Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 11, 1 November 1989 — Tourism conference and self determination [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Tourism conference and self determination

By Moanikeala Akaka Trustee, Hawai'i

I must admit that in the past I have not been a supporter of any organized church, for I have had difficulty with Christianity. After all, look at what some of the missionaries and their decendants have done in devastating and denigrating our people and 'aina. However, I

applaud the Hawai'i Council of Churches and the World Council for its conference held several months ago on tourism and its impact on Hawaiians. It is encouraging to see the churches dealwith, and take part in, honest analyses of the problems as well as causes and effects, impacts and many social and physical consequences created by tourism in these Hawaiian islands. Finally, churches are becoming active in shedding light on problems that must be addressed. The consequences, otherwise, could turn these islands into a hot-bed of social unrest. This we must all work to avoid. A caste system of haves and have-nots is being perpetuated in these islandswith the proliferation of service industry minimum-wage dead-end jobs, many of whieh are in tourism and ean in no way compete with the high cost of living in these Island. And what about housing for these service-industry employees — non-existent! The so-called affordable housing the state and county have been promising us is a hoax. Affordable to whom? Workers from Hilo leave home before dawn to drive or bus three hours to their job at Hyatt, Waikoloa. They return home after dark exhausted from their long day and have barely any time for their 'ohana. It's eat, sleep and prepare to get up and leave for work before dawn the next day. Even if they're making $7 an hour they are not compensated for their travel time or bus fare. These workers should have truly affordable housing near their employment. Only a few workers at the Mauna Lani, South Kohala Resort, utilize their so-called employee's affordable housing because "no ean afford!" Tourism and its resort developments have helped to destroy our 'aina and coastal fishing grounds (whieh are now ciguatera-contaminated at West Hawai'i and other places) and environmental balanee. As a recent example: those horrendous rains on O'ahu the first week of October caused flooding near Honokai Hale and the West Beach development now under construction (according to TV news). The flooding was so bad it caused the highway to be closed for hours and people were stranded, unable to get home to Wai'anae and Nanakuli. I was told the Ko OHna-West Beach development that has been progressing these past few years (with its extensive grading and destruc-

tion of historic sites) is responsible for the bad flooding conditions during that particular storm. The question is will this happen again, next big rain in that area? Our ancestors knew how to live in balance and in tune with the 'aina; when you exploit the 'aina nature will show you who's boss. It is unfortunate that those thousands of Wai'anae-Nanakuli residents had to be stranded on that flooded highway, waiting to get home pauhana, that rainy early October evening. Aloha 'aina is the only way. There is another subject I wanted to bring to your attention this month. Now that OHA's Blueprint for Native Claims and Entitlement has been released it should be understood that this draft document is only intended as the beginning of a process for us trustees (along with the input from you our constituents) to eome up with a equitable,

viable, reasonable, decent, fair desirable federal claims package that would begin to deal with the illegal seizure of our Hawaiian nation by the United States. Although nothing ean adequately eompensate us for that injustice to our 'aina and people, we have an opportunity to resurrect our nahonal and ethnic self-determination as Hawaiians. Part of OHA's Blueprint relates to the ehoiee for our people of sovereign self-determining entity whether it be OHA or any other. We are also extending this input process through next September. We will continue to meet with the community for workshops and to refine the Blueprint. I mentioned in previous articles that I am not only a founding member and past legislator for Ka Lahui Hawai'i but also of the Native Hawaiian Land Task Force whieh preceeded Ka Lahui. But bottom line — I am for you our people and 'aina. That means more to me than any organization or institution whether it be called OHA, Ka Lahui or whatever! We must unify; I abhor egos getting in the way of bettering our peoples' condition. It disturbs me when leadership refuses to sit down and discuss their differences. There is mueh at stake, and unless leadership and our people begin to unify, our peoples' cause for justice will be set back 15 or 20 more years. We cannot afford it as a people and nation. We know that the state and feds have been mismanaging and cheating us out of our resources all these years; resources that are desperately needed to uplift our 'ohana. We are only receiving one to two percent of the 20 percent the State actually admits they owe us. It is important that we begin to evolve into managing our own resources, we as a people have never had that opportunity.

AU over the world native people are in the process of reclaiming their rights to self-determine their destiny and manage their own resources whieh are being devastated by insensitivity and foreign exploitation. As example, in Brazil the Yanomani Indians' rainforest home is being destroyed by deforestation and polluted waters from toxic chemicals used in gold mining by foreigners. These rain forests provide oxygen globally and house a great source of plant diversity and junglepharmacology that may hold the answers to many medical ailments. It is positive that Nicaragua has solved the problems of its Mesquito natives by creating the Atlantic-Autonomous Region whieh elects its own representatives to the national eongress. These natives now have exclusive control of their region's natural resources. That is as it should be. Hundreds of years ago, before there was any U.S. of America, before there was a U.S. Constitution, and before there was a U.S. Supreme Court, our ancestors worshipped Pele. Some of us still do today. Yet the state Supreme Court refuses to recognize our religion and theology. This is a foreign — colonizers' interpretation of our Hawaiian identity. How dare they not aeknowledge the validity of our belief in the sanctity of Pele? It makes we wonder if we as Hawaiians are considered not fully human in their eyes, as if our religion whieh was here hundreds of years before theirs, is not as good as theirs. No matter what, this trustee will alwaysbe with, and for, our 'aina and people. The Hawaiian eommunity is going through a lot of changes right now. Malama pono. Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono.