Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, 1 January 1988 Edition 02 — Hoʻolako Viewed as Exciting [ARTICLE]

Hoʻolako Viewed as Exciting

By Deborah Lee Ward, Assistant Editor Ka Wai Ola O OHA With a renewed sense of pride in our Hawaiian heritage and with a positive outlook for the future, the Hawaiian community and its supporters eelebrate the official conclusion of Ho'olako 1987: The Year of the Hawaiian with today's celebration of Ho'olokahi — Hawaiian Unity Day.

In this regard, Ka Wai Ola O OHA prevailed upon Ho'olako President and Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Thomas K. (Unele Tommy) Kaulukukui Sr. to share some of his thoughts on The Year of the Hawaiian. It was Kaulukukui who eonceived the idea of a year dedicated to the Hawaiian. He was also the guiding force in its yearlong celebration. Here are some of the observations made by Kaulukukui:

"Ho'olako 1987 was an exciting success. It focused the state as a whole on our Hawaiian heritage. I think we have drawn people's attention to the contributions of Hawaiians today and in the past. Even the State of California recognized this by declaring 1987 as the Year of the Hawaiian. "Why did we do this? It was our goal to change the Hawaiian image from negative to positive, to have people — Hawaiians and Hawaiians-at-heart— get lots of positive things done. Some say we should have a decade to solve our problems. But we were not trying to solve (all) our problems in one year. "To answer the question of 'Now what?' Ho'o-

lako: We are enriched eah eonhnue with a new name. Many other things ean be enriched in 19881989. People should look and say 'We did this . . . now let us tackle something else.'" Kaulukukui was asked: "Where are we going?" His reply:

"We are entering a period of Ho'alahou or reawakening. Hawaiians were never dead as a people; only asleep. I now think Ho'olako Year of the Hawaiian was a eall for eaeh one of us to awaken. "Bringing t he year to a conclusion at this Ho'olokahi celebration is also a beginning for us. It is our reawakening as a Hawaiian people through the values of 'Aina (land), Ha'aheo (pride) and Lokahi (unity). Ho'alahou!"