Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 5, 1 May 2013 — The liquid measurement of who is ʻHawaiianʻ [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The liquid measurement of who is ʻHawaiianʻ

Aloha from Kaua'i and Ni'ihau! Mahalo this month to the folks of Hui Mālama O Kāne-I-Olo-Uma for its quiet, dedicated work to preserve a heiau in Po'ipū and a small pieee of Hawaiian history. I will share more about their work in the future. Recently, the Hawai'i Supreme Court discussed the issue of

native Hawaiians (50 percent aboriginal blood; Hawaiian Homes beneficiaries) versus Native Hawaiians (any aboriginal blood; most Hawaiians fall in this category). If this is confusing to read about, imagine how frustrating it is to live this truth and laek of - or confusion about - one's cultural identity. Shortly after, a Māori community leader told me that in their culture, it doesn't matter if someone has blonde hair and blue eyes, if they ean trace their genealogy, they are considered Māori, regardless of their blood quantum. It definitely got me thinking about this issue. I've always thought that there was only one kind of Hawaiian. So why are we divided? And why do we have a liquid measurement that creates two classes of Hawaiians? In short, it's because of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act passed by the U.S. Congress, whieh set aside land for the rehabilitation of the Hawaiian people, but also started the division that continues to this day. Prince Kūhiō never intended to have the bar set so high; some references say he wanted Hawaiians with as little as 1/32 to qualify, but that the 1/2 requirement was a compromise to get the law passed to help his people. Mueh of what controls Hawaiians today is based on that "liquid measurement" qualification system. It's a measurement that measures our own existence in our own homeland - and just one of the many ways we Hawai-

ians are dealing with the restrictions of the Western world. Everything that liquid measurement does and does not do allows others to control us. That is not the selfdetermination for the Hawaiian people. To quote a wise kupuna: "When we open the piko, we open the tunnel of all life, and we start to understand who we are." By taking away the liquid measurement

we become one with ourselves. It is you who give the hā, whieh is a hand-me-down from your ancestors. But now, when we hand that gift oflife to our children, it comes with a liquid measurement. As long as we have the liquid measurement, we will always be divided - those who have and those who have not. Even worse than the confusion and division it causes is the loss of cultural identity for the Hawaiian people. We are all stuck in a circle divided. There is no answer until we ean look deep into ourselves and identify who we are. Many of us are thinking about this. Now we must think about the future and how our decisions today regarding who is Hawaiian will impact the lives and the futures of our children, our grandchildren and the next seven generations of the Hawaiian people. We don't need to agree on everything, but we do need to find some eommon ground to be a unified people. The longer we remain divided, the more of our Hawaiian knowledge, culture and history we will lose to the memory of time. Finally, here's a shout out to Kanuikapono Learning Center Public Charter School in Anahola for achieving Adequate Yearly Progress for improvements it has made in student performance and achievement. The school also received a $12,500 Strive HI Award for this achievement. Maika'i! Mahalo nui loa! ■

Dan Ahuna TrustEE, Kaua'i aud Ni'ihau