You know they have us in the corner when our best option is to argue how bad off we are to keep what is ours.

Kamehameha Schools last week released a report that culled data from a multitude of sources and studies. The bottom-line conclusion of the 450 pages, as reported widely, is that Native Hawaiians are, on the whole, worse off than any other group in Hawai'i in terms of economic indicators, education, and physical and mental health. Native Hawaiians have disproportionately higher rates of substance abuse, child abuse and incarceration.

This was not new information. What was new was the way in which the information was played — as an important argument in the battle to keep Kamehameha Schools' admission preference intact and in support of the Akaka bill.

In this high-stakes fight, this report was held up as a point on the scoreboard for Hawaiians. How twisted is that?

Not that the data are wrong or misleading, just that it further erodes the spirit of a people to have to use such painful truths as defensive weaponry.

Here we go again, having to play the game by somebody else's rules. In the language of Western paternalism, our heritage is termed "entitlements" so we have to prove how bad off we are to show we deserve what is rightfully ours, weak or strong, lagging or thriving. It is a strange game of being unworthy enough to be worthy and winning by losing, and make no mistake, we didn't make up these rules.

Where is our "Once Were Warriors" speech?

You know, the part in that movie where the character Beth Heke stands up to her oppressor and calls on her Maori ancestors:

" ... They were people with mana, pride, people with spirit. If my spirit can survive living with you for 18 years, then I can survive anything."

Where is that place in our story where we stand up and proclaim our strength, not our weaknesses, and take back our birthright?

Our people also were warriors. They were scientists and voyagers, strategists and storytellers, healers and artists. We still are.

We can't let "how things are" dictate who we are. God forbid any Hawaiian starts to see the statistics as destiny.

Native Hawaiians go to college. We graduate. We have careers and run successful businesses. We live healthy and we live well. We buy houses, we raise smart, sturdy children, we work hard to be good citizens. It is all possible. It doesn't happen often enough yet, but it happens.

Like warriors, a distinction has to be made between battleground strategy and what is said around the fire in base camp. There is a kind of resilience to be nurtured, and that doesn't come from already claiming defeat.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.