WRITTEN TESTIMONY
Trustee Haunani Apoliona
Chairperson, Board of Trustees
Office of Hawaiian Affairs
Committee on Natural Resources
U.S. House of Representatives
Hearing on H.R. 2314,
The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Nā‘Ōiwi ‘Ōlino
E ō e nā ‘Ōiwi ‘Ōlino ‘eā
Nā pulapula a Hāloa ‘eā
Mai Hawai‘i a Ni‘ihau ‘eā
A puni ke ao mālamalama ‘eā ē
Ku‘ē au i ka hewa, ku‘ē!
Kū au i ka pono, kū!
Ku‘ē au i ka hewa, ku‘ē!
Kū au i ka pono, kū!
Answer, O Natives, those who seek knowledge
The descendants of Hāloa
From Hawai‘i island in the east to Ni‘ihau in the west
And around this brilliant world
I resist injustice, resist!
I stand for righteousness, stand!
I resist injustice, resist!
I stand for righteousness, stand!
INTRODUCTION
E nāalaka‘i a me nā lālā o kēia Kōmike o nā Kuleana o ka ‘Aha‘ōlelo Nui o ‘Amelika Hui Pū ia, aloha mai kākou. He loa ke ala i hele ‘ia e mākou, nā ‘Ōiwi ‘ōlino o Hawai‘i, a he ala i hehi mua ‘ia e nā ali‘i o mākou, e la‘a, ‘o ka Mō ‘ī Kalākaua, ke Kamali‘iwahine Ka‘iulani, a me ka Mō‘īwahine hope o ke Aupuni Mō‘ī Hawai‘i, ‘o ia ko mākou ali‘i i aloha nui ‘o Lili‘uokalani. A he nui no ho‘i nā Hawai‘i kūnou mai ai i mua o ‘oukou e nānā pono mai i ke kulana o ka ‘ōiwi Hawai‘i, kona nohona, kona olakino, ka ho‘onaauao a pēlāwale aku.
Ua pono ka helena hou a mākou nei a loa‘a ka pono o ka ‘āina, ke kulaiwi pa‘a mau o ka lāhui ‘ōiwi o Hawai‘i pae‘āina, ‘o ia wale nō ka Hawai‘i. No laila, eia hou no ka ‘ōiwi Hawai‘i, he alo a he alo, me ka ‘Aha‘ōlelo Nui.
ALOHA
Chairman Rahall, Ranking Member Hastings, and Members of the Committee on Natural Resources, my name is Haunani Apoliona and I serve as the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), a body corporate established in 1978 by the Hawai‘i State Constitution and implementing statutes.
The mission of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is to protect and assist Native Hawaiian people and to hold title to all real and personal property in trust for the Native Hawaiian people.
OHA is working to bring meaningful self-determination and self-governance to the Native Hawaiian people, through the restoration of our government-to-government relationship with the United States.
I testify today in support of enactment of H.R. 2314 and its companion legislation in the U.S. Senate, S. 1011.
Continued…