Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 9, 1 September 1988 — Native Hawaiian Rights Conference Theme ls [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Native Hawaiian Rights Conference Theme ls

By Deborah Lee Ward, Acting Editor Ka Wai Ola O OHA Hawaiian sovereignty and self-determination emerged as the theme of this year's Native Hawaiian Rights Conference sponsored August 5 and 6 by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the federal Administration for Native Americans. The forum was organized for OHA by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, and was held in the Princess Ruth Ke'elikolani auditorium on the Kamehameha Schools Kapalama campus.

In a year that began with a eall for Hawaiian unity, Ho'olokahi, the conference made it clear that self-determination — the freedom of the people of a given area to choose their own political status — may be the ultimate form of unity. Achieving this will depend largely on the desire and determination of Hawaiians to pull together toward this goal. There were 300 registered participants, representing a spectrum of interests, from attorneys to activists, benevolent association members to grassroot organizers. There were also three organizations whose members have declared themselves citizens of the sovereign Hawaiian nation.

In addition to featured speakers, five panels addressed the topics of: Hawaiian homelands, the ceded lands trust, Native Hawaiian religious rights, trails and access rights, and sovereignty and selfdetermination. A sixth panel on water rights was canceled due to laek of time. Part of the reason for this as the two-day event stretched into three over the weekend was because impromptu speakers wrestled time on the agenda away from scheduled participants. Mahealani Ing, executive director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, said in her opening remarks that the conference held a message of hope for the destiny of the Hawaiian people. Citing statistics on Hawaiian disease and mortality, welfare enrollment and imprisonment, she said the system hasn't served Hawaiians very well. Yet she encouraged Hawaiians not to be hostile to it but instead to look for other creative alternatives to deal with these problems.

Although most conference participants advocated some form of outright sovereignty for Native Hawaiians, Bishop Estate trustee and former Chief Justice William Richardson took a more moderate view. In his speech of greeting, Richardson said that although some might disagree, he feels we must accept the fact that we live under a system of laws whieh have replaced the traditional ways of our ancestors. "In order to preserve our people, culture, and lands, we must take an active role in this system."

By doing so, Richardson said, Hawaiians have won formal legal recognition of many traditional customs, practices and rights including acceptance of some of Hawaii's ancient land laws. In addition, the courts now allow the testimony of "kama'aina witnesses" in land boundary cases and recognize access and gathering rights. The courts, he said, have ruled that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands must administer the Hawaiian Homes trust solely in the interest of the native Hawaiian beneficiaries. Richardson said there have been both victories and disappointments in the legislative process but that overall "the legal system has resulted in

increased benefits to our people . . . While there may be risks in taking part in the legal system, there are even greater risks in not participating at all." As part of the first panel on Hawaiian homelands, Ilima Piianaia, headofthe Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) and chair of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, said DHHL is beginning a three-year acceleration program to process the department's waiting list of up to 18,000 applications. The program is funded by an unprecedented $9.5 million appropriation from the Legislature.

The major comrhitment is to improve the 2100 lots that are currently unimproved, statewide. Piianaia said "We need to start moving land so that those who do have a lot (ean get on it). For those who haven't received a lease . . . we need to start that too." Piianaia also said the department has developed a strategic management plan to identify all projects that need to be done. "We are designating lots, constructing roads, spending an unprecedented amount of money. This needs to be told," she stressed.

Panelist Alan Murakami, a staff attorney with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, traced the history of the Hawaiian Homes Act, and told of his frustrating experiences advocating for Hawaiians. He said that hope for improving the situation for Hawaiians, many of whom have waited for decades or died before receiving their lots, depends on whether the Hawaiian Homes Commission fulfills what he called its five duties: * To act solely in the interests of native Hawaiian beneficiaries; * To make trust property productive for beneficiaries, and not allow land to sit idle; * To hold and protect trust property for beneficiaries, and not exchange away land; * To adhere to trust terms of the Hawaiian Homes Act, and not allow permissive temporary uses; and

* To account for land and resources and resettlement programs. Also on the panel to share their experiences were six members of the Waimanalo Beach 'Ohana who were evicted from Hawaiian Home Land at the beach park, rancher Sonny Kaniho, Pele Hanoa of the Punalu'u Preservation and Culture Committee, and OHA trustee Rodney Kealiimahiai Burgess III, member of the FederalState Task Force on Hawaiian Homelands. The experiences of other native peoples in seeking self-determination — Native Amenean Indians, Maoris, South Pacific Islanders — were shared by other invited speakers. American Indian attorney John E. Eehohawk, a member of the

Pawnee tribe and executive director of the Native American Rights Fund, addressed the gatheringin a very sober yet charismatic address whieh testified to his involvement in a legal struggle of almost 30 years by Native American Indians, in whieh "advances nothing short of remarkable" were achieved. He believes that Hawaiians are now where Indians were in the 1960s. At that time they faced a great sense of powerlessness, the effects of federal termination of tribal govemments, the selling of tribal lands. What turned things around was the civil rights movement of the 1960s whieh showed people they could stand up against what they believed was wrong.

Indians began to educate themselves on the legal and political process, and today there are about 500 Indian attomeys, he said. These lawyers and Indian rights activists leamed about Indian tribal laws and about sovereignty and selfgovemment. They leamed about native legal rights and how to challenge the Federal government. Their priorities were: sovereignty, natural resources, and human rights. Yet Eehohawk says, they had to encourage their reluctant elders to sue the govemment to protect their trust rights. "In this country that is the way to do things," said Eehohawk, adding that this process of empowerment has made a tremendous difference in the future of Native American people.

They re not laughing anymore. He noted wryly that "They laughed when the first claims were filed. They're not laughing anymore." Native people have a natural right to manage their own affairs, Echohawkmaintained. While not all problems were solved ovemight— they still face unemployment, health and other problems — he said, "We proved we ean run our own affairs, and are determined to do it . . . Better our mistakes than theirs. Our people are leaming and getting strong."

In the early 1970s when Hawaiian activism was in its nativity, appeals were made to NARF for

Mahealani lng

John E. Eehohawk

A sparse, but attentive audience in the Princess Ruth Ke'elikolani Auditorium of the Kamehameha Schools campus listens to panelists during the three-day Native Hawaiian Rights Conference.