Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 2, Number 6, 1 June 1985 — Firm Steps Taken [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Firm Steps Taken

By Hayden Burgess Oahu Trustee

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has taken firm and positive steps toward leadership for the Hawaiian people in three recent actions: • Oppose the land swap between the Departments of Hawaiian Home Lands, Land and Natural Resources and Transportation (DHHL, DLNR, DOT).

• Reaffirm the Law of the Splintered Paddle. • Call for a moratorium on further evictions of homeless people on public beaches. Space does not allow the printing of the full text of these actions. I have used this eolumn to reprint only the first page of OHA's letter asking the Department of the Interior to disapprove the !and exchange. The surest way to kill off indigenous people is to separate them from their lands. We see that going on continually. I am writing to you on behalf of the Board of T rustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) to formally request the U.S. Department of Interior disapprove the land exchange between the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) and the other departments of the State of Hawaii. We adamantly oppose this land exchange. Through many statewide public hearings, forums, and demonstrations, we have seen a great and still growing number of Hawaiians saying: "Land is the seat of spirituality for many of us. It is the provider of food, clothing, and shelters; the refreshing spring from whieh our culture is revived. Land is the torch of hope for our children. To decrease our land base for dollars is not to be tolerated." Press release announcing strike on airports. Whether or not the DHHL or the Governor agrees with this approach to land is not at issue. What is at issue is whether or not we Hawaiians, beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Homes Land Trust, have the moral right to control this trust according to our vision for our children. Or is the Governor, through his appointed commissioners, to impose his idea of what is good or bad for the Hawaiian peopie and dictate the transfer of lands for us? In certain countries, the government treats the indigeneous people as wards of the state, never reaching the age of majority, therefore, never able to decide their own destiny, never able to control their own assets. That practice whieh detracts from the dignity rightly accorded all human beings should not be repeated here.