Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 3, 1 Malaki 2000 — Kahu Maxwell responds to Trustee Trask [ARTICLE]

Kahu Maxwell responds to Trustee Trask

WOULD LIKE to correct false statements made by Trustee Mililani Trask in her February eolumn. First of all. I had never been paid by the Democratie Party to "subvert" the sovereignty issue as a past member of the A.L.O.H.A. association. Members of the A.L.O.H.A association were duly elected in a convēntion at Lā'ie, and the board of directors elected me state president in 1972. I became a card-carry-ing democrat only six years ago when I ran for Maui County Council. On Jan. 4, 1976, 1 led 50 people on boats to reclaim Kaho'olawe. I ordered the boats back to Ma'alaea because the Navy and Coast Guard were waiting for us at Kuheia Bay and threatened to seize the boats. My fishermen friends from Maui donated the use of their boats and I did not want to see them suffer the consequences of confiscation. Nine people including Walter Ritte, George Helm and Emmett Aluli sneaked in and landed on Kaho'olawe. No boats were confiscated, however seven people were arrested immediately, and Walter Ritte and Emmett Aluli were arrested two days later. As they were being flown to Kahului Airport, I called Senator

Inouye on the floor of the Senate, and after arguing with me, he called the admiral at Pearl Harbor, who released Emmett and Walter. Trustee Trask referred to hearings held in Hawai'i on reparations by Representatives Teno Rancalio from Wyoming, Dan Akaka and Aborisk. In the O'ahu hearings, Rep. Rancalio told a kupuna that "it would be a cold day in hell before the Hawaiians get their land back." He eame to Maui the next day and during my testimony, I gave him lei made from the droppings of the thousands of goats that were running on Kaho'olawe. I informed Rep. Rancalio that it was given "not with aloha but with contempt for your contemptuous remarks about our land. You are a mere mortal, the land was given to us by the gods." During the Hā Hawai'i elections, the people of Maui, Moloka'i and Lāna'i elected me at large. The reason I ran was to work from the inside to change things and not attack the organization from the outside as Trustee Trask has done from its inception. I have been a member of the State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission since 1974 and was selected as chair in 1998. Being on an

advisory commission is very frustrating and during the hearings we had last August on the Apology Bill, I was going to resign because of the bureaucracy involved in the hearing. Trustee Trask convinced me in one of the breaks not to resign because I was needed. Ms. Trask is huhū with me because I ruled her out of order at December's Reconciliation Hearings. vShe did not want to follow the time limit. I was asked to moderate because I had conducted several other hearings over the years. I was not paid for my elforts. We should not be arguing among ourselves. The fighting must stop - beginning with the trustees who represent all the beneficiaries, not special interest groups. Our enemies are sitting back laughing because we are "doing it to ourselves." Our fight is within. Let's join together and pule as one for the sake of the generations yet to eome. Aloha ke Akua Kahu Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr. Pukalani, Maui http://hookele. com/storyteller