Activities highlight native issues
By Susan Roth
Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — The annual celebration of King Kamehameha Day in the nation's capital took on added substance this year with the presence of several visiting Hawaiian officials and a forum on native issues.
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The officials were in Washington for last week's opening of a Bishop Museum exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution on the military use and recent restoration of Kaho'olawe, and they capped their visit with the Kamehameha Day festivities.
Malia Rivera, 7, of Arlington, Va., and Kealani Rogers, 6, of Dumfries, Va., get ready to drape a lei in honor of King Kamehameha during a ceremony yesterday in Statuary Hall inside the U.S. Capitol.
They also began a new congressional lobbying campaign for passage of the bill by Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, to federally recognize the right of Native Hawaiians to organize a government like those of American Indian tribes.
"We've been trying to talk to people, asking them to get the bill on the floor and let democracy work," said Haunani Apoliona, chairwoman of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Though it's likely a majority of Congress would support the measure, Republican opposition has kept it from the floor of the House and the Senate.
Apoliona and others met with staff of Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., an American Indian, as well as staff of Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., who is a member of the House leadership.
The Sunday observance of the king's June 11 birthday began with the traditional Hawaiian music, hula dances honoring royalty, speeches by elected officials and the draping of dozens of lei on the 12-foot statue of the king in Statuary Hall of the Capitol.
There, in the original House of Representatives, statues representing every state in the union join Kamehameha in a ring around the room.
After the lei draping, Apoliona picked up a guitar and joined Akaka and musicians of the Washington-based Halau Ho'omau I Ka Wai Ola O Hawai'i for an impromptu set of traditional songs, delighting the crowd of more than 250.
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Most wore colorful aloha attire and orchid, ti leaf or kukui nut lei. Some were so homesick for the Islands that they wept.
Rep. Patsy Mink, D-Hawai‘i, drapes the first lei on the statue of King Kamehameha yesterday at the U.S. Capitol building.
"It's so great to see the East Coast 'ohana all together," said Patrick Ward, president of the Hawai'i State Society, which organizes the annual event. "This is what it's all about," he said, motioning to the singers, musicians and hula dancers of the halau.
In his address, Akaka drew parallels between Kamehameha's efforts to bring unity, harmony and prosperity to the Hawaiian people two centuries ago and his own efforts toward Hawaiian unity, pride and federal recognition today.
"We must do what we can to preserve Native Hawaiian language, culture, customs and traditions," said Akaka, the only Native Hawaiian member of Congress. While his bill would raise emotional issues, "we need to deal with them head-on," the senator said.
"We call upon this nation to recognize that Native Hawaiian peoples gave up nothing" when their land was annexed by the United States, said Rep. Patsy Mink, D-Hawai'i, drawing a roar of applause. "They are united as a people, they can govern themselves, they can decide what programs they want to engage in and how to expend their energies."
At the forum later at the Smithsonian Institution, about 25 people listened to Apoliona and OHA administrator Clyde Namuo explain present and past litigation against OHA that challenge the constitutionality of the office and the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
Colette Machado, chairwoman of the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission, and Keoni Fairbanks, the commission's executive director, discussed the restoration of the island that was used as a live-fire military training ground from 1941 to 1990, and Noelani Kalipi, Akaka's deputy legislative director, explained the senator's bill.
