Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 4, 1 Mei 1984 — Addressing Blood Quantum [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Addressing Blood Quantum

By Moses K. Keale Sr. Trustee, Kaua'i and Ni'ihau

In our appearance last month betore Sen. Spark M. Matsunaga and the U.S. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, we discussed two resolutions dealing with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. One of them urges the Congress to review the implementation for recommendations adopted by thejoint FederalState Task Force on Hawaiian Home Lands in I983 and to initiate breach of trust or other appropriate legal action for non-eomplianee by the State or the U.S. Department of the Interior. The other dealt with urging Congress to establish a single definition of native Hawaiian without reference to a blood quantum, and to provide appropriate protections to guarantee the rights and privileges of current Hawaiian Home Lands beneficiaries. This latter reso!ution deals with a sensitive and emotional issue that has been avoided for years, continuing to be a sharp and painful wedge between Hawaiians as only a decision made by non-Hawaiians on behalf of Hawaiians ean be. I recall that only recently a kupuna wahine in Kalapana spoke bitterly against the blood quantum, angry and hurt her grandchildren might be eonsidered any less Hawaiian than herself. I could only assure her that OHA trustees stood firmly beside VoIume II of the Native Hawaiians Study Commission report and would continue to advocate for change. We submitted for the Congressional

Kecord tour documents as examples ot what we homesteaders face in light of the blood quantum and what more and more of us refuse to tolerate any longer. Hawaiians are a people who establish their bloodlines as a matter of tradition. pride and a sense of permanence as a race. We need to be connected to one another in all respects. The four exhibits, in essence. tells the all too sad tales of survivors with less than 50 percent Hawaiian that they cannot succeed to the land. Kauai Attorney Miehael R. Salling perhaps best relates the tragedy behind this issue of blood quantum when he spoke before the Hawaiian Homes Commission on May 26, 1983, on behalf of a client. He eloquently expressed the frustration felt by many when he said: "One of the tragedies of the present system is that it often pits family against family and Hawaiian against Hawaiian. This is not the intent of the act. The act was intended to put Hawaiians on the land, not throw them off. This commission should be dedicated to carrying out Kuhio's intentions, not to a meehanieal application ,of the Attorney General's opinions." We need to have the blood quantum issue re-analyzed and redefined. We have had 60 years of experimentations and its time to admit it has been !ess than successful. Protect present beneficiaries and applicants through guarantees of rights and privileges, and we urge Congress to establish a single definition of Hawaiian just as our founding fathers originally desired it.