Hawaiian community leaders condemn, reject Naʻi Aupuni ʻaha
Native Hawaiian community leaders from across the islands staged a protest at 8 a.m. this morning at the Luana Hills Gold Club, the site of the Naʻi Aupuni ʻAha, which entered its final week today. The 20 scholars and pro-sovereignty activists delivered a declaration to the unelected delegates rejecting and condemning the ʻaha process and whatever resulting draft constitution document comes from it.
“Naʻi Aupuni is an illegitimate, state-initiated entity that compromises our nation’s humanity and pursuit of justice,” said Kaleikoa Kaʻeo, a professor at Maui Community College.
The declaration states that the self-appointed ʻaha participants do not have community backing or authority to unilaterally draft governing documents that could have major consequences on the future of the Hawaiian people and nation. It further demands that the ʻaha participants cease work on producing any such governing documents.
The ʻaha comes on the heels of a 5-year, state-driven push to create a Native Hawaiian governing entity to interface with the United States government, a relationship known as “federal recognition.” This initiative has been met with heavy protest from Hawaiian sovereignty activists who say it will legitimize the U.S. military occupation of Hawaiʻi and the illegal State of Hawaiʻi.
“In the history of the Hawaiian [sovereignty] movement, Naʻi Aupuni is the most threatening infringement on Hawaiian self-determination that we’ve experienced thus far,” said Jonathan K. Osorio, professor of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
The declaration calls for ʻaha participants to join the signers in calling for a process that is open to all Native Hawaiians who wish to participate, and that prioritizes community education and consultation in determining the design, objectives and outcomes. Below is the text of the declaration:
We, the undersigned, firmly reject the illegitimate Naʻi Aupuni ʻAha objective to create a Native Hawaiian government. We stand in opposition to any governing documents and governing body that is produced through this ʻaha, which has been administered through State of Hawaiʻi involvement from the beginning. We continue to stand for the unification of our people through a transparent process free from any state or federal interference, control, or prescribed destiny.
The ʻAha 2016 stems from a top down approach in which all of the terms: the use of Hawaiian trust monies; participation; timeline; representation; the convention, and outcomes have been determined by a small number of people, including former Governor [Neil] Abercrombie; the Hawaiʻi State Legislature; the governor-appointed Kanaʻiolowalu commissioners; the OHA Board of Trustees; the OHA-selected Naʻi Aupuni Board; and approximately 150 self-appointed ʻaha participants. Each of these parties is complicit in driving an agenda that has divided our people more than ever.
In addition to this deeply flawed process, the 150 individuals who have not been elected or vetted have nevertheless decided to produce governing documents that will attempt to create a governing body on behalf of the Hawaiian nation in a private meeting. This approach violates the most basic principles of self-determination, upholds the status quo, and must be rejected.
The undersigned demand that the ʻAha 2016 cease and desist from continuing to produce any governing documents. We stand in opposition to any attempt by individuals or organizations selected and sponsored by the State of Hawaiʻi to speak for the Hawaiian nation or to determine our future.
We support an open and transparent process that is based on education, consultation, consent and unity. We call upon the ʻAha participants to join us in demanding nothing less than an initiative envisioned and designed by the lāhui, open to all kānaka who wish to participate, free from conditions that we had no part in creating. Such a process should include an appropriate time frame for such an important task; it should be open; and it should be free of any State of Hawaiʻi interference, control or prescribed destiny.
Jonathan K. Osorio
Terri Kekoʻolani
Hanohano Naehu
Noe Goodyear-Kaʻōpua
Lynnette Cruz
Kaleikoa Kaʻeo
Kahele Dukelow
Hoʻoleia Kaeo
ʻIlima Long
Joe Kanuha
Andre Perez
Keliʻi Skippy Ioane
Walter Ritte
Earl DeLeon
Willy Kauai
Camille Kalama
Kahoʻokahi Kanuha
Loretta Ritte
Kalaniua Ritte
Kalamaokaʻāina Nīheu
