Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 9, 1 September 1997 — Con-Con good [ARTICLE]

Con-Con good

I believe the Hawaiian community should vote YES for a Con-Con in the event that Judge Ezra's ruling stands. I understand the position that OFLA and other Hawaiian groups have taken against the Con-Con. Yet I cannot help but draw a parallel with the Native Hawaiian Vote, whieh I understood to be a step forward. Are we prepared to marshall the energies and resources required for rebuilding our culture and legal status as a Hawaiian nation, where the opportunity presents itself in the form of a Con-Con? I believe we need to unify around a eommon purpose as a people. We need a state Con-Con as a venue for the formation of a Hawaiian court, an "interim court of appeals" based on the original and subsequent Hawaiian constitutions and the Hawai'i Revised Statutes. Such a construct pulls two legal histories together and allows for a just and peaceful transition. We could regroup under the leadership of a Hawaiian court-appoint-ed organization and proceed with the election of Hawaiian delegates to a Hawaiian Constitutional Convention. I have admired those who have taken a pro-active approach to Hawaiian rights and to reform. Why not take this mana'o to the Con-Con? Run as delegates and change the laws. Noa Napoleon Honolulu