Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 2, Number 5, 1 Mei 1985 — Voice Concern for ʻAina [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Voice Concern for ʻAina

By Moanikeala Akaka Trustee, Hawaii

We know we have paid mueh attention these p>ast months to the unfair land exchange at Hilo, Waimea and Molokai for Shafter Flats on Oahu. We have done this because we feel it is important the Hawaiian people understand how this bad precedent impacts upon native Hawaiians statewide. Remember! There are

almost 9,000 families on the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands waiting list. Some have waited for land 10, 20, 30 and even more years. Many have waited to their dying day and are no longer here. DHHL commissioners have ignored a major recommendation of the Federal/State Land Task Force that placement of families on the aina not income-producing be a priority for DHHL. They are mandated to look out for the Hawaiian people. In the airport land exchange, DHHL Executive Director Georgiana Padeken and commissioners have shown they are nothing but rubber stamps for the governor in trying to pull of another fast one over the Hawaiians.

Many Hawaiians are forced to go on welfare while remaining strangers in ourown home land. Welfare has been paying the same rent allowanee the past two years without any increase. Where in paradise have rents remained static in the last 10 years? Enough is enough! We Hawaiians can't afford any more ripoffs. A successful public demonstration in the spirit of peaee and aloha was held at all airports on the Big Island as well as at Honolulu International Airport on Kuhio Day Mar. 26. There were hundreds of concerned and caring Hawaiians and supporters, including many kupuna, who are disturbed over this DHHL action whieh Miss Padeken, her commissioners and the state are trying to force upon us native Hawaiians.

That's the problem when Hawaiians lose contact with the aina, its value and its importance to our people. They become coconuts and money becomes their God. (i.e. like an oreo eookie whieh is what black people eall their own black sel!out.) In a related matter on the aina, we ask your support of the Keaukaha-Panaewa Farmers Association whieh is seeking kala to support an appeal for the Hilo Airport court case.

President Ron Keawekane said: "lf every Hawaiian gives a dollar or whatever amount, we would have the desperately needed expenses for legal services." One of the big problems in our Hawaiian community is the laek of resources for legal services. This is why your kokua is needed. Send donations to Keaukaha-Panaewa Farmers Association Airport Suit Fund, 6% Railroad Avenue, A-6, Hilo 96720. Receipts are availabie for tax deductions. This is a very important issue because no one is looking out for the best interest of the native Hawaiian in this court case. We wou!d also like to advise the Hawaiian people that the Ad Hoe Land Exchange Committee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs met a few weeks ago. We'd like you to know, too, that it took four months for approval of this committee. This hangup existed because the OHA chairman favors the land exchange and further investigate the situation.

At the first meeting, Chairman Louis Hao and member trustees Rodney Burgess, Hayden Burgess, Moses Keale and this writer, voted unanimously to send a letter to the Department of the Interior stating we were "adamantly against" the land exchange. OHA's Resource Development Committee the following day voted 6-0 as being against the exchange. Hao also chairs this committee from whieh the ad hoe eommittee stemmed. (Unele Tommy Kaulukukui joined the vote of the five ad hoe committee members taken the day before. They also requested funds for statewide education on this matter.)

Six trustees have so far taken an officiat position on this question of land exchange. Chairman Joseph Kealoha has stated he will die before he goes against DHHL and Georgiana Padeken. As OHA chairman, he is negligent and holds back justice for our people. Let the OHA office and Joe Kealoha know that you care about our peoples' problems and that it is OHA's responsibility to advocate for justice. Tell them, too, that you are against this unfair land exchange. Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono. Malama pono!