Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 5, 1 Mei 1997 — Sacredness of kiʻi lāʻ au recognized [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Sacredness of kiʻi lāʻ au recognized

I ka manawa o ka mahina Iki iki ke, moani nei nā pua kea i kekaha nei Ka mapu ulei i wili pū 'ia me ke 'ala o ka walahe'e a he'e i ke kuaola o Hikuhia Ua piha ka hōnua me ka waiwai o Ho'ōilo Ua hō'ike a maka ka lau nahele i kēia waiwai I ke kai malino 'ana ua ui au ..., e pehea kou 'āina aloha a pau ma waho o na kai 'ewalu?

In this time ofIkiiki, the whūe flowers scent the Kaha lands The fragrance of ulei and walahe'e slip across the mountains flanks. The earth is full from the richness ofthe winter.

Their greenery reveals those riches. As the seas become smooth I wonder about your home lands across them. How goes it wūh you? I Our strength and fortitude as a people are manifest in diverse and creative ways. And as our homeland is full from the winter's rains, recent weeks have revealed the scope and range of the spirit of the people. As 'īlio'ulaokalani eame to be and was expressed, teachers and students, practitioners and patrons, mostly native born and many from distant shores, gathered and were vigilant together. Soon there after, three of us who gathered with 'īho'ulaokalani at the State Capitol at Honolulu, Linda Delaney, Kunani Nihipali, and I, representing Hui Mālama i Nā Kūpuna o Hawai'i Nei and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, traveled to Norman, Oklahoma to join with a eolleague, Jack Trope. Our focus was the ki'i lā'au of whieh you may have read in previous issues of this paper. Our intent was to facilitate its return to Hawai'i nei. The teachers and seers and supporters who prepared us for our journey did their jobs well. Our strength of purpose, the focus of our wills, the tenderness of our hearts, and our humor served us also as we met

with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act Review Committee to hear the rebuttal of the City of Providence, Rhode Island to our previous presentation before the Review Committee. By phone, the City of Providence presented expert testimony from anthropologists William Davenport and Adrienne Kaeppler as well as from Rubellite Johnson and Herb Kane of Hawai'i. None of the four presented as practitioners of Hawaiian religion. During our response time, we too took to the phone and were joined by Lilikalā Kame'eleihiwa and Pualani Kanahele. Both presented as practition-

ers of Hawaiian religion. Jonathan Haas of the committee questioned eaeh testifier well, and meticulously setting the foundation of this critical question in the Act, asked if the ki'i lā'au was sacred. The four presenting for the City of Providence answer, "No." The two presenting for Hui Mālama i Nā Kūpuna o Hawai'i and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs answered, "Yes." The testimonies heard previously coupled with the answers to that critical question caused the committee to recognize the sacredness of the ki'i lā'au. This was done in the form of a formal determination whieh will be entered into the Congressional Record along with recommendation that the ki'i lā'au be returned home. The Committee was unable, based upon the facts presented to it, to make a determination regarding "right of possession," and so was silent on the matter. The City of Providence has already initiated a lawsuit over the right of possession, and is our hope that they will withdraw the complaint following these meetings before the NAGPRA Review Committee. Should they not withdraw, Hui Mālama i Nā Kūpuna o Hawai'i Nei and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are prepared to meet that challenge. This preparation has already begun. The OHA Board of Trustees has reviewed the work previously done and reported on in this paper. The Board has considered the precedent whieh may be set in this matter and is committed to follow through. Both of these exercises, one enacted on home ground clearly surrounded by our teachers and fellow students and the ancestors as well, and the other, enacted far from home across unfamiliar mountain masses and waterways with our prayers to surround us, were collaborative exercises founded in respectfulness and aloha.

The City of Providence has already ■ ' • • m • m *f initiated a law suit over the right of possession. r

Trustee, Hawai'i Island