Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 11, 1 November 2010 — Defending Hawaiian identity [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Defending

Hawaiian identity

As long as there has been land, water and people, there have been questions and argunients over who has a legal right to the precious resources. And for the past 36 years, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., or NHLC, has helped to mediate those disputes by providing effective, lowcost legal assistance to Native Hawaiian individuals, families and conununities. "At its core, NHLC seeks to protect and perpetuate the Native Hawaiian identity, the very essence of Hawai'i," said NHLC Executive Director Moses Haia. For many years, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, whieh employs no staff attorneys to fight courtroom battles, has helped fund the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. to take on such cases. Before NHLC was established in the 1970s, thousands of acres of family lands were lost to adverse possession in the courts because Hawaiians did not have legal representation. Now the organization assists approximately 700 individuals eaeh year on issues ranging from water rights, to defending land title, to enforeing benefieiary rights under the Hawaiian Home Lands trust. "It is always a privilege when someone takes you into his or her eonfidenee," said fonner NHLC Exeeutive Direetor Mahealani Wendt. "Espeeially so when the eonfidenee shared is saered knowledge, 'ohana knowledge passed down through many generations, ineluding genealogies and speeial relationships with the 'āina." Wendt, for one, has assisted eountless Hawaiian benefieiaries over her years at NHLC. And despite the many major and liistorie deeisions she has played a role in, she says her proudest and most fond memories revolve around eases when the odds were overwhelmingly staeked against her. "We suffered setbaeks," said Wendt. "Yet our staff, inspired by those they served, never wavered in its hard work, eommitment and optimism that this work was worth doing, and we persevered." —Howard Dashefsky M

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