Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 2, 1 February 1998 — 'Our voices will always be strong and unstoppable.' [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

'Our voices will always be strong and unstoppable.'

I I E LEO IKAIKA KO KĀKOU KE I HUI PU 'IA is the theme of OHA's newest project, the Beneficiary I Outreach Project, or BOP, an ambiI I tious effort to gather all Hawaiians together in community meetings to discuss the future of our people and our land. In January and February, a total of 18 meetings will have been held throughout the state. By the time this article is in print, OHA will have conducted ten meetings: the fīrst in Honolulu, two on Kaua'i, six throughout rural O'ahu and two on Hawai'i. Two meetings remain for Hawai'i island, three for Maui and one eaeh for Moloka'i and Lāna'i. A complete list of the meeting times and locations ean be found in this issue of the Ka Wai Ola o OHA. This year, during the 1998 legislative session, the Hawaiian community will be facing serious challenges whieh amount to an across the board dismantling of

Native Hawaiian entitlements and rights. We foresee the Beneficiary Outreach Project as the catalyst for greater eommunity organizing to prevent any further attacks onHawaiians. Asthe only state entity created to look after and manage the ceded lands trust for the "betterment of Native Hawaiians and Hawaiians," OHA recognizes its duty to shield our people from the state's onslaught.

The Beneficiary Outieaeh Project is not about money or OHA's image. It is about protecting our rights as Hawaiians. It is aIso about our effort to join together and resist all attacks made against those rights by the govemor and the state legislature. Moreover, the Beneficiary Outieaeh Project is a response to the native Hawaiian communitv who told OHA that moie ouueaeh was necessary in order for OHA to understand their concems.

Clearly, these meetings are a sincere effort to inform Hawaiians of what is at stake and what is affecting our people now and to alert them to the state's attempt toward diminishing our rightful claims. OHA believes that we need to approach this new millennium with unity and awareness. The BOP meetings are a first step in that direction. We eall on all Hawaiians to take action on the following issues:

• Land rights for native Hawaiians must be protected. • We must hold the state to its obligation to Hawaiians and eompel it to complete a comprehensive inventory of all ceded lands. • We must caution the state not to mishandle or mismanage the public trust lands in a way that will hurt our ceded lands entitlement.

• We must hold the state responsible for paying OHA the $10 million still due from airport revenues. • We should know the issues affecting our people and support any actions that will serve to protect our people's constitutional and human rights to exist as a people. • We must say no to the state's proposed constitutional convention. • We must stop the state from trying to rewrite the contractuaI obligations articulated in Act 304. • Any finally, we must stop the state from circumventing Judge Heely's decision and hold it accountable for the monies not paid to the Hawaiian people. Now is the time for all Hawaiians to join together in this effort and protect our native entitlements and rights. As the above 'ōlelo no'eau says, "Our voices will always be strong and unstoppable so long as we speak as one!" Mālama pono. ■

TRUSTEE MESSAGES 9 m :

[?]