Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 11, 1 November 2016 — The U.S. Department of the lnterior onnounces o pathway to nationhood [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The U.S. Department of the lnterior onnounces o pathway to nationhood

/A no'ai kakou... Let me / \ begin by expressing my warmestaloha /^^^ to all the candi- / \dates who had

the courage and commitment to participate in this year's election. Campaigning ean be a blood sport, but now it is time to put aside our differences and get back to bettering the lives of our constituents. On Friday, September 23, 2016, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI)

announced a "final rule to create a pathway for reestablishing a formal government-to-govemment relationship with the Native Hawaiian community." "The hnal rule sets out an administrative procedure and criteria that the U.S. Secretary of the Interior would use if the Native Hawaiian community forms a unified government that then seeks a formal govemment-to-govemment relationship with the United States." According the DOI, "The hnal rule builds on more than 150 Federal statutes that Congress enacted over the last century to recognize and implement the special poliīieal and trust relationship between the United States and the Native Hawaiian community. It also eonsidered and addressed extensive public comments during the rulemaking process, whieh included public meetings in Hawaii and the mainland United States." The time has eome for all us to eome together in spirit and put some meaningful effort into re-establish-ing the poliheal relationship between Native Hawaiians and the Federal government to re-organize our Native Hawaiian Governing Entity. Onee done, we will be able to protect all of our Hawaiian trust assets from the constant threat of lawsuits. This is why I have always supported state and federal recognition. As I traveled around the state, I spoke to many people who were

confused about the process towards nationhood. I ean only conclude that OHA has not done enough to educate the public. This situation has to change.

Trustees are going to have to speak up about the many positive results that Hawaiian Nationhood would bring for both Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians. I assure all of you that, after listening to your mana'o, I will do everything that is humanly possible to address your concerns.

What is also needed is your participation. You must challenge EACH Trustee to be accountable to you. It is unfortunate that you cannot assume that Trustees will do this on their own. Like any organization, from time to time, especially when one faction has been in power for too long like it has been at OHA, "the people" need to become actively involved. Otherwise we will risk having to deal with eomplacency and the abuse of power. What we face today as Hawaiians is no different than what has occurred over the past 100 years. We are still fighting off assaults on our culture, the deterioration of our rights to our lands, and attacks from racist organizations. Let us begin to work together for the cause of recognition. Let us begin to agree on the things that we ean agree to and set aside the things we differ on and move forward together for the future generations of Hawaiians yet to eome. As we approach the close of 20 16, 1 would like to wish eaeh of you a very safe and happy holiday season, and may the Lord in his grace bless eaeh of you and your families and take you safely into 2017. Happy Thanksgiving! Aloha pumehana. ■ Interested in Hawai.ian issues & OHA ? Please visit my website at www. rowenaakana.org for more information or e-mail me at rowenaa@oha.org.

Rūwena Akana Trustee, At-large