Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 9, 1 September 1998 — If you ask me... [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

If you ask me...

Speakers at the ceremonies marking the centennial of the United States' annexauon of Hawai'i recalled some of the milestones along the way: the territory; statehood; the 1993 apology; the historic discovery, 100 years after the fact, of 1897 petitions in opposition; and the even more recent possibility of a pronouncement of illegality by the United Nations. What should be next in the sequence of events? (Asked at the Annexation Day ceremonies held Aug. 12 on the grounds of 'lolani Palaee.)

Ku'umeaaloha Gomes. Without a doubt, the next move should be our sovereignty and independence. The information. whieh has been confirmed through iesearch and internauonal documentation, shows that everything, including the annexation has been illegal. So the Hawaiian nahon should be restored to its sovereignty.

A'opōhakukū Rodenhurst. What should be next is Hā Hawai'i and the Native Hawaiian Convention. People have to elect delegates and begin the process because there is no polineal power that actually allows us to negotiate with the powers that be, whether federal or state. I do not believe the intemational arena is the answer because of what happened in Puerto Rico. We cannot have nonHawaiians voting here where, out of a populahon of 1 .4 million onIy 1 76,000 are Native Hawaiians. The people have to take little steps now - Hā Hawai'i and the Native Hawaiian Convention.

Richard Kawainui. I think the only thing left is restitution. For 100 years, the people have known that something was wrong. The world knew, but ignored it. I don't think that we should break away from the United States, but we should progress toward nation-within-a-nation status.

Mel Kalāhiki. If we say annexation didn't happen, then everything else didn't happen. 1 think we have to understand where we are today. We need to look at laws. Our kūpuna are talking to us today and everybody's agenda becomes our kūpuna's agenda. We are affirming their resistance.

Lilikalā Kame'eleihiwa. It is imperative that we go back to Geneva and talk to the United Nations about getting reinscripted on that list of decolonizing nations. Whether we decolonize and become an independent nation or we choose some other form of relationship with the United States is really up to the people of Hawai 'i and the Hawaiian people in particular. I think in the heart of every Hawaiian we would like to have our country back. I would like to see by the year 2000, just two years away, the end of wardship as a first step toward reconciliation and the trust lands tumed over to Hawaiian control. I look forward to the United Nations coming to Hawai'i and educating the whole population about the different forms of government. One day we will look toward a plebescite. Who votes? Only the native people? Only the descendants of those people who were citizens in 1893? Settlers will say they should vote too. So that's a subject of debate.

John Waihe'e. Defmitely we should be moving on to establishing sovereignty for the Hawaiian nation and to letting Hawaiians control their own destiny. Hawai'i is their homeland and that is the last step left. That is something we should be united in doing.