Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 1, 1 January 1990 — Trusts are one aspect of the Blueprint [ARTICLE]

Trusts are one aspect of the Blueprint

Ka Wai Ola O OHA concludes, this month, a series of articles that presents answers to questions raised by the community during public information meetings conducted on the OHA draft Blueprint for Native Hawaiian Entitlements. Information meetings will continue this year to provide the Native Hawaiian community with opportunities to understand, discuss and comment on the draft Blueprint. Future articles in Ka Wai Ola O OHA will announee and report on scheduled meetings as notice is received. Any club, group or organization interested in a hosting a meeting or presentation on the draft Blueprint by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is asked to contact the Blueprint coordinator at the OHA office on O'ahu (946-2642) or any liaison office on the neighbor islands. Arrangements may be made for Hawaiian-to-English translators for people who feel more comfortable sharing their mana'o in Hawaiian. Why is Native Hawaiian defined in the draft Blueprint as someone with any amount of Hawaiian blood? Is this a way to break the Hawaiian Homes and ceded lands trusts? All Hawaiians were harmed by the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and by the loss of land and self-governance. All Hawaiians should be able to participate in this process. Many Hawaiians, both those of more than 50 percent blood and those with less than 50 percent blood, recognize that the blood quantum issue has been divisive and harmful to all Hawaiians. Moreover, federal lands that would be returned to the self-governing entity are not part of the existing trusts and are not limited by the blood quantum requirement. Finally, it should be emphasized that with regard to the Hawaiian Homes trust, the draft Blueprint provides that the rights of current beneficiaries and qualified beneficianes on the waiting list shall not be diminished What about Native Hawaiians living on the mainland? Why is OHA enrolling Hawaiians on the mainland and offering to assist them when the trust funds for Native Hawaiians should be used only for Hawaiians living in Hawaii? Native Hawaiians on the mainland will be able to participate. The draft Blueprint contemplates that

Native Hawaiians on the mainland will benefit from the moneys and resources returned to the Native Hawaiian self-governing entity and ean enroll and vote for the Native Hawaiian self-governingentity. OHA is enrolling Native Hawaiians on the mainland because they are members of the Native eommunity and should have input into these issues. OHA's mandate is to work toward bettering the conditions of all Native Hawaiians — this is without regard to where they are located. As a legal matter, there does not appear to be residency restriction placed upon the beneficiaries. Of course, to what extent Native Hawaiians on the mainland should be allowed to participate is a major decision whieh should be discussed both in Hawai'i and on the mainland. OHA welcomes your mana'o on this issue. Shouldn't the right to sue be pursued now? Why should we wait for the right to sue? The right to sue the state and federal governments for past and continuing trust breaches should be pursued now and OHA actively supports such efforts. The right to sue clause in the draft Blueprint insures the right to sue in federal court to enforce rights and resources secured pursuant to the Blueprint. How was the draft Blueprint developed? Who wrote it? Did OHA hire non-Hawaiians to write the draft Blueprint? Why didn't OHA ask for the people's mana'o before writing this draft Blueprint? A committee of the board of trustees has been working on the draft Blueprint for almost two years. Initially Professor Jon Van Dyke, attorney Melody K. MacKenzie and other attorneys at the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. were asked to draft legislation for introduction into Congress. However, after meeting with about 30 Hawaiian eommunity leaders with various viewpoints on selfgovernance and sovereignty and the OHA trustees, and consulting with OHA's counsel in Washington, D.C., they recommended that legislation not be introduced. Instead they suggested that OHA eome up with a discussion-document, such as the draft Blueprint, whieh could be discussed, commented upon, and changed to reflect the wishes of the Hawaiian community. It is true that attorneys, both Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian,

worked on the draft Blueprint, but they gave advice and technical assistance and merely helped the trustees put into words their own concepts and beliefs. The purpose of the draft Blueprint is to get the mana'o of the people — this is a discussiondocument. The draft Blueprint was also reviewed by OHA's attorneys in Washington, D.C., who have had extensive experience in native rights legislation. They gave very useful advice about the document and how Congress would view it. Is the draft Blueprint final? Has it been adopted by the OHA board of trustees? The draft Blueprint is a discussion document, it ean and will be changed to reflect the wishes of the Native Hawaiian community. It has been adopted by the OHA standing committee on Native Hawaiian Status and Entitlements but has not been considered by the full board of trustees. OHA wants to have widespread and active eommunity discussion and input on the draft Blueprint before it is considered for final action. What's the rush to get out the Blueprint? Why is OHA trying to ram this document down our throats? The time given for eommunity input into the draft Blueprint is too short. Why is it urgent that we decide on this Blueprint now since Hawaiians have waited almost 100 years for justice? The timetable for finalizing the Blueprint has been totally revised because of the views expressed by the community at the informationa! meetings held in late 1989. It is obvious that it will take mueh more time to eome out with a final Blueprint that is truly reflective of the community's views. Consequently, the trustees will not move to finalize the Blueprint without more meetings and hearings. We believe that it will take at least a year to do that. In the coming year, we anticipate amending the draft Blueprint and holding further hearings — we will be proposing amendments based on testimony given during the first round of hearings, then will take those changes out for your comments. After eaeh round of hearings, we will make additional changes. We do not know how many times we will have to make changes to the draft Blueprint, but we are committed to coming up with a document whieh truly reflects the goals and objectives of the Hawaiian community.