As a state run organization, OHA has had the power to initiate programs that would benefit Hawaiians. Because only Native Hawaiians were allowed to vote for the members of the OHA board, this was an opportunity for Hawaiians to have
As a state run organization, OHA has had the power to initiate programs that
would benefit Hawaiians. Because only Native Hawaiians were allowed to vote
for the members of the OHA board, this was an opportunity
for Hawaiians to
have a semblance of the right towards self-determination.
This was supposed
to be a transitory step at best—not the answer.
OHA was the 1978 con con’s
answer to assisting Hawaiians to survive in the midst of a government blind to
the needs of indigenous populations.
However, this “transit”
agency has been at best a divisive, dysfunctional department of the State of
Hawaii.
Now we have had a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Rice v. Cayetano,
and two of these trustees, Rowena Akana and Mililani Trask, advocate civil
disobedience.
Didn’t OHA have a contingency plan for this possible
outcome? Why is OHA again caught with its pants down? Have the Hawaiians
really exhausted all other remedies? Is lobbying legislative representatives,
the governor,
state senators, the international community no longer
viable? Is advocating civil disobedience and keeping the present trustees the
only recourse left?
Is this really worth going to jail for or
supporting?
The recent call for the Hawaiian community to support
non-violent civil disobedience to assist a dysfunctional arm of the State of
Hawaii with its present trustees is absurd.
Is this a responsible request
of some OHA leaders for the Hawaiian community? Where has reason gone?
I
do believe civil disobedience can be a worthy tool. But in order for it to
work, people have to be trained in non-violence, not just told about
it.
There needs to be a plan, a focus. What are those plans? What are the
possible short-term, long-term gains? Do you think Dr. Martin Luther King or
Gandi just told people to come on out?
In our current crisis and
situation, I can’t condone it’s use.
The focus should not be about
getting the same dysfunctional trustees reinstated, but making sure our
“entitlements” and “trust” assets under OHA don’t become
dismantled, dysfunctional and disappear.
How much money does OHA really
control? Who is held accountable?
If Gov. Cayetano replaces the trustees,
what happens to these programs and all the supposed assets held by OHA? Let’s
focus on that. In fact, let’s freeze those assets, place them somewhere out of
reach of the state.
Our plight needs to be taken to an international
level were the Hawaiians and the United States will be on equal footing.
However we can only do that if the Hawaiians unite.
One of the reasons
for the constant loss and misdealings is we are dealing with the wrong people
regarding an issue which should never have been determined on a
“state” or “federal” level. This is an international
issue.
Frankly the Hawaiian people deserve a better system and leaders
with true vision for the 21st century. Can we really settle for less?
The
United States has never granted sovereignty to native people’s who didn’t at
least present a unified front. Decrying the high court decision, and supporting
civil disobedience is a waste of time and energy that should be invested in
reaching consensus on Hawaiian sovereignty.
Bob
Meyers
Kalaheo