Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 4, 1 April 1997 — Bill to limit gathering rights drummed away during Hawaiian protest vigil at Capitol [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]
Bill to limit gathering rights drummed away during Hawaiian protest vigil at Capitol
By Kelli Meskin Hundreds of hula dancers and Hawaiian cultural practitioners eame together last month at the State Capitol to kill Senate Bill 8, whieh would restrict native Hawaiian gathering rights. Leading kumu hula have organized under the name 'īlio'ulaokalani, to maintain a watchdog stance on legislation affecting Hawaiian rights. Legislators attempted to present SB8 as a means to "clarify" native Hawaiian rights on private land to developers, landowners, and title companies. The bill
required Hawaiians to prove their ancestry, specify where they want access and why, then apply for a permit to do so. This process was seen by Hawaiians as a violation of their rights. Attorney Alan Murakami of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation says the bill actually put the burden on Hawaiians to show they are entitled to that right. "You've got to fight for 'rights' you've always had," Murakami said. "Essentially we had never intended for there to be any kind of denial of
f native Hawaiian rights," said Carl Takamura, executive director of the Hawai'i Business Roundtable. The | main eoneem was for those with land interests to i clarify the Public Access Shoreline Hawai'i (PASH) court decision. | "How mueh do we have to give up before we can.maintain our culture?" kumu hula Pua Kanahele asked Senators Mālama Solomon and Randall Iwase, co-chairs of the key Senate Water, Land and Hawaiian Affairs committee, at last month's 24-hour protest vigil. Hālau hula chanted and played their pahu (drums) in resounding opposition throughout the
rotunda. "It hits us in our na'au, gut, because it will kill our culture, destroy our 'āina and it will destroy our resources," Kumu Hula Victoria Holt Takamine said at the vigil. "By the time we know about these bills it's too late and so we must resolve to (kill) measures like this," Kanahele said. In the final hours of the vigil the group chanted "kill the bill" over and over again, convincing Solomon and Iwase to tear up the bill in a symbolic gesture, and promise to eall the bill back to their commitee to kill it. "We pulled it back because there was too mueh emotion and too mueh anger," Iwase said. He told the crowd that day "We are not here to hurt anyone, we are not here to take away rights." For 'īho'ulaokalani the vigil was successful. "It happened because we were educated about it, and we expressed ourselves through our culture" said Maui kumu hula Hōkūlani Holt-Padilla. Generalization of Kohanaiki (PASH) decision However, landowners, developers and title eompanies are still unclear about what rights native Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians have on private land, developed and undeveloped land and whether or not such rights extend outside a practitioner's current 'ahupua'a of residence. "The PASH decision left a lot of things ambiguous and that was causing problems," Takamura said. "This case laid the groundwork for how to analyze the situation...you can't extend it blindly to every situation." Murakami explained. Land owners, title insurance companies and
money lenders feel there needs to be some kind of security measure. Harrilynn Kameenui, assistant legal eouneil for Title Guarantee of Hawai'i, says the firm would like to know what is a valid right and where it is exercised, when and by whom. Title Guarantee of Hawai'i researches parcels for possibilities of native rights being practiced. "It has been an issue a Iong time, as people become aware of the implications of the PASH decision they are being more cautious," said James Mee, a lawyer with Ashford and Wriston, Attorneys-at-Law. "When we look at maps and documentation it's difficult to determine if rights are being exercised and if it's vahd to be exercised on a certain parcel." Kameenui said. "For us, I think the problem is acceptance by lending institutions," she added, "maybe they )ust have to lend less money." "IP s noteworthy that the banks weren't there (at the legislative hearing) to testify," Murakami said. Rolann H.P. Regidor, assistant vice president at Hawai'i National Bank says that the bank has never encountered a situtation where it's had to pull back money it was going to lend because of native Hawaiian rights encumberances in title insurance. Lorraine Aoki of First Hawaiian Bank says, "This is starting to be a growing eoneem. We ourselves are not too familiar with this issue." Title Guarantee is meeting with different lenders to explain the encumbrance in title insurance and address these areas of eoneem. continued on next page
The pahu beat throughthe capitol sounding the message of Hawaiian practitioners. Senate Bill 8 whieh would have limited gathering rights was killed. The pahu reverberations will linger.
Drums through the Capitol
continued from previous page The next steps Since Senate Bill 8 appears to have been killed for this session, "The hope is that during the interim the interested parties would get together and discuss the issue and find a resolution and recommendations to put into a bill," Iwase said. There should be a process for landowner and practitioner where they ean mediate," Sen. Iwase said. However, 'Hio'ulaokalani member victoria Holt Takamine notes, "Passing a law doesn't open a discussion. They were not interested in our opinion." OHA Trustee-elect Hannah Springer says a cultural impact statement, if required under law, would inform developers and title companies of what to expect in certain areas depending on the history and resources of those places. Mee somewhat agreed that a cultural impact statement might be helpful. "It depends on who does it and what the input is," he said. "It's our responsibility under our constitution to preserve and protect native Hawaiian practices, and to uphold all other areas that apply to people, such as property rights," Iwase said. Springer expressed eoneem that the problem escalated to this point because no criteria or procedures for the protection of native Hawaiian rights were ever deveIoped. "The rights are not new. The Kohanaiki decision reaffirms both constitutional, statutory and administrative guarantees for protocol ( or protection?) of those rights whieh have regularly been either marginalized or ignored. The decision draws our attention back to the protection accorded these rigths." Springer said. "SB8 was a start, it caused everyone to focus on an issue," Iwase said. "If we do not leam from this issue, how to deal with western law and Hawaiian proper-
ty rights, this issue will not go away," īlio'ulaokalani says their focus has gone beyond the issue of land access and gathering rights, they are looking at everything that affects the Hawaiian culture. "Maka'ala," to be alert and watchful, is their motto to be aware of all culturally related issues.
The Kohanaiki (PASH) Decision found: ; • The responsibilities of the state to protect native Hawaiian rights may not be limited to practicing traditions in their ahupua'a, but on all undeveloped land. it is up to the state to decide what "fully developed" lands are. •i i • All Hawaiians have these rights, and non-Hawaiian practictioners might have the right to practice these rights also, because these practices were not held only by race, but culture. • The state is responsible to allow for cultural and traditional practices to be conducted and preserved.
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Left, a hula dancer adds her message to the vigil.
Sen. Randy lwase, left and Sen. Mālama Solomon, (face hidden), the co-chairs of the Senate Committee on Water, Land & Hawaiian Affairs discuss Senate Bill 8 with Leina'ala Kalama Heine, kumu hula, ]
Drummers encircle the Capitol floor mosaic.
Calling for justice: chanters and their pahu