Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 3, 1 Malaki 2009 — To auction off a native people [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

To auction off a native people

On Feb. 25, the Suprenre Court of the United States considered the question of whether Hawaiian lands, the so-called ceded lands, held in puhlie trust nray be sold or transferred by the State of Hawai'i. Let me begin by addressing the phrase "ceded lands" and properly designate thenr as being stolen. Yes, I said stolen, as the Hawaiian Kingdonr never willingly gave these lands to the United States. These stolen acres are therefore still the rightful property of the people whose ancestors were nrembers of the Hawaiian Kingdonr, Hawaiians.

A person is Hawaiian with proof of lineage no nratter the quantity possessed. To date, the government has thus far succeeded in giving Hawaiians as little land as possible. The land that actually reaches Hawaiians hands is often times hard to access, impossible to build upon and diffrcult to fann. Over the years, outside forces have attacked "being Hawaiian" fronr both sides, searching for ways to "thin out the natives." In an attenrpt to elinrinate and deny the very existence of Hawaiians, the slogan "Hawaiian at heart" was born. This phrase, onee uttered, does not qualify a person as being Hawaiian and was developed for the dissolution of a native race through the inclusion of foreigners. This slogan sends out a false nressage that literally anyone is Hawaiian just by saying so and could seek entitlenrent to his or her own share of land. An absurd but nonetheless systenratic tactic ainred at the division between the natives and their home. Like other native cultures of antiquity, we Hawaiians drew our existence fronr the environnrent that surrounded us. Our stories tell that we are fronr the land and are provided for by the land and its resources. We belong to the land; it does not belong to us. Hawaiians therefore beheld their environnrent and its See NAĪIUE PE0PLE on page 24

By Megan Au

NAĪIIIE PEŪPLE Cūntinued fram page 22

condition in the highest esteem and cared for it in this sacred manner. And what of the land today? The plague of ownership has pit greedy person against even hastier individuals in the race to elaim a stake in "paradise." What these people have done to the

'āina is sickening to the core, and the damage is irreparable. I see hotels and condominiums, litter and pollution, deception and ethnic elimination. These are clear signs of the colonialist lineage of disregard and disrespect for the future of this world, not to menhon the people and the cultures that eome with it. Eeonomie crisis or none, the selling of Hawaiian land will never be the answer to any sort of financial difficulties the U.S. experiences. Is it not these same types of irresponsible ideals that brought America to many occasions being trapped between a rock and a hard plaee? This quick fix will only further the cycle of blind greed mixed with an absence of foresight. The capital from these transactions will be swallowed by those in power and by those abroad and will neither be long-term nor beneficial in tenns of the sustainability of a future Hawai'i. Megan Au of Waimānalo, 0 'ahu, is a lomilomi practitioner and a graduate student at the University ofHawai'i at Mānoa's Hawai'inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge. S

Mouno Kea on Hawai'i island is part of the Ceded lands trust,- Photo: knalohmon