Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 1, 1 Ianuali 2014 — Civic clubs gather on Kauaʻi [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]
Civic clubs gather on Kauaʻi
By Mary Aliee Ka'iulani Milham The march toward selfgovernance and the eall to mālama honua, care for the land, predominated the discourse at the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs' 54th annual convention. Nationhood and sustainability, eommon refrains in several successful resolutions, also resonated in keynote speeches and convention workshops from Nov. 10 to 17 in Llhu'e, Kaua'i. Resolutions anticipating nationhood reaffirmed the civic clubs' commitment to nationhood dialogues, urged the association to convene an islandwide nation-building Hālāwai, a visioning process, to prepare for a constitutional convention and also to organize and/or participate in a eonstitutional convention. Another resolution supported the promotion of the textbook U a Mau Ke Ea: Sovereignty Endures as curriculumfor Hawai'i state Department of Education to be used in Hawaiian studies and U.S. history courses at all puhlie high schools. Of the environmental resolutions, two urged stronger regulation and increased disclosure requirements for genetically modified organisms, GMOs, and restricted-use pesticides. There were two resolutions urging protection of Mauna Kea and others urging prudent water resource management, fishpond legislation and an annual event raising awareness of the value of biodiversity along with resolutions calling for phasing out fossil fuel development, supporting "right-to-know" legislation on geothermal development and federal policies prohibiting non-native species. Among the more controversial issues supported were marriage equality and the decriminalization of adult possession of an ounee or less of marijuana. "The members respond to their daily life experience, they respond to what is happening in the community and they highlight the emerging issues for the purpose of getting consensus
by their other members," says Annelle Amaral, AHCC first vice president. "Certainly the development of the nation is a critical issue for us now that the roll is supposedly pau," she said, referring to the state-led Native Hawaiian Roll enrolling Native Hawaiians qualified to participate in the organization of a governing entity. " 'What happens next?' is the thing everybody in the Hawaiian eommunity is asking," she added. While some workshops contemplated the advent of self-government - with offerings like "Envisioning a Hawaiian Nation" and the screening of the documentary film Elawai'i: A Voice for Sovereignty - others featured practical skills like "Caring for our Kūpuna," "Kupuna īeehnology," "Parliamentary Procedure" and "Access to Capital and Credit." The traditional Hali'a Aloha ceremony, honored nearly 50 club members who passed on during the prior year, including Kailua Hawaiian Civic Club president Kahu Ryan Kalama and Pauline Kaleihinano Auna Stroud, mother of AHCC president Soulee Stroud. Keynote speakers Nainoa Thompson, state Sen. Clayton Hee andMaria Nobrega-01ivera, president of the
Waiklkl Hawaiian Civic Club, eaeh spoke to issues of caring for the environment and moved the assembly to tears and cheers telling of the Hawaiian peoples' collective triumphs and tragedies. Thompson, legendary oeean navigator and president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, paid tribute to five late voyaging heroes: artist and historian Herb Kāne, the Hawaiian Renaissance leader and a voyaging society founder; Eddie Aikau, the heroic waterman whose story, even after so many years since his death in 1978, is a difficult one for Thompson to tell; Micronesian navigator Mau Piailug, whose wayfinding knowledge nourished the Polynesian Voyaging Society's then-nascent voyaging program; Thompson's father, Myron "Pinky" Thompson, who taught him the wisdom of coming together over shared core values and the importance of preparation; and Col. Lacy Veach, a fellow navigator and shuttle astronaut who foresaw Hawai'i's potential to lead the world in sustainability, saying, "In all those lessons of our ancestors are the secrets to living on the earth." Detailing the sail plan for Hōkūle 'a's SEE CIVIC CLUBS ON PAGE 16
J EA s > GOVERNANCE /
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Fresh flower lei, placed in commemoration of the nearly 50 civic club members and friends who passed in 201 3, adorn a guava tree behind whieh stands a portrait of Hawaiian civic clubs founder Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana'ole draped in maile. - Photo: MaryAlice Ka'iulani Milham
CIVIC CLUBS Continued from page 8
current voyage, the 40,000-plus-mile Worldwide Voyage, Thompson also spoke of the cultural value "Mālama Honua" (care for the earth) that's propelling it. Hee, a former OHA chair, raised awareness of the plight of the Ni'ihauan people with a presentation on the escalating rate of fish and 'opihi taking fromthe privately owned island's near-shore waters. The hnal keynote speech, on biodiversity and climate change, by Malia Nobrega-01ivera, brought the delegates to their feet in a standing ovation. Nobrega-01ivera, pelekikena of Waiklkī HCC, is one of
AHCC's inlluenhal young leaders. The majority of environmental resolutions were introduced by Waiklkl's members. Amaral says emerging youth are vital to the mission of the civic clubs, whose first club was founded in 1918 by Prince Kūhiō. "At the core of it, as an organization, what we're trying to do is train new leaders. It's the training ground here to go out there and be a leader. That essentially is what Kūhiō asked us to do and that's what we continue to do." ■ Marv Ali.ce Ka'iulani Milham, a Portland, Oregon-based freelance journalist, is a former newspaper reporter and cohnnmstfrom California 's Central Coast.
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Kumu Sarah Keahi, hope pelekikena 'ekahi (first vice president) of Kuini Pi'olani Hawaiian Civic Club, right, shares a smile with Leiana Robinson, wife of Ni'ihau owner Bruce Robinson, after her plea for protection of the island's fishery. Her emohonal words followed those of state Sen. Clayton Hee, whose keynote speech alerted the delegates to the recent spike in incursions into Ni'ihau's nearshore waters that is depleting resources. - Photo: Mary Aliee Ka'iulani Milham