ISLAND VOICES
Hawaiian vote carried Hannemann
By Guy H. Kaulukukui
The results of the campaign for mayor of Honolulu revealed an electorate divided along geographical lines.
In the general election, Mayor-elect Mufi Hannemann won 21 of 35 districts including every one west of Nu'uanu, with the exception of parts of Waipahu, and every district north of Kailua. Hannemann also took Waimanalo, which had sided with former Councilman Duke Bainum in the primary election. The Hannemann districts included eight communities with the highest concentration of Hawaiian voters on O'ahu.
Honolulu is the 11th-largest city in the United States, and in many uneasy ways, it is beginning to act like it. Our city is changing before our eyes by both subtle and not-so-subtle measures. For those of us who grew up on an O'ahu vastly different from today's landscape, the 2004 campaign for mayor was more than a race to determine the successor to Jeremy Harris. It was the drawing of the line in the sand.
Change has been a constant throughout the 2,000 years we've lived in these Islands. Some of it was peaceful and some of it was forced upon us. We have a history of resilience, and we have been resourceful in our attempts to exercise and protect our natural rights as the first people of this land.
Each day, we lose a little more of our homeland to strangers' desire to make it look and feel more like their homeland. The Hawaiian vote in the mayor's race this year went to the candidate with roots in Hawai'i. We elected Mufi Hannemann because this is his home. We know him, we know his family, and we expect him to be responsible to us and to Hawai'i.
According to the 2000 Census, 153,125 Hawaiians live on O'ahu. The largest concentration of the Hawaiian population on the island is in Nanakuli, where 69 percent of the population is Hawaiian. The other districts with a high concentration of Hawaiians are Wai'anae
(50 percent), Kailua (35 percent), Kahuku (32 percent), Kane'ohe (30 percent), Waialua (22 percent), Kapolei (21 percent) and 'Ewa (17 percent). Combined, these eight districts account for almost half (46 percent) of all Hawaiians living on O'ahu. Mufi Hannemann won seven out of eight of these districts in the general election, more than doubling his votes in these communities between the primary and general elections. The communities of Kapolei, Nanakuli and Wai'anae led the charge. They were where Hannemann's votes increased by more than
130 percent in each district. These increases are significant when compared to his island-wide increase in votes, averaging 91 percent between the elections.
The increase in voter participation between the primary and general elections can be attributed to a surge in Hawaiian voter registration at a time when it was critically needed. With many issues of importance to the Hawaiian community on local dockets, organizations such as 'Ilio'ulaokalani, the Kamehameha Schools, the Queen Lili'uokalani Trust and the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs led the effort to register Hawaiian voters. An emphasis was placed on the Leeward Coast, where Hannemann went on to post his largest increase in votes between the elections.
The experience of the recent election emphasized the significance of the Hawaiian vote and our ability to elect the mayor of Honolulu. It also signaled to politicians that the Ku I Ka Pono march down Kalakaua Avenue continues to Honolulu Hale, and will go wherever our voices need to be heard and our numbers need to be counted. It demonstrated what can be accomplished when we stand united, and it underscored a recurring phrase showing up on signs and T-shirts: "I'm Hawaiian and I Vote."
Guy H. Kaulukukui is a consultant on Hawaiian values-based leadership development and will teach an economics course at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa during the spring term called "Economic Models for a Sovereign Hawaiian Nation." The full text of this article is at www.kaulukukui2004.org.
