Participants see hope in nation-building effort

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

The long and laborious process of re-creating a Hawaiian nation is beginning in small meetings convening quietly throughout the Islands, and nobody yet knows when the first milepost — an election of delegates to hammer out the shape of a government — will be reached.

But those who have participated in the first discussions say this uncertainty is a hopeful sign that the work of nation-building will involve a broad spectrum of the community and that the final product will have communitywide acceptance.

The process began with a meeting Feb. 28 in a conference room at Honolulu International Airport. An "advisory council" convened by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs met to draw up the guidelines for voter registration and an election leading to a constitutional convention that will create a government.

By the time that meeting ended, the group decided to disband and open the doors to form a Hawaiian coalition that would include representatives from all islands, said OHA trustee Dante Carpenter, who was among those in attendance.

The meeting, which drew two dozen to three dozen people, began with some rancor from some who thought OHA should be helping with logistics and financing but not be driving the nation-building process, Carpenter said. But it adjourned on a positive note, he said, with another meeting tentatively set for the first weekend in April.

Meanwhile, Carpenter said, Neighbor Islanders are planning meetings on their own to form contingents for the coalition.

Among those whom OHA tapped to join in the process is the Rev. Kaleo Patterson, who has been involved since plans for the Hawaiian "Kau Inoa" registration drive began last summer.

Attorney Beadie Dawson, who also attended, emphasized that the process will go on regardless of the fate of the Akaka bill, the congressional measure aimed at gaining political recognition of Hawaiians within the federal government. The delegates eventually chosen to convene will determine the kind of government Hawaiians want, she said; the coalition will simply lay out how those delegates will be chosen.

Patterson described the proceedings at the initial meeting as "organic," a quality he believes will sustain the effort in the long run. Previous Hawaiian sovereignty efforts, such as the Ha Hawai'i convention in 1999, suffered from a lack of consensus among Hawaiians, he said.

"It kind of just came together," he said of last month's initial meeting. "I think we need that now. We need to do a lot of consensus-building."

Patterson explained: "If there's something that wants to be born here, it should have as much space and support as possible. I think it's going to be good: This could be the big shift."

Reach Vicki Viotti at 525-8053 or vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com.