Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 3, 1 March 2009 — Capitol vigil attendees encouraged by Supreme Court news [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Capitol vigil attendees encouraged by Supreme Court news

By ī. Ilihia Giansan Publicatiūns Editar It was a dark, windy, and cold 5 a.m. at the state Capitol in Honolulu, but strong voices were lifted in chant to protest Gov. Linda Lingle's U.S. Supreme Court appeal of a ceded lands case. The chant was timed to coincide with the moment that the Supreme Court

started to hear arguments on the case. Everyhourthrough the day, hālau hula, schools, and other groups gathered in a circle on the Capitol rotunda on lauhala mats, pahu and chanting voices making it known that the Lingle administration's attempt to overturn the Hawai'i Supreme Court's ruling is hewa. "When the governor was being stubborn about not withdrawing the appeal when we first asked her, we decided we

needed to do something like this," said Wayne Kaho'onei Panoke of the 'īlio 'ulaokalani Coalition, whieh organized the vigil. "It's not something that we like to just do all the time. We're not dial-a-vigil." "This is perhaps the most important issue of this generation," Panoke said. The appeal stems from a unanimous January 2008 ruling by the Hawai'i Supreme Court ruling keeping the Puhlie Land Trust, 1.2 million acres of former Hawaiian crown and government lands, intact until the unrelinquished claims of Native Hawaiians are addressed. The case originated in 1994 when OHA and four individual plaintiffs sued the state to stop it from selling 1,500 acres of ceded lands on Maui and Hawai'i. In addition to opposing the state's appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court, organizers hoped

the vigil would bring attention to a hill plaeing a moratorium on the sale and transfer of ceded lands. "It's our kuleana to be here today, said Lino of Pālolo, O'ahu, who preferred not to give his last name. "What's going on is wrong, and whether we agree or disagree, we should eome together as one in unison on this issue." "As a Native Hawaiian, I think a lot

about my kūpuna who stood up, kū'ē against 'Amelika, who signed all the petitions against all of that," said Maya Kawailanaokeawaiki Saffrey of Ko'olaupoko, O'ahu. Along with her kumu and hula sisters from Hālau Mōhala 'Ilima, Saffrey eame to the vigil at 4 a.m. "I want future generations to look back and know that I was here and I stood up for this, in the way that I look back to my kūpuna who did that for us."

About four hours into the vigil, organizer Panoke relayed the news from Washington, D.C., that the U.S. Supreme Court's line of questioning in the opening arguments indicated that they might send the issue back to the Hawai'i Supreme Court to decide. Many in the crowd were encouraged by the news. "The first time, the Hawai'i Supreme Court ruled in favor of OHA. I hope that happens again," Saffrey said. "I believe that the lands should never be sold. The land was never the state's in the first plaee." Lino was glad to hear the news, saying that it's eonunon sense that the ceded lands issue should be resolved at the Hawai'i Supreme Court. "This is Hawai'i, it's our problem, we should handle it here. Why bring it to the mainland? All of us kanaka maoli, we're here. Do it here." E3

Lino of Pōlolo with his sign at the ceded lands vigil at the state copitol. - Photo: ī. Ilihio Gionson; Top: Wayne Kūho'onei Panoke. Below: Vicky Holt īakamine - Photos: Courtesyof Nicholos Mosogotoni