Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 9, 1 Kepakemapa 1991 — Hawaiian sovereignty [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiian sovereignty

by Louis Hao Trustee, Moloka'i

Aloha mai. Friday, Aug. 9, I met Andrew Berard for the first time, a Native Hawaiian who had just arrived in Honolulu from California for a meeting with the Association Hawaiian Civic Clubs.

He asked me if I thought sovereignty for Hawaiians will become a reality. I said yes. But whether Hawaiians will exercise absolute sovereignty over our lands and waters is a question whieh ean on!y begin to be answered through educational programs and workshops on the subject. To me sovereignty begins with the individual. I believe eaeh of us achieves our own sovereignty by our cultural upbringing as we Hawaiians know who we are and where we are going. We need to center ourselves as individuals and as a nation, one "na'au" together. When we are together, we are sovereign. Mueh has been said about sovereignty over the past several years, and mueh more will be discussed about the issues and concerns of sovereignty in the coming decade. The result will likely unite the Hawaiian people into a eommon cause and bond us in addressing the needs of our people, such as health care, housing, education, eeonomie development, land issues, cultural concerns and, of course, self-governance. We ean at least agree for now that we Hawaiians were onee a proud and sovereign nation, that we had our own laws and spiritual beliefs. We had independence. We ean also agree that we were self-sufficient as we maintained a land base, a populahon structure and a form of government to rule over our lands and govern our people. The practices of conservation and preservation were evident in order to maintain a large population base estimated in excess of 300,000 Hawaiians. For the most part, we ean also agree that religion and big business helped alter adversely

our independence as a nation. For 100 years the Hawaiians have been governed by the United States of America and we have become the poorest in health, lowest in wealth, the most devastated in populahon decline, the highest in dependency of agency assistance, and Hawaiians comprise the majority of inmates at O'ahu prison. Studies also show that we have the shortest life expectancy and the highest rate of death from cancer, heart disease and diabetes of any ethnic group in the entire United States. We also have the most school dropouts and underachievers. For 100 years the Hawaiians have managed to survive despte the changes of our culture, the loss of our land base and governance of our people. In fact, since the overthrow of Queen Lili'uokalani in 1893 with the help of the United States military, our lives have deteriorated. It is now a foregone conclusion that the United States of America was embarking on becoming a world power. Hawai'i with its magnificent Pearl Harbor was the highest and best strategic command over the Pacific region. The United States was not so mueh interested in the Hawaiian people but to broaden its world supremacy and power. To me, the worst has passed. Now is the time to heal wounds, but mindful of the injustices that we were subjected to. We were like "opala" looking from the bottom of the barrel. Now comes 1993, after 100 years, a great opportunity for us to embark on our journey toward the next 100 years. We must have a Hawaiian constitutional convention representing all Hawaiians. They will work out a proper and just constitution expressing the mana'o of Hawaiians. The ehoiee of voting for a sovereignty model acceptable by the majority. While we direct our efforts to this endeavor, we must gain the respect and support of all ethnic groups and minorities here in Hawai'i and throughout the world. The fight for self governance is not merely single voices or loud rhetoric from individual Hawaiian groups. It requires sound planning and vision, and foremost the cooperation of all Hawaiians. Now is the time for us to take our rightful plaee in our own land. Aloha.