How many Hawaiians do we have? The answer is murky. A high estimate is up to 220,000 or one-fifth of the population. Less than 10,000 have nearly pure Hawaiian blood.
The Hawaiian Home Lands Department estimates that only 60,000 may have the 50 percent quantum needed to qualify for its leases. These include children below the qualifying age of 18.
The waiting list is long. That leaves up to 160,000 residents with less than 50 percent Hawaiian blood, some as little as 1 percent. Probably less than 10 percent of the blood in the veins of our 1.1 million residents is Hawaiian. Part-Hawaiians are our fastest growing population segment but out-marriages tend to reduce average blood quantum.
Hawaiians share, like everyone else, in facilities and lands that are public, including public schools.
They also benefit from (1) the Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate, which educates Hawaiian children through its Kamehameha Schools, (2) the Hawaiian Homes program, which is finally picking up steam because of land and cash infusion and has about 6,250 families on lots, (3) the Queen Liliuokalani Trust, which helps needy Hawaiian children, (4) the King Lunalilo Trust, which has a home for aged Hawaiians, (5) the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, with assets well above $200 million and current annual income from the state - which Governor Cayetano wants to reduce sharply - of about $15 million, (6) numerous federal grants, many of them administered by Alu Like and (7) the Queen Emma Foundation, which includes the Queen's Medical Center. The medical center serves all Hawaii's people but the estate focuses its investment spending on Hawaiians.
Set up to benefit specific Hawaiian-blooded heirs are the James Campbell Estate, with over 100 beneficiaries, and the Mark Robinson Estate, with four.
The acreages held by these groups in Hawaii are Bishop 367,509; Hawaiian Homes, 203,500; Queen Emma, 12,618; Liliuokalani, 6,300; and Lunalilo, five, a sad story because it once had 400,000 acres. This gives a subtotal of 589,932 acres or 14.35 percent of all the 4,110,720 acres in the state.
OHA benefits from one-fifth of the leases and fees revenue from ceded lands formerly held by the monarchy. This equates with 268,000 acres. Add Campbell's 71,800 acres and Robinson's 3,500 and 22.7 percent of the state is specifically dedicated to Hawaiians.
Beyond this, Parker Ranch had 225,000 acres when its part-Hawaiian owner, Richard Smart, died in 1992. Private-home and small landholdings by Hawaiians are an untallied addition. The United Church of Christ is proposing to give $4.5 million in land and cash to Hawaiian groups by way of apology for its role in the 1893 overthrow. A private trust has deeded 28 acres of fishpond and beachfront land on Molokai to a Hawaiian non-profit corporation.
ACREAGE and value are quite different. The Bishop Estate derives 97 percent of its revenue from just 1.53 percent of its land, most of that in commercial use. Liliuokalani and Queen Emma own 16 and 18.5 acres respectively near the heart of Waikiki. Liliuokalani is developing some of its 4,000 acres just north of Kailua-Kona for commercial/industrial use.
Outside Hawaii, the Bishop Estate holds 400,000 acres in Michigan, small tracts in Virginia and North Carolina and major business investments. Campbell has properties in 12 mainland states valued at $744 million.
The overall value of private Hawaiian holdings is well into the billions.
A lot more tussles over compensation to Hawaiians lie ahead. Some claims may be settled with land rather than cash.
Ever since OHA was created by the 1978 Constitutional Convention and given a Hawaiians-only voter roll, the public has been trying to play fairer with its Hawaiian residents. There has been a lot of progress.