Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 10, 1 October 2003 — As the ancient ʻōlelo noʻeau directs, it is time for action [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

As the ancient ʻōlelo noʻeau directs, it is time for action

"Pua na wiliwili, nanahu ka manō" When the wiliwili blooms, the shark bites. (It is time for aeūon.) Editor's note: This month as Trustee Apoliona is away on business in Washington, D.C., she has given her eolumn space to Kēhaulani Lum who served as her trustee aide in 1992. Kēhaulani is a member of the 0'Sullivan - Lum 'ohana. Kēhaulani Lum My great-great-grandmoth-er resisted change. A native of Hawai'i island, Waiehu disregarded modern ways. She collected the family's drinking water from a neighboring stream. She cooked meals over a charcoal fire. And, when her son-in-law installed electricity in her North

Hilo home, she preferred her lantern and wouldn't touch a switch. I never met Waiehu. She died before I was conceived. But, her spirit survives in our family lore and guides us in astonishing ways. Most recently, her heroism emerged in the discovery of the Hui Aloha 'Āina Anti-Annexation Petitions of 1897 to 1898. Her signature, bold and crisp, leaves no question of her position, nor of the mandate in her wake. Waiehu wanted independence, but we have yet to deliver her wish. Instead, we struggle daily with the what, who and whieh. What is the appropriate course? Who is the worthy leader? Whieh process do we embrace? Eaeh path has its plaee, its weaknesses and its strengths. But, whatever our preference in the ongoing debate, a fact remains that we cannot escape: In the fiercest assault on our existence that we have seen in our day, silence is suicide in masquerade. Today, the forces of avarice, bigotry, and fear are parading as civil liberty, mueh as they did 110 years ago when they took the

"Provisional" name. In expensive legal briefs and sophisticated puhlie relations campaigns, they eall Hawaiian culture unworthy of aeelaim and say that the efforts of the Congress and at least six U.S. presidents to address our condition discriminate against them on the basis of race. They say they love us, want only fairness, but they offer no relief. Some dream of calling themselves "Hawaiian," and even ape native ways, as though being is simply a matter of doing, and not genealogy. (Does the fact that I majored in French make me a French person?) As of Rice, they have tasted our blood and want more of it. Very soon, the Akaka-Reid-Stevens bill will be considered in Congress. Some love it. Some despise it. And, some just plain aren't sure. Is the bill perfect? No. Will it heal our nation? Not alone. But, with the world community ironically focused on weapons of mass destruction, global terrorism, and eeonomie crises, is there a more immediate way? For our descendants to be free

and independent, we must leave them resources on whieh to build. If our homesteads are sold, our ceded lands are transferred, our trust funds are pillaged, and our natural resources are exhausted, what good then independence? Ours has been a struggle for survival since the first foreigner swept up on our shores. Yet, our numbers are strong and our gains are tremendous. Gains that have seen a generation reared speaking in our native tongue, voyaging by tradition, and reopening ancient lo'i. Gains that have sent hundreds to schools of higher education, thousands to restoring genealogies, and tens of thousands to march in the street. We are far from healed, but we are on our way. In every Hawaiian family, there is an ancestor like mine; a Hawaiian patriot who loved our country and had the courage to speak. I know they are with us today. For tomorrow's nation, we must take the battlefield today. Shall we be heroes, or shall we cower away? 35/48 m

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Haunani Apoliona, MSW Trustee, At-large