http://www.starbulletin.com/editorials/20100226_Anne_Keala_Kelly.html
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Feb 26, 2010
NAME IN THE NEWS
Anne Keala Kelly
The Hawaiian nationalist and filmmaker says the Akaka Bill should be
rejected
By Christine Donnelly
The award-winning documentary "Noho Hewa: The
Wrongful Occupation of Hawaii" has continued to
anger, enlighten, provoke and inspire diverse
audiences long after its debut.
Filmmaker Anne Keala Kelly contends that the 1893
overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom affects every
aspect of life for native Hawaiians to this day.
Using the backdrop of live-fire military
exercises at Makua Valley; the unearthing of
ancient Hawaiian burial sites to make way for
luxury homes and discount stores; protests
against the Akaka Bill; and the struggles of the
homeless, Kelly makes the case that native
Hawaiians face systematic obliteration at the
hands of an American system that promotes
militarism, tourism and overdevelopment.
The film was honored as best documentary at the
Hawaii International Film Festival in late 2008
and last month won a special jury prize at the
Festival International Du Film Documentaire
Oceanien in Tahiti.
Kelly has attended more than 60 screenings
throughout Hawaii, discussing the film afterward
with thousands of viewers.
"Americans have rights, Hawaiians have kuleana,"
said Kelly, who considers it her personal
responsibility to bring attention to the Hawaiian
independence movement.
Of Hawaiian and Irish ancestry, Kelly was raised
in Southern California, keeping close ties to
family on Oahu and the Big Island. She moved to
Honolulu 10 years ago, after earning a master's
of fine arts in directing from the University of
California-Los Angeles.
Also a prolific writer, she's working on fiction
at the moment, deciding which of two short
stories to turn into a screenplay. "One is a
Hawaiian political comedy, which I need after
"Noho Hewa" because that was the most unfunny
movie I will ever make."
She considers herself lucky to get to the gym,
happy when she's in the ocean. The only thing she
misses about Los Angeles is the movies.
With the Akaka Bill just passed by the U.S. House
and pending in the Senate, Kelly discussed the
idea of native Hawaiians having federal status
akin to an Indian tribe.
QUESTION: So what do you think of the Akaka Bill?
ANSWER: What I think of the Akaka Bill is that
it's the United States government - state and
federal governments - attempting to further
confuse people and lie to people and cover up the
fraudulence of the U.S. presence in Hawaii, the
fact that it's an illegal occupation. ... This is
all a lie that's designed to confuse people and
also to give them the impression that Hawaiians
wanted to be part of the United States and now
acquiesce to being part of the United States, and
in reality the bill's designed to actually
extinguish Hawaiian title to the crown and
government land of the archipelago.
Q: To take resources away from Hawaiians?
A: They're always taking the resources away, for
over 100 years now. But they want to give the
appearance that Hawaiians agree to it. Since
1993, since the apology bill, especially, they've
been moving down this path.
Q: Then why do so many Hawaiians support the
bill? The Office of Hawaiian Affairs does.
A: How many people work at OHA? When you say
Hawaiians support it, so many Hawaiians, what
Hawaiians are you talking about? Nobody has ever
asked us as a people what we want. They have
never, ever come to the Hawaiians. When you go to
a state agency like the Office of Hawaiian
Affairs, that is the state, that is not the
Hawaiian people.
Q: If the Hawaiian people were asked what they
want, what do you think they would say?
A: Here's what I know. I know that when a
question is framed, it's usually framed to elicit
a particular answer. It's about process. It's
about how Hawaiians are able even to contend with
the original question about the Akaka Bill. If we
are going to talk about the Akaka Bill, then we
have to back up and talk about the Apology Bill,
then we have to back up and talk about statehood,
then we have to back up and talk about the
so-called annexation, then we're right back to
the overthrow. The expectation of the non-native
or the American government is that Hawaiians are
going to reach in and have this kind of
decisionmaking process about something like an
Akaka Bill when that's not the only issue here.
The legislation completely tries to distract
people from the real story here, what really has
happened to Hawaiians ... We have to look at all
our issues with America, not just an Akaka Bill.
We have to contend with all of it.
Q: So where do you start? Because (inaction) also
becomes a convenient way to block any progress.
A: But how do you define progress? There is no
progress if the rights of Hawaiians are taken
away in that process. This legislation makes sure
that Hawaiians can't bring land claims to U.S.
courts, that there's no way Hawaiians can hold
the military accountable, that there's no way
Hawaiians - even if they did manage to get a land
base, which they won't - can even have a casino.
This is all about what Hawaiians can't have. This
isn't about what Hawaiians can have. They want to
stuff a few hundred million dollars down our
throats, tell us "Aren't you lucky," and take all
our rights away? Forget it!
Q: Do you think the bill will get through the Senate?
A: That's not even the right question. The
question is "Why are they even trying to put it
through the Senate?" It's just like the treaty of
annexation that certain people in the United
States tried to pass in 1897 that they couldn't
pass; they tried in 1893 also. It should never
have been there. So no wonder it didn't pass. Why
are they even trying to bring it to the Senate?
It shouldn't even be there. It shouldn't exist.
Q: What do you think will happen in Hawaii if the Akaka Bill does pass?
A: It's just a continuation of what the United
States has been doing to Hawaiians for over 100
years. Our lives are not going to get better. And
the thing that I'm most concerned with is the
psychological impact that something like this
will have. I also think that five or 10 or 20
lawyers, some of them Hawaiian and some of them
not, are going to get stinking rich. That's
always what happens. The way I look at Sen.
(Daniel) Inouye is that in a way this is his swan
song. He wants to make sure that his life's work
of militarizing Hawaii is firmly in place. ...
This bill is about containing Hawaiian resistance
and containing Hawaiian sovereignty.
Q: But I've talked to other Hawaiians who speak
just as fervently in support of it, say it would
protect Hawaiian entitlements.
A: Federal aid? You know where they can stick
that, because if we had control of our own land
and resources, we don't need to borrow money from
nobody. We don't need their $70 million in
federal aid. It's like hitting somebody on the
head and then giving them an aspirin and saying
"Now don't you feel better?" This idea of us
having to live off of federal aid, off of the
welfare, the crumbs, that the United States is
going to throw to us, is absurd and insulting.
We're very capable of running our own affairs,
without nonprofits like the Council for Native
Hawaiian Advancement telling us how to do it.
It's the nonprofit industrial complex of the
Hawaiian community that's going to be turned into
a bunch of corporate entities. I promise you that
those people (supporting the bill) are Hawaiians
who are getting something from the government.
And you can't really take those opinions
seriously, because it's a conflict of interest.
Q: So what do you want for Hawaii?
A: I'm just one Hawaiian. But what I hope for,
and what I pray for, every day - because I love
this place - is that it survives, that it
recovers. To see what's being done to it, to see
the place being swallowed whole, is just
soul-crushing. This place is worth saving,
regardless of what flag is waving over the
government buildings. We need a moratorium on the
desecration, no more taking our kupuna out of the
ground. No more! We need a moratorium on forcing
Hawaiians into a situation that makes them
homeless in their homeland. Real estate
overdevelopment needs to stop. I don't ever look
at this just as a nationalist issue. We're forced
to talk about it in terms of the law. We're
forced to talk about it in terms of politics. But
we are never allowed to talk about it in terms of
our humanity. And that's really the only way we
should be discussing the future of any place. Can
we sustain our own humanity? I would hope that
all Hawaiians would just stand up and say, "I'm
Hawaiian. I have a responsibility here." Despite
what's happened to us. Despite what the United
States has done. I have a responsibility to take
care of this place.
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