Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 3, Number 3, 1 March 1986 — Reparation or Hoʻoponopono [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Reparation or Hoʻoponopono

By Hayden Burgess Trustee, Oahu

Whieh dispute-resolving method is appropriate to us? Reparations is a one way street. The U.S. decides if they wronged us: They decide how badly; they decide what to do about it. And having decided, the case is closed with a few dollars to the natives. Its the same old treatment we've received under U.S. domination since

the theft of 1893. "The thief sits in judgement of himself!" Ho'oponopono is a two way street. We and the U.S. enter equally, approaching a third, impartial and independent party, to determine the wrong, the extent, and the appropriate remedy. We are accorded the full respect we deserve. The solution agreeable; the forgiveness complete. Reparations will never be the final answer to U.S. criminality in Hawaii. At most, it is a temporary, incomplete solution, fashioned by the U.S. to serve its interest. I say we should be treated as equals in this process.

My critics scream: "How ean you say you're equal; Hawaiians have no nation! Where's your leader, your exclusive territory, your government institutions, your soldiers, citizens and all those other things nations have?" I say: "How ean the U.S. deny us our nationhood when the U.S. is the very cause of the destruction of those characteristics of a nation. The U.S. is estopped from asserting that argument as a defense. Rather, the assertion actually becomes an admission of the extent of the injury, whieh injury

derives from U.S. criminality." The criminal ean not seek escape from the fact that he has committed such a total crime that he succeeds in stopping the victim from gaining entry into the forum. Otherwise, the criminal not only escapes; he profits in proportion to his crime. Thats nonsense.

Oommon sense demands that the victim be accorded all the rights and dignity he had been entitled to at the time of the crime. Hawaii, at this time of the U.S. invasion, was a sovereign and independent nation, entitled to all the rights and dignity accorded any other nation, including the U.S. It must be accorded that equal status in the present search for Ameriean redemption through justice for Hawaii. Otherwise, the exercise is a farce. I hereby give notice to the U.S., any reparations legislation will not constitute the final resolve of your crime to Hawaii.