Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 1, 1 January 2006 — Hawaiians must move forward [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiians must move forward

Būyd P. Mūssman TrustEE, Maui

Aloha kākou. As I sat at the Kamehameha Schools Maui Campus Founder's Day observance on Dec. 16, I had an opportunity to reflect upon the past year, the last three years at OHA and the Founder's Days I attended for 12 years at Kamehameha in the 1950s through 1961. Indeed, time does march on and things change, I would say mostly for the better. As for Founder's Day, I appreciate the creativity and initiative of the Maui teachers and staff, and the participation of the student body. It's a bit different from my hoping that I wouldn't faint as bodies dropped all around me in front of Bishop Hall and at Mauna'ala in the hot sun, but I truly appreciate the school's remembrance of such a wonderful woman whatever way it has been done. In addition, George Kahanu (class of 1937) was honored at Founder's Day for his role in securing for the United States several island outposts in the Pacific as a young graduate of Kamehameha. George is a fine role model and a true Hawaiian patriot. During the past year we have seen mueh in the courts regarding Hawaiians and the school. Some demand opening the school to nonHawaiians, some demand no longer seeking the cream of the crop, some demand education to all Hawaiians. We at OHA are seriously looking at our role in education and how best we ean address not only collegebound students, but preschool, trades, immersion and others who need help to survive in a more complicated and competitive world. Over the last three years as an OHA trustee, I have seen a considerably more stable board evolve and have eome to appreciate my colleagues mueh more than I had previously, based upon what I had read and seen in the media. We are working mueh better and together and have hopeful-

ly gained some degree of credibility under a solid administrative staff and leadership. And so now, as I enter the last year of my first term I look forward to developing a working relationship with others in the community in order that OHA ean help more Hawaiians as well as others in our state. We need not rely on tradition or memories to dictate our decisions today. Indeed, the official definition of West Point while I attended the U.S. Air Force Academy was: "a small school on the banks of the Hudson river with 200 years of tradition unhampered by progress." In today's modern world, Hawaiians cannot expect to make progress on their own; therefore, we must consider partnerships, and OHA will be looking to partner with Kamehameha, Hawaiian Homes, the state and counties, as well as private developers and community agencies in the key areas of affordable housing, education, health and culture. We currently fund a number of groups and will likely continue to do so but we will also need to look further to combine efforts with others with similar objectives. The land acquisition by OHA in Puna of 26,000 acres and our involvement with Waimea Valley are a beginning. I look to see mueh more in education and housing soon, as Hawaiians position themselves to be a force in our state to be reckoned with. OHA has moved now to remove itself from a self-imposed isolation to a presence in the community based upon commitment, leadership and partnership. We ean do mueh more, but without passage of the Akaka Nill, all will be for naught. Our future partners face the same threat. Right now, we are all aligned as never before to work together as organizations to provide for our people for the foreseeable future. With Akaka, we ean help Hawaiians. Without, we cannot. So shall we accept the challenge and move forward, or do we get stuck in the tar of tradition, reverse our gears to accommodate the noisy few and continue to eomplain incessantly like terrible two year olds? Not a hard ehoiee. Happy New Year and I mua! S