Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 10, 1 ʻOkakopa 2010 — WALTER HEEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WALTER HEEN

1. The single most important issue facing Native Hawaiians is the inability to eompete in the employment market because of a deficiency of educational achievement. OHA should collaborate with the state's educational officials in developing a partnership to provide an intensive educational program to encourage Hawaiian families to achieve educational success from an early age. Such a program should include a thor-

ough grounding in Native Hawaiian customs and traditions, but should also provide knowledge of modern day technological and communicative skills. This would require employment of certificated teachers who are also grounded in Hawaiian customs and traditions. OHA should more intensively assist the innnersion charter schools in advancing their teaching methods for combining cultural knowledge and usage with modern day western requirement. OHA should also continue to insist that the public education system include a requirement for learning the Hawaiian language. 2. OHA should first assist the Secretary of the Interior in detennining who should be appointed to the group of genealogieal experts that will be charged with establishing the roster of Native Hawaiian constituents eligible to vote in the NHGE eleetions. OHA has worked together with a number of individuals learned in Native Hawaiian genealogy over the years and their names should be provided to the Secretary for consideration. Additionally, other such experts, known in the community but who may not have worked with OHA ean be sought out and encouraged to assist the Secretary. Onee the committee is established, OHA ean assist by providing the information on Native Hawaiians that is contained in OHA's Hawaiian Registry. OHA should also work with Hawai'i Maoli to provide the information it has on its Kau Inoa registry to the Secretary. This will provide considerable infonnation to the committee to detennine who meet the criteria set by the NHGRA for eligibility to participate in the elections as a Native Hawaiian constituent. Additionally, OHA has considerable infonnation and expertise on Native Hawaiian genealogy. This infonnation should also be made available to the Secretary. When the Council has been fonned, OHA ean assist it in establishing the fonn of the new government by providing infonnation and expertise on the fonns and powers of government that might be considered. When those matters have been decided, OHA ean assist in providing opportunities for Native Hawaiians and others in the community to discuss the proposed governmental fonns and assist in the eleetions that must eventually take plaee. Finally, OHA ean assist in the negotiations that will take plaee between the NHGE and the State. SEE HEEN ON PAGE 9

HEEIM Continued from page 7 3. The first thing that nrust take plaee is that OHA and the State nrust determine exactly where those ceded lands are and how they are used. OHA and the State have had long-running discussions on this issue. Ideally, there should be a nreets and bounds survey to establish their boundaries. Onee they are established, the various uses of the individual plats ean be easily determined - mueh of it is unusable. In nry view, the "Akaka bill" is nraking it nrore difficult to reach an agreenrent with the state at this tinre. I have no doubt that the state will want to wait to see how negotiations play out, and will want to make the issue a part of those negotiations. Now that the Hawai'i Suprenre Court has denied OHA's petition for a writ to force the state to pay OHA's elaim, I do not foresee any justiciable recourse. We need to face facts and negotiate the nratter during the negotiations that will take plaee after formation of the NHGE.