By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Staff Writer
Ray Soon thinks of the words spoken in Congress by Prince K¬hi¯: Put my people back on their land, and we will thrive.
As chairman of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Soon sees this as a kind of deal, a contract. It’s DHHL’s job to get qualified Native Hawaiian applicants on their homesteads. It’s the homeowners’ job to thrive.
Soon can describe many places where exactly that is happening: at Princess Kahanu Estates on Leeward O‘ahu, where the community association is strong and active and full of pride; on Maui, where homesteaders who wanted leases on unimproved land have built lives "off the grid" in Kahikinui; in Kona, where DHHL-built houses swept six awards in the 1999 BIA Parade of Homes.
The image of Hawaiian homelands is changing — from leftover scraps of land that no one wanted, to strong, healthy communities where families grow and prosper.
The philosophy is changing as well. DHHL is moving away from a paternalistic approach. Homesteaders have become empowered. It’s self-determination in action.
The department itself has hit a new stride. More homeland awards have been made in the last 10 years than in the first 70 years of the program. Soon says it’s a product of decades of hard work coming to fruition, coupled with new tools available to the department
But Soon is the first to say that’s not good enough. There are still more than 16,000 applications on the list. He himself is No. 4,021.
We took a drive around O‘ahu last week. Ray Soon drove and talked, I listened and took notes. And I saw stuff I didn’t expect to see. Ray Soon summed it up:
"If you know Hawaiian homelands from the media, you don’t know Hawaiian homelands. The typical story is of its failure."
Right now, the real story is more about innovation, about thinking out of the box.
DHHL is working on projects that the program has never tried before, like rentals and rent-to-own programs. A housing complex for k¬puna is being built in Waimanalo. In Kalama‘ula on Moloka‘i, DHHL was part of a partnership to build Kulana ‘Oiwi, a multiservice center that is home to Kamehameha Schools, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Queen Lili‘uokalani Children’s Center, Queen Emma Foundation and Alu Like.
Soon has some innovative ideas for generating income from DHHL lands, money that will mean more projects, more leases awarded.
He sees a bio-tech center and sports training center at Kalaeloa, formerly known as Barbers Point. There are assets the department has that Soon would like the beneficiaries to manage as businesses.
There’s lots of good news at DHHL.
And of course, there’s been bad news. The worst is the challenge to the very existence of the program by the Barrett lawsuit.
The Barrett case has given voice to those who believe Hawaiians are entitled to no special treatment, who refuse to see DHHL as righting a wrong.
But, Soon points out, the Barrett case has a silver lining. It has provided a focal point for many who work and fight for Hawaiian rights.
"Arguments make us tougher, stronger," he says.
"Pent-up anger and frustration doesn’t have to be unhealthy. It pushes you."
So even in this way, in an intense, concentrated fight to get back to their land, to keep their land, Native Hawaiians have the opportunity to thrive.
Lee Cataluna’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Her e-mail address is LCataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.
[back to top] |
