Hawaiian Rights Advocate Frenchy DeSoto Passes at 81
By Star-Advertiser Staff
POSTED: 06:42 p.m. HST, Jan 22, 2011
DeSoto had been suffering from pneumonia and congestive heart failure.
"She was a very determined woman and extremely passionate about her beliefs," said longtime friend and occasional political adversary Clayton Hee. "She was tough-minded and she could be very expressive, but my own view of her was that her style grew out of the fact that deep inside her heart she had a lot of compassion for Hawaii and in particular Hawaiian people."
DeSoto, who overcame a rough childhood to become an outspoken advocate for disenfranchised native Hawaiians on the Waianae Coast, rose to prominence as a delegate to the 1978 state Constitutional Convention, where she shepherded a traditionally overlooked native Hawaiian agenda that ultimately led to the creation of OHA.
DeSoto served as chairwoman of the first OHA Board of Trustees in 1980, resigned in an unsuccessful bid for the state Senate, and was re-elected in 1986.
She resigned for good in 2000, along with the eight other trustees, following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision against OHA's Hawaiian-only elections in the Rice v. Cayetano case. DeSoto and the other trustees said their decision to resign en masse was meant as a show of solidarity in defense of right of native Hawaiians to elect their own representatives to the trust.
DeSoto, who once worked as a janitor at the state Capitol, maintained that the rise of OHA was key to giving Hawaiians a voice in a political arena that would otherwise ignore them.
Throughout her life, DeSoto proved unafraid to speak out on a host of controversial issues. She was active in the Protect Kahoolawe Ohana, led the movement against the U.S. Army's use of Makua Valley for training, and was outspoken on topics such as use of blood quantum for determining benefits to native Hawaiians and the disposition of funds generated by ceded lands.
DeSoto was married to John "Cobra" DeSoto, the local motorcycle racing legend and co-founder of the Hawaii Motorsports Association, who died in 2006.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Replies
Yes, we shall all miss her and the special moments we had with her.
Tane
To aunty frenchy i use to see you with uncle pushing you on the wheel chair , and the last time i seen you on the bus and i payed my respect to you there. Now i see you here on the maioli world before the news, well i pay my respect to the families of aunty frenchy aunty i usually stop going to funerals, i know you are in heaven and watching me write to you, i was that close to you everytime when i seen you. Aunty thank you for being so nice to me when i came over to you and say hello to you all the time when i seen you.
Here is a poem to you and the families, Even though you are gone may the love of you be so profound , may the nation grow as one for the lost of our OHA person has gone, no one can replace what ypou have done , for sweat and joy and tears you have won, even when not taking the seat of senate , you still kept up with it even though the time has come and now we must join as on may the 2 kingdoms come together and have peace under this weather, even the floods that went outrage may the wicked be removed from this state, for not telling you two the secret that was not to be told May the lord be unfold and the REAL kingdom be told . AloHA AUNTY FRENCHY AND MAY THE GOOD LORD BE WITH ALL OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES AND KEEP US SAFE TOO TILL WE MEET AGAIN IN OUR FATHERS HANDS
amen