i was in awe and amazed.. when i came upon a story i heard.. on the news and newpaper... whether it is fact or opinions of the editor or person or persons who is telling the story... about a woman who is appealing her court case because she is a native hawaiian.. kanaka maoli. what ever the case is about i have my opinions but to hear and see for my own eyes.. what we as hawaiians will resort to...TO NOT BE ACCOUNTABLE FOR OUR..OWN ACTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES. i am not questioning the case.. or the reason it is being done...but the amazement of how the kanaka maoli in this case thought they are not ruled by the law of the land... UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. then whose rules do the native hawaiians follow today... go by and who is in charge...there was this saying my mother used to say alot..when she came home from trying to hooponopono hawaiian groups or organizations....she said.. babygirl...there are just way too many CHIEFS.. then INDIANS!TOO MANY PPL WHO WANT TO LEAD AND YET DONT KNOW HOW... she used to say that alot..that is the dilemma, that is what confuse me as a hawaiian individual ...if we are not governed by the United States of America then whose laws are we following now??? as a KANAKA MAOLI.... ???i do not agree with what happened.. ppl will be judged by the big man upstairs...for their actions as an individual. Native hawaiian or non native hawaiian we all will be judged by the almighty man himself.. But the law of the land is what we ALL IS governed by...yes ppl will have issues with this statement but as i said ....our keiki o ka aina .. is our future leaders who will decide what happens to us as we get old and so to see things like this being done.. it is very confusing.. to see and understand what does it really mean to be..NATIVE HAWAIIAN... WHAT IS EXACTLY A NATIVE HAWAIIAN.. PURE HAWAIIAN... there is not many in this time and era.How do they determine what is right and wrong.. but thru our actions today.. what we decide to do today will determine our future.it bothered me for several days... how we as kanaka maolis call ourselves... will be looked upon in the present and future ...if we think being native hawaiians gives us special privilegs...it does not...if we mess up.. amend it and fix it and move on.. cus our future leaders are watching us.. how we as kanaka maolis of today .. act.thank you for reading.. this blog may not make sense... cus i am not judging this kanaka maoli.... but how we as the kanaka maoli of today will be looked upon tomorrow. and to our future kanaka maoli.. aloha no e malama pono a hui hou kakou.,.. mapuana
A very good debate indeed. I'm hawaiian, cherokee, and Irish and I was raised mainland with little knowledge about my heritage growing up. I felt the emptiness of something missing and sought it out. Being Hawaiian is in our blood, our genes, our spirit. We know deep down when something is pono or not, fight as we may, we know.
Looking at the bigger picture, we must take into consideration the "law of the land". At the same time Hitler was the law over Jews at one time too. That doesn't make it right just because that regime was in charge.
As a people, a culture, we must fight to preserve what is ours otherwise noone will. We don't have a king or queen to fight for us, we don't have an army to stand our ground, but they can fight through us.
As people of the land, native Hawaiians are protected by certain laws that reflect a long history of the relationship of Hawaiians to the lands and waters of this pae aina. This can be viewed as privilege, but also as compensatory recognition of balance against rights taken away by a history of disenfranchisement. Sometimes we see people trying to use those laws to get away with something, like going to another island, taking rocks, selling them for profit, then, when confronted by law, claiming that their actions were a privileged right.
You are correct, when such privileges are abused, it adds to arguments that those privileges are undeserved, and heightens the danger that there will be movements to remove those rights. With rights come responsibilities; that is the lesson of this century, with so many clamoring for rights, some with strong sense of kuleana, and others without either the knowledge or the moral foundation to exercise those rights. I hope the future generation looks back at these times and nod in approval, rather than shake their heads in shame.
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Looking at the bigger picture, we must take into consideration the "law of the land". At the same time Hitler was the law over Jews at one time too. That doesn't make it right just because that regime was in charge.
As a people, a culture, we must fight to preserve what is ours otherwise noone will. We don't have a king or queen to fight for us, we don't have an army to stand our ground, but they can fight through us.
Who we are is who we were and who we will be.
You are correct, when such privileges are abused, it adds to arguments that those privileges are undeserved, and heightens the danger that there will be movements to remove those rights. With rights come responsibilities; that is the lesson of this century, with so many clamoring for rights, some with strong sense of kuleana, and others without either the knowledge or the moral foundation to exercise those rights. I hope the future generation looks back at these times and nod in approval, rather than shake their heads in shame.
mahalo for your post