality in the U.S. Senate, where Sen. Dan Inouye sits as one of the most powerful men in the country. Hawaiians should have been planning a celebration. Instead we sit with fallen spirit wondering where we go from here. Auwē. Yet the dialogue has begun within OHA to shape a renewed strategy in pursuit of federal recognition and the vision of a government reorganization act leading to the nation of Hawai'i. As we regroup and rethink our next steps to achieve poliheal sovereignty, perhaps we should refocus the considerable resources held by the collective Hawaiian community toward a goal that doesn't require a congressional act or asking anyone's permission to achieve. Let us pursue the path of a Hawaiian future that is totally within our control to navigate. Let us turn our attention toward the notion of Eeonomie Sovereignty. We don't need poliheal sovereignty to achieve eeonomie sovereignty. If one were to tally up the lands and cash assets that are already under the direct control of the major Hawaiian institutions, that is the collective institutional weahh of the Hawaiian community, we have, at our command, a staggering eeonomie capacity. The major players are Kamehameha Schools, Queen Lili'uokalani

Trust, Queen Emma Trust and Land Company, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Then, there are millions of dollars in federal

entitlement programs that continue to accrue to the Hawaiian community. Consider the compelling picture that emerges. The collective weahh of these Hawaiian institutions includes hundreds of thousands of acres of land in fee-simple title as well as billions of dollars in cash assets. Hawaiians have emerged collectively as the single wealthiest ethnic group in the history

ot Hawai ī. Our coiiective eeonomie base is bigger than the Big Five! I wonder what might be possible if we tried to connect the institutional dots and rise to the kuleana of forging a eommon vision of a Hawaiian eeonomie future, one that serves Hawaiians in ways that would also lift the economy of the entire state in a sharing of the wealth. What would it take to assemble our institutional eeonomie leaders into a puwalu, or collective, to forge a Hawai'i nation economy? Why do we need to beg for the right to exercise nationhood? We are a nation. All we have to do is to behave and act like one. I am cautioned that flaunting our collective weahh will only fuel the fire created by those who challenge the constitutionality of and need for government-sponsored entitlement programs. But this is not a reason to not act like a nation. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy when we posture ourselves as professional victims and cling to the government-dependent models that keep us disenfranchised. Let us defend the entitlements as justice eamed in settlement of our claims for reconciliation. Meanwhile, we have tremendous capacity. We ean heeome major players in shaping Hawai'i's growth. All we have to do is laulima. Work together. The time has eome. The opportunity is here. We have but to seize it. ■

PetEr Apo TrustEE, O'ahu