Gathering Place
By Boyd P. Mossman
Hawaiians must unite
or vanish into historyAs the Office of Hawaiian Affairs launches a campaign to educate the people of Hawaii about issues relating to the creation of a Hawaiian governing entity, I would like to express my views on some of the critical issues facing us and explain why OHA has embarked upon an accelerated effort to gain federal recognition and establish a Hawaiian governing entity.
As I do so, I am aware of those who want only complete independence from the United States as well as those arguing equal rights who want no Hawaiian benefits to continue. I do not address these groups; they will not be interested in these words. I address those who must wonder what recognition, nationhood, ceded-lands settlement and equal rights have to do with living here in Hawaii.
Persons of Hawaiian ancestry today in Hawaii make up the largest percentage of those in prison, the homeless, the undereducated, the broken families and the drug-addicted. A familiar pattern, perhaps, as with the American Indian and Alaskan native tribes who involuntarily gave up their homelands to a United States intent on expanding its borders. In each case, including the Hawaiians, concern and attention subsequently resulted in a trust relationship between the United States and the native peoples, and, for better or for worse, these indigenous peoples have been accommodated in one way or another for more than 100 years.
Though there is no complete consensus as to the historical justification for the overthrow of the Hawaiian nation and annexation by the United States, suffice it to say that the United States knowingly or unknowingly caused the independent kingdom to be denied its inherent rights as a nation.
OHA is now trying to accomplish in two to three years what has not been accomplished in the last 110 years: achieving federal recognition and creating a governing entity that will assist Hawaiians in defending against the equal-rights lawsuits pending in the federal courts.
In this way we believe we will be able to prevail in court and preserve not only the benefits and entitlements received by Hawaiians today, but also preserve the Hawaiian people and culture. If we succeed, then the people of Hawaii will continue to enjoy the warmth and aloha of a culture and people who themselves will be able to conduct their affairs within the United States with recognition given them, as has been to the American Indians and Alaskan Eskimos.
If we fail, if we lose in the courts, if we cannot convince Congress of the potential elimination of an entire people who once ruled themselves, if we cannot convince the Hawaiians themselves and bring them together in a united effort, then you will have seen the last of the Hawaiians as we know them today. Hawaiians will be no different from Californians, Georgians or New Yorkers. We will no longer be identified as the descendants of a nation with a unique history, language and identity. We will melt into history, becoming only a memory.
The recognition, trust, benefits and entitlements provided to Hawaiians will disappear, as will OHA's trust fund, Hawaiian Home Lands and the many state and federally funded programs addressing needs of Hawaiians.
Thus, since it is the mandate of OHA to provide for the betterment of Hawaiians, we are compelled to press forward against the sling stones of contention and dispute to educate all the people of Hawaii, then to facilitate the birth of a Hawaiian governing entity that will perpetuate the culture and people whose home, whose aina, whose spirit these islands are. Many questions remain, and time will tell the effect of our effort, but I suggest that it would behoove us all to continue to keep Hawaii "Hawaii," for as the Hawaiians go, so will Hawaii.
Boyd P. Mossman is Maui trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.