Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 10, 1 December 1984 — Commentary [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Commentary

Land Question Arouses Hawaiian Community

By Leroy Akamine, President The Kamehameha Schools Alumni Association

F.ditor's !Note: The following address was delivered at an O'ahu Community Workshop on I.easehold Issues sponsored hy The Kamehameha Sehools/ Bishop Estate Nov. 3 at the schools' Kalama l)ining Hall. Because of the value

contained in the message. Ka Wai Ola ishappy to print it in its entiretv. Ano'ai ke aloha kakou, ena pua o Pauahi, noho'ana i ka poli pumehana o na momi o ka moana nui. Aloha mai. e na pua o Kamehameha, ke ali'i nui o ka lahui, Hawaii. Aloha mai. As Hawaiians, we are faced today with a ruthless assault against the only realistic hope that our Hawaiian children have for a better future. Now, more than ever, our Hawaiian people must unite firmly together to defend our rights as a people. Gathered here today, we are the living warriors of Kamehameha. As a people. we are now engaged in a battle for our very survival. Over the past two centuries we have steadil\ and methodicallv had our land, culture. rights, sovereignty and identity stripped away from us. Post contact Hawaiian history clearly illustrates the progressive corrosion of our rights as the indigenous people of these islands. From the beginning, others have brought grief to our people and destruction to our homeland. Lhe missionary children were destined to become the controlling eeonomie force in these islands. Their sugar and pineapple plantations prospered and their increasing depcndence on the Amenean markets e\entually led to the illegal military-backed o\erthrow of the legitimate Hawaiian naiion and the subsequent anne.\ation o( Hawaii to the United States of Amenea. Today. a minority in our ow n homeland, thecurrent social, eeonomie and political conditions of native Ha\vaiians is a hleak picture of extremes. We have lost our political power, the majority of our lands. our self sufficiency, mueh of our culture, religion and heakh. However. in the despair of the past two centuries of Hawaiian history. there has been a glowing source ot hope for the dying and disparaging Hawaiian race. That hope is The Kamehameha Schools/ Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate. With intuition and foresight, Princess Pauahi, fearing that her people were becoming strangers in their own land, and determined to insure that the Hawaiian people would have a ehanee to compete in this changing world, established a land trust to be used in perpctuity for the education of Hawaiian children. The last will and testament of our wise and generous Princess reads ". . . /,gnr, ilcvi.se aml hequeaih all o/ ilie re.si, resiihte ami remainder of my estate real anil personal. . . . to erect anel mainiain . . . schools . . . io he known as. am/ ealleel The Kamehameha Schools ..." But Kamehameha is more than just a school. In coping with life within a Hawaii that grows less and less Hawaiian, many of our people have reacted by denying or rejecting their Hawaiian-ness. Yet at Kamehameha, this ugly trend of self denial and negative self perception is reversed. Kamehameha provides a rebuilding of cultural and personal self-esteem, reinforcing a positive self-image for Hawaiian children that e.xtends into adulthood. The greatest lesson taught at Kamehameha is that being Hawaiian is something to be proud of. not ashamed of, and that the eulture of our people is rich and beautiful. This alone, sets Kamehameha apart as an educational institution. Moreover, high quality education combined with cultural reinforcement at Kamehameha preparesgraduates to eope with modern society, while feeling good about being Hawaiian. Our Hawaiian people have learned a hard and bitter lesson over the years. And now the time has eome when we must look toward our own betterment and ourown futures. because no one else will. The fact is, the State of Hawaii has been consistently unable to fulfill the unique educational needs of native Hawaiians. Yet, education is the key to our futures and to change. The Kamehameha Schools and the Bishop Estate exist to address the educational needs of our people and ultimately, to improve the quality of life for native Hawaiians. For this reason alone, we must fight together to assure that this land trust be kept intact.

The late Frank E. Midkiff, a mueh admired and respected trustee of the Bishop Estate, presented testimony in 1959 to theTerritorial Legislature on behalf of The Kamehameha Schools and the Bishop Estate saying, "The Bishop Estate Trustees have a special responsibility. They must follow the direction of Princess Pauahi, who in her will directed that the trustees shouk I not sell her land but keep it and manage it, unless the sale is needed to build new school buildings or is "for the best interest"of the estate. They must develop these lands to their highest use, and educateas many as possible of the boys and girls of Hawaii." The Kamehameha Schools/ Bishop Estate is eontinually seeking new ways to expand and to touch the lives of more and more Hawaiian children. As Hawaiians, we all have a stake in the future of The Kamehameha Schools and the Bishop Estate and we must pull together to overcome this Land Reform Act whieh poses a direct threat to the future of our ehildren. Growing and learning, The Kamehameha Schools and Bishop Estate continues to move forward towards a goal mandated by Princess Pauahi herself, and perhaps one day soon Kamehameha will have the capacity to educate every Hawaiian child. Separate from the State Department of Education, our children will be taught in a Hawaiian way by Hawaiian teachers or teachers with Hawaiian hearts. This is my vision that 1 share withyou today. This isthe ultimate goal. However. if the Land Reform Act is not amended. it will be difficult for Kamehameha to grow while our land trust is being nibbled away by leasehold

to fee simple conversions. We, the Hawaiian people, ean make far better use of Princess Pauahi's lands by retaining them, as she intended, and utilizing their revenues towards the education of our children, rather than being forced to sell them below market value. To do otherwise would violate the final wish of our Princess, who in her wisdom knew that the hope of our people lay in the education of our children. As Hawaiians, only we ean determine the path more beneficial to ourselves and to our descendants. Only we ean determine our own destiny. Our future as a people, as a race, is being threatened. There is no other way to look at it. The Hawaii Land Reform Act amounts to nothing less than yet another thinly veiled theft of Hawaiian land. As Hawaiians, it is our responsibility to ensure that the coming generations of Hawaiian children receive the God-given right to whieh they are entitled— the right to an education that will improve the quality of their lives. We are not asking for anything that does not rightfully belong to our people. Our cause is just and united and we must win this fight. 1 ask eaeh and everyone of you today to search within your hearts and to make a personal commitment to work toamend the Hawaii Land Reform Act. It is my sincere wish that we leave here toda\ united in thought and spirit. Imua i ka lanakila, e na pua mae'ole o Pauahi. Mahalo nui loa.