FREEHAWAII.INFO PRESENTS THE CONCLUSION OF A FOUR-PART SERIES -
Hawaiian Patriot Keala Kelly's Opening Statement At The Akaka Bill Forum, Aug. 23, 2005 Held At The Japanese Chamber Of Commerce, Honolulu, Hawai`i
We know who we are. As Kanaka Maoli [Native Hawaiian] we know that we have sacred kuleana [responsibilities] to each other and to this place.
We know that surpasses any ideas or notions foreigners have about us no matter how many Akaka Bills are thrown our way.
Hawaiians oppose this bill because they know it's an attempt to make us acquiesce to the overthrow.
Hawaiians know that if the state and federal government manipulates us into surrendering title to the crown and government lands, those lands will be opened to further militarization.
We know that if we continue to allow the practice of war on our 'aina [land,] if we allow bombs and poisons to be planted in our 'aina, then it will follow that we as a people shall reap what we sow.
Right now the largest crop and subsequent export of Hawai'i is murder and suffering via the US military industrial complex--- not food, and certainly not aloha.
The good news about this bill is that the fact of its existence and the millions that have been pumped into passing it really signifies that the overthrow isn't over yet.
We know this because at the heart of this legislation is the American dream of legitimizing the overthrow on paper and in the hearts and minds of us, the Kanaka Maoli.
They say you cannot change the past, but I don't agree. We can change our past right now, in the present. There is still time.
We don't have to come up with the cure for our problems all at once. We just need to look clearly at the intent of this bill, who's selling it, and what their motivation is for doing it.
Joseph Nawahi, a fellow Kanaka Maoli journalist, gave a speech to a crowd of 7000 Hawaiians on July 2, 1894, two days before the fake Republic of Hawai`i announced their constitution.
In it, Nawahi said, "The house of government belongs to us, as the Kamehameha's built it. We have been ousted by trespassers who entered our house and who are telling us to go and live in a lei stand that they plan to build and force us all into. I am telling you, my fellow maka'ainana [everyday citizens,] we should not agree in the least." [Emphasis added.]
Nawahi was a politician, something I have no intention of ever being.
But as a Kanaka Maoli journalist, I do have a question to ask of all the Kanaka Maoli here tonight or watching this later on television - If this were 1897, would you have signed the Ku'e petitions?
If the answer is yes, then you know that your kuleana remains the same as the kuleana all our ancestors had. That is our inheritance, that is our entitlement, that is our true legacy.
Mahalo nui.
