Hawaiians

A Century of Challenge

By Stu Glauberman
Advertiser Staff Writer
As printed in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Sunday, January 17, 1993

One hundred years after the demise of the Hawaiian monarchy, Hawaiians continue to lag behind other racial groups that came to share the bounty of their homeland.

Social indicators portray Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians as poorer and less educated, more likely to be unemployed or imprisoned, and more prone to disease than their neighbors whose roots in these Islands do not run as deep.

These familiar statistics, however, ignore hard-to-measure achievements that arise from a tremendously heightened attention focused on Hawaiians and Hawaiian issues over the past decade.

The question now is whether this month’s centennial of the overthrow will cap public interest and activity aimed at righting past injustices, or will it stimulate a rededication of efforts to improve the standing of the Hawaiian people?

“As we move forward into the second century since the illegal overthrow of Queen Lili’uokalani, the challenges loom large. However, we are becoming better equipped to meet them,” said state Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chairman Clayton Hee, at last month’s symbol-laden OHA investiture at Kawaiahao Church.

“More importantly,” said Hee, “I believe the basic instinct of the entire community – Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian alike – to do what is fair and right has been stirred, and will prevail over those who would turn us into a divided people.”

Ten years ago, the Native Hawaiians Study Commission took stock of the many concerns and needs of the Hawaiian people and set voluminous findings before federal and state officials.

Studies before and since have documented breaches of trust on the part of government in dealing with Hawaiians and the land that once was theirs.

Many recommendations for righting past wrongs have gone unheeded by White House officials reluctant to recognize Hawaiians as a native American tribe with special rights. But others have resulted in remedial steps at the federal and state level.

“Many people think that nothing has been done, but we have accomplished a great deal,” said Kina’u Boyd Kamali’i, who chaired the 1983 study commission and now serves as an OHA trustee.

In the 10 years since the federal-state study commission, Hawaii has elected a governor of Hawaiian ancestry in John Waihee; and a U.S. senator of Hawaiian ancestry in Daniel Akaka.

Waihee has recognized the state’s responsibility to recognize (and right) past wrongful actions, and Akaka, with senior senator Daniel Inouye, is working on federal

See Hawaiians, Page A2

(note: page A2 not attached)