Hawaiians to step up action

Developments

Hawaiians to step up action over multi-million dollar lIS land settement

By Ed Rampell

THE United States government may have to deal with a greater lobby for compensation to indigenous Hawaiians for lost land and fishing rights following greater unity amongst Trustees to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The OHA has been negotiating for years for a settlement that

could be larger, and for less people, than the two thirds of a billion US dollars that the Waitangi Tribunal is disbursing to New Zealand's Maoris.

A November 3 election of Trustees to the OHA may change the balance of power of the Hawaii State agency charged with overseeing indigenous issues, and could spell a new era of unity for the formerly factionalised body. Among the five new

and re-elected Trustees - Louis Hao is Maui's Trustee, while Rowena Akana and Frenchy DeSoto returned to their At-Large seats, and Clayton Hee to his Oahu trustee post - elected in a Natives-only vote, is Mililani Trask, the largest vote getter by far of all the many OHA candidates.

Mililani, whose academic activist sister Haunani-Kay Trask is renowned for her spirited militancy, could well be the first

The United States government may have to compensation to indigenous Hawaiians for [?]

nationalist to ever be elected to the office.

And she intends to maintain that. Trask is moving for a more proactive approach especially with regards to the [ceded lands] trust.

"Right now, OHA's negotiating a settle ment, when OHA has not gotten a full inventory of the trust asset," she says.

The trust assets are derived from hun dreds of thousands of acres of land once owned by the crown and government of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and supposed to ben efit Native Hawaiians.

"My feeling is, it's time to get an inven tory, so that we can find out about our land, our fisheries, and other benefits, as well.

We've not had a Trustee on this Board for 20 years that has taken a position that we have to inventory the trust...

“The other thing is, if we have to sue the State and Federal government to get that inventory, that's what we're gonna have to do.

"As an attorney, I tend to be litigious when it comes to some issues. I'm not for negotiating forever and a day with the

Governor at all. Talk story with him, we don't go where we want to go, take him to court. That's what we did with the Healey decision... which great ly increased the fiscal entitlement of OHA... and we won," Trask

confidently says.

The courts may not be the only route Hawaiians take, asserts Trask.

"I think that we have to keep [direct action] as one of our many options. And as a Trustee of OHA, I'm gonna continue to encourage to advocate strenuously for our rights, and to the extent we have no option but

civil disobedience,

then I'll support that.

Most likely, I will also be engaging in acts of civil disobedience.

Sometimes it's the only

option you have. Because the law has not given you provision for justice and redress... That's our history, that's our tra dition of our people. I've already been arrested, taken to jail. I anticipate in the future I probably will be going to jail again!"

Trask says her program is similar to that of Australian Aborigines; "We need to secure our land base and protect our cul tural rights... [and] to achieve some form of recognition from the State and the national government...”

“But most importantly, we need to draw the line when it comes to preservation of our culture. That's the most important thing... We will not tolerate racism in gov ernment, we're gonna speak out against it.

I think that [right wing Australian politi cian] Pauline Hansen has learned what that means... and her collaries over here in Hawaii are gonna be getting the same treat ment from us".

Trask, a lawyer, has been chosen to be a chief OHA lobbyist as Chair of the Governmental Affairs and Sovereignty Committee. The investiture of the OHA Trustees took place December 3 at Honolulu in the hallowed halls of Kawaiahao Church.

Gov. Ben Cayetano, Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, outgoing Department of Hawaiian Home Lands chief Kali Watson, and other dignitaries attended the formal investing of authority to OHA's Trustees.

Trask served as an OHA attorney in the 1980 s, and left it to become one of OHA's biggest critics, deriding the State agency as a tool of the State. Trask has resigned as 'Kia Aina' of Ka LaHui, which is electing a new leader, and now, the ultimate outsider has become an insider.

The election of this longtime Hawaiian sovereignty leader has the aura of the 1930 s Hollywood classic "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", wherein a Mr Clean good guy type portrayed by Jimmy Stewart tries to reform the corrupt US Senate. , The electoral triumph of the 'Kia Aina' [Governor] of the sovereignty group La Lahui Hawaii, is also redolent of the victo ry of Jesse "the Body" Ventura, the former pro-wrestler, Reform Party candidate who beat Democratic and Republican Party candidates in Minnesota's gubernatorial race. Formerly, OHA's nine-person Board of Trustees (which now has six women and

three men) was known for its divisiveness and quarrels.

Following the inauguration, the first order of business was election of OHA's top officers. OHA veteran Rowena Akana was elected Chair of the often contentious Board of Trustees with six votes. Hannah Springer, who'd been in a faction opposed to Akana, was elected Vice Chair with seven votes.

Trask, who voted for both winners, was interviewed at OHA's swearing in ceremo ny: "Something happened here today that hasn't happened in the last four elections.

We had one nomination for the Board, we didn't have a second nomination. And the majority of the Board stood behind the Chair.”

“In the past there's been, two, three nominations, bickering, fighting, and it sent a real clear message: the house here is broken, the people are gonna be a weak opponent. Today, we're sending a different message. Despite differences, we've got a unified house.

“ And that's the way it's gonna be when we go down to the Legislature, and when we deal with Governor at the negotiating table.

“They’re not gonna have the benefit of a house that's totally divided this time around. They better get prepared, 'cause when we come in there, it's gonna be time to do business".

Louis Hao says; "I think there were some concessions on the Vice Chair nomi nation which I liked, because that showed give and take, and Mili presented to me a sign of reconciliation... Because [Trask] was nominated for Vice Chair, after some discussion... she declined, giving her seat over to Hannah Springer".

This makes Hao, who views himself as a voice of reconciliation and unification, optimistic that OHA's infighting is "'Pau' [over], I hope. It's not guaranteed, but I think we can resolve it... I see my role as a catalyst for this to happen".

With Mililani Trask's visionary activism, and Louis Hao's pragmatism aimed at practical projects and programs, OHA might be out of its divisive doldrums and entering a new era of unity, as it con fronts the financially strapped State with OHA's biggest challenge yet; the multi million dollar settlement over the ceded lands trust. H

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