Time has come for Native Hawaiian to take control of their future

Hau`oli La Ku`oko`a
From the Koani Foundation: In the Kingdom of Hawai'i, November 28 was an official holiday called Ka La Kuokoa, or Independence Day. This was the day in 1843 when England and France formally recognized Hawaii's independence. His Hawaiian Majesty King Kamehameha III deemed it prudent and necessary to dispatch a Hawaiian delegation to the United States and then to Europe with the power to negotiate treaties and to ultimately secure the recognition of Hawaiian Independence by the major powers of the world. The Hawaiian delegation, while in the United States of America, secu

The Mystic Lake Declaration
THE MYSTIC LAKE DECLARATION From the Native Peoples Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop II: Indigenous Perspectives and Solutions At Mystic Lake on the Homelands of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Prior Lake, Minnesota November 21, 2009 As community members, youth and elders, spiritual and traditional leaders, Native organizations and supporters of our Indigenous Nations, we have gathered on November 18-21, 2009 at Mystic Lake in the traditional homelands of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Oyate. This Second Native Peoples Native Homelands Climate Workshop builds upon the Albuquerque Declaration and work done at the 1998 Native Peoples N

Public Should Fight Preschool Cuts
PUBLIC HEARING What: Public hearing on preschool subsidy changes When: 2:30 p.m. Monday Where: Haseko Center (820 Mililani St.), Suite 606 For more information: 586-5725 dhs@dhs.hawaii.gov There is a public hearing today on cutting back preschool subsidies. I hope many people show up or send in testimony. Cutting back on preschool services would have a terrible effect on families throughout Hawai`i. It is very likely that these cuts would result in a range of negative impacts: 1. Children would likely have to be taken out of pre

From Indian Country… Thoughts on Federal Recognition
I write this from the Mystic Lake Casino in Minnesota where I’ve been attending the NASA Native Peoples Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop II, where a number of us from Hawai`i and other Pacific Islands have been very graciously welcomed and hosted by American Indian Tribes and Tribal Universities. It has been a treat to meet so many native cousins and remember how universal our values truly are. I have been fortunate to be here with a group of people from Hawai`i and the Pacific who have been able to share with native people from around the United States how devastating climate change has become for our islands. (I will be writing more on our climate change issues lat

Jon Osorio "On Race, Blood Quantum and Ancestry"
On Race, Blood Quantum and Ancestry From a panel held at Kamakakūokalani Saturday September 19, 2009 By Jon Osorio In 1989 I became a citizen of Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi and registered the names of my two sons as well. It was about the same time that I had begun researching the Hawaiian Kingdom’s constitutions and legislatures that would eventually produce Dismembering Lāhui. Associating with such incredible scholars, patriots and leaders as Haunani Kay and Mililani Trask, Kekuni Blaisdell, Coochie Cayan, Sam Kealoha, Clara Kakalia, Lilikalā, Soli Niheu, Kanalu Young and so many others that I see here tonight, I knew that my life from that point on would