Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 5, 1 May 2002 — Who's behind the latest lawsuit against OHA and DHHL? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Who's behind the latest lawsuit against OHA and DHHL?

Last month, I wrote about Arakaki v. Cayetano, the case ehallenging OHA and DHHL. Who exactly is behind this lawsuit and what is their mission? The plaintiffs in the case are: Earl F, Arakaki, Evelyn C, Arakaki, Edward U, Bugarin, Sandra Puanani Burgess, wife of attorney William Burgess who filed the suit, Patricia A. Carroll, Robert M. Chapman, Brian L, Clarke, Miehael Y, Garcia, Roger Grantham, Toby M, Kravet, James I, Kuroiwa, Jr,, Frances M, Nichols, Donna Malia Scaff, J aek H. Scaff, Allen H. Teshima, and Thurston TwiggSmith. Most infamous is Mr, TwiggSmith who is still trying to change his ancestral past, What is the motivation for this case and who is funding these cases? Look at the list of plaintiffs; who among them has the finances to continue this legal assault; who among them has continued as his ancestors did to try

to make extinct the native people of our islands? At the core of this issue is the fight to control our lands, Twigg-Smith's attorney summed it up clearly: "We want to sink these two ships" (OHA and DHHL). In a March 22 letter to the editor (Honolulu Advertiser) by Professor Jon K, Osorio of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, he wrote: "Īt's ironic that one of the plaintiffs in this case is Thurston TwiggSmith, former publisher and owner of your newspaper and the grandson of Lorrin Thurston, who, in 1887, drafted the first race-based constitution in the kmgdom's history, whieh immediately deprived hundreds of Chinese citizens of the right to vote and created special voting privileges for the wealthy, "The plaintiffs want faimess right this moment and care nothing of the mockery made of democracy and fairness by the ancestors of TwiggSmith and Freddy Rice, who led the

illegal takeover of the kingdom, How odd that these two should now lead the fight to end Hawaiian 'entitlements'," This latest case requests the court to find and declare that the provisions whieh create OHA and the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act are unconstitutional, īt is important to note that some of the litigants in these cases have written frivolous articles in the newspapers using terms like "race-based" and "taxpayers' dollars" to incite the eomrmmity, These people have not done their homework, Ceded land revenues are NOT taxpayer dollars, And for the record, Hawaiians never heard of the word "racist" until foreigners eame here and brought their prejudices with them, There is no word in the Hawaiian language that describes a "racist," I also believe that in our fair state of Hawaii, we have shown the world that all nationalities ean coexist and live harmoniously with eaeh other.

I am certain that William Burgess' opinions are not shared by the general community: Hawai'i is unique not just because of its climate, but most especially for its people, We must not grow weary of these lawsuits, and must continue to show up en masse and voice our opinions on our entitlements, We must eontinue our fight on the Federal level as well and support the ,Akaka bill, SB 2899, the first bill introduced in the Fall of 2000 by the Indian Affairs Committee, This bill eontinues to carry the support of the Hawaiian people and community leaders who had great impact on the language of the bill itself, I urge all of you who support Hawaiian sovereignty to write to the Hawaiian delegation and to ask them to support SB 2899, the Bill of the People, "Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them," Deuteronomy 31:6 ■

Rowena Akana Trusfee,, At-large