Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 1, 1 January 1998 — Who said you are not Hawaiian? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Who said you are not Hawaiian?

OHA CANNOT DISOWN the less-than-50-percenters. These Hawaiians should not disregard the preferential treatment of OHA toward "Native Hawaiians" — those with at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood. I am part of the group known as Toenail Hawaiians. Impostors! Many of the paper-qualifiers (deemed bona fide Hawaiians) care not about the legacy of the vast majority of Hawaiians, who are of a lesser quantum. These alienated people are an irreplaceable source of talent in the Hawaiian

community. OHA has failed to address and define who is a Hawaiian. Soon afterOHA's constitutional ratification, whieh identified beneficiaries as "NativeHawaiians" (the 50-percent-or-mores) and "Hawaiians" (anyone who ean trace Hawaiian blood previous to 1778, even toenails), lawsuits challenged the definitions. Tmstees did not

address the issue: instead they accepted the state band-aid of diminishing matching funds to accommodate the "toe-nail-ers." This lingering denial was to make us feel whole. Another deceptive act is the refusal to declare OHA accountable under trust laws. Hee and his attomey Broder insist we are not a trust. The constitution and Hawai'i Revised Statutes say we are. A tmst abides by the "pmdent man mle" that every decision made by tmstees shall benefit the beneficiaries. A trustee is held to something stricter than the morals of a marketplace; a tmst demands not honesty alone, but the highest stan-

dard of honor. A trustee who has breached his or her duty to the trast has no right to be a tmstee. Tmst law is the law, whether recognized or not. A few powerless gate-keep-ers watch and eall trastees to task for their breaches, but remedies are wanting. Tmstees ignore their calls for openness. Read the OHA Deloitte & Touche report as evidence of blatant disregard for the law. Since 1992, the windfall reparation receipts from the state have grown to nearly $300 million, and

more is to eome. The money is being hoarded for a grand housing scheme with DHHL and again the 50-percenters benefit. The developers' take ranges from 15 to 20 percent, none of whieh the 50-percenters see. More enigmatic: OHA tmstees are elected. Today, I am assigned by the majority as the chairperson of the Budget and Finance Committee, and I strive to comply with tmst law, by auditing, collect-

ing and reporting "receipts and expenditures, and reconciling our portfolio. But tomorrow, I ean also become part of the minority and be replaced in my committee assignment, so back we are thrust into the old ways of no accounting and secrecy. The duty to account (and provide information) is a trustee's fiduciary relationship with the beneficiaries; we need the monitoring of the toe-nailers who indeed have a vested interest in OHA. If a tmstee resists accountability, it is impossible to know whether the tmstee has fulfilled his or her duties. Tmstees must be called to See BEAMER, on page 11

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BEAMER, from page 10 task for willful wrongdoing and disregard for beneficiaries. Let the 50-percenters elaim their legacy from the Homelands, but they must not pretend to be the exclusive heirs to the trust of OHA. Without a full and open accounting in good faith, there is no way to know whether a trustee has performed his or her responsibility • to manage and invest assets wisely, congruent with the benefīt plan for all beneficiaries; • to avoid conflicts of interest; and • to comply with all fiduciary duties whether imposed by the trust, statutes or eommon law. Long overdue is OHA's and the less-than-50-per-centers' establishment of their right to their portion of the inheritance of being Hawaiian, where quantum has no standing. ■