2004 seen as pivotal year for Hawaiians
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Hawaiian sovereignty movement is one that charts its progress over the course of decades, not single years, but many seasoned observers see the potential for a leap forward in 2004.
Some mileposts could be logged this year. One was the launch of Native Hawaiian voter registration a week ago. Another would be a convention, summoned by those voters, to begin devising a way Hawaiians could govern their own affairs, something not done independently of the state or nation since the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893.
Viewpoints vary, but many agree at least that the divergent groups advocating forms of sovereignty are talking more to one another, which bodes well for a convention being called.
Meleanna Meyer is a sovereignty supporter who expresses her political views through her filmmaking profession. Hawaiians have not yet reached the "critical mass" of accord that the movement needs, she said, but the commitment to do so is there.
"I feel Hawaiians are more committed to finding entry points to come together as a diverse group of passionate thinkers," Meyer said. "We're much more compelled to come together, because that's what it's going to take."
The Akaka bill — the vehicle for recognizing Native Hawaiians as a political group within the U.S. Department of the Interior — has divided the Hawaiian community for years. Supporters see federal recognition of a "nation within a nation," akin to an Indian tribe, as at least a starting point toward sovereignty; others fear that it will close off the option, down the road, for a more independent Hawaiian nation.
Officially, members of the Congressional delegation insist that there is still hope that the entire bill this session might be resurrected and moved to the Senate floor. Meanwhile, the Senate last week passed an appropriations measure in which an element of the bill, the creation of an office for Hawaiian affairs in the Interior Department, was inserted.
There are many driven to work for the eventual success of the bill. Haunani Apoliona, as chairwoman of the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs board of trustees, has been one of the most outspoken supporters of federal recognition as a means to protect Native Hawaiians' benefits from constitutional challenges. The Jan. 14 dismissal of one such court challenge, the controversial Arakaki case, did not eliminate the need for specific language recognizing Hawaiians as a political entity, she said.
And she underscored the need to organize that entity.
"It is only with the creation of a Hawaiian governing body that we can solidify Native Hawaiian rights," Apoliona said.
Others have preferred to work for sovereignty apart from U.S. or state governmental structures. Pu'uhonua "Bumpy" Kanahele, whose Nation of Hawai'i has been asserted as its own government, recently took his message to Waikiki, with a leafletting campaign aimed at educating tourists about the overthrow.
"This whole thing is geared to reminding the state and the U.S. government that their illegal civilian and military occupation has got to stop," Kanahele said. He added that his group also seeks financial support from tourism industry agencies for a Native Hawaiian constitutional convention and other projects.
Roy Benham, a former OHA trustee and a longtime advocate of creating a native census, applauded efforts to register Hawaiians as a means of gauging the will of the people and keeping them informed.
He also supports the Akaka bill, saying that recognition won't lessen rights to further pursue nationhood.
"No way; nobody can take that away from us," Benham said. "But we have to have some kind of entity to start."
But sovereignty advocates who, like Kanahele and Meyer, favor a more independent government, tend to take a longer view and don't feel the urgency to settle for federal recognition. Meyer doesn't believe that native rights will be eroded without the Akaka bill.
"There's a longevity to this whole struggle that, despite what's going on, justice will be served," Meyer said. "Akaka (bill) is really a huge mess. It does what the system wants us to do. It's purposeful, to throw people off to disorient them and be fearful."
Meyer and others cite meetings held quietly over the past year aimed at finding threads of accord among disparate Hawaiian groups. That is the sign she sees as most hopeful.
The movement in recent years has broadened, drawing in people who were not politically active before. Kanoe Cazimero has been an entertainer and, more recently, a communications liaison with the Hawaiian health program Papa Ola Lokahi. But she said her heightened interest in the political movement is a deepening of what she has always felt.
"I've always been totally comfortable with who I am as a Hawaiian woman," Cazimero said. "Truth be known, I am sovereign, inside myself."
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
