Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 37, Number 10, 1 ʻOkakopa 2020 — Strategic Aloha [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Strategic Aloha

< I MANAIKA'OIWI >

Hui Mālama I Nā Kūpuna 0 Hawai'i Nei Part 6: Empowerment Through Education By Edward Halealoha Ayau We were trained to understand that negativity demands a seat at the table and we must make room for it. By acknowledging the negative and putting it in its plaee, we achieve halanee and establish the conhdence to proceed and be successful. Strategically, our principle tools in these repatriation disputes are our humanity, our aloha, and our values of 'ohana that are respectful of kūpuna. By respecting our ancestors through repatriation and reburial, we demonstrate profound respect for ourselves. This is a powerful lesson to our keiki to love themselves, to help them know that they are never alone (that their ancestors are all around them) and to help protect their minds from extremely harmful thoughts that ean at times lead to suicide, and to understand and appreciate their plaee in the remarkable lineage that is our Hawaiian people.

We were trained to initiate a repatriation case by envisioning the result, whieh is reburial. We would embrace that vision, internalize it in our na'au and prevent any doubt from entering our

minds. We would then work backward with the confidence that we would prevail because we already know the outcome. This approach proved effective over the 30 years of our repatriation and reburial work. We would project confidence and clarity of thought through our advocacy work. In the tradition of the royal twins Kamanawa and Kame'eiamoku, I would offer the museum either peaee or battle. It did not matter whieh option they chose, as the outcome would be the same. In international repatriation cases involving the Natural History Museum in London (whieh lasted 23 years) and the Staatliches Museum fur Volkerkunde in Dresden (26 years), both of whieh were contentious, the ancestors were repatriated. Perseverance is key, as the outcome does not eome with a hmeline. It is not whether they eome home, it's when.

There is no legal authority in the international arena to require repatriation unless a country has a law that supports, or at least provides, for repatriation, like the 2004 Human Tissues Act in England. Most museums comply with our requests in good faith. There is no international jurisdictional prohibition on asserting aloha, 'ohana, kuleana and mālama. These are universal values that form the foundation for our goodfaith claims for the iwi and moepū. Ola nā iwi. ■ Edward Halealoha Ayau is theformer executive director ofHui Mālama INā Kūpuna 0 Hawai 'i Nei, a group that has repatriated and reinterred thousands ofancestral Native Hawaiian remains and funerary objects. To read this article in 'ōlelo Hawai'i, go to kawaiola.news.

1996 Ki'i Lō'au at Southeby's with OHA Trustee Kliia'u Kamali'i. - Photos: Courtesy of Hui Mālama

1998 Ki'i La'au at Roger William Park Museum.