Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 9, 1 September 2006 — Praising the Bar [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Praising the Bar

On Aug. 4, OHA Chairperson Haunani Apoliona presented outgoing American Bar Association president Miehael Greco with a resolution expressing the OHA board's appreciation to the ABA for "its commitment to achieving justice for America's indigenous peoples, as expressed through ... various policies and reports published over the years." In February, the association - the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world, with some 400,000 members - passed its own resolution urging Congress to extend federal polhieal recognition to Native Hawaiians. "American Indians and Alaska Natives have polhieal authority to deal with the United States on a government-to-govern-ment basis," Greco said at the time. "Native Hawaiians as an indigenous people in our eountry should be afforded the right to create their own governing body."

ABA's annual conference was held in Honolulu in early August, drawing nearly 11,000 lawyers from around the eountry to the Hawai'i Convention Center. Among the panels at the convention were sessions on the legal status of Native Hawaiians and the history of litigation impacting Native Hawaiian rights and programs.

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OHA Chair Haunani Apoliono presents outgoing ABA President AAiehael Greco with an OHA resolution thanking the association for its support of Nafive Hawaiian federal recognifion. - Photo: Derek Fem