INDIGENOUS Hawaiian PEOPLES RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, the Native Hawaiian peoples are the indigenous peoples of the
islands of Hawai`i; and
WHEREAS, Queen Lili'uokalani did not abdicate her throne, but was forced
to relinquish it on January 16th, 1893, in order to protect her Hawaiian
peoples from certain violence and genocide; and
WHEREAS, in the 1993 Apology Bill to the Native Hawaiian peoples,
President Clinton acknowledged the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of
Hawai`i and formally recognized the American and the Hawaiian societies;
and
WHEREAS, prior to statehood, Hawai`i was scheduled to become an
independent nation recognized by the United Nations; and
WHEREAS, under statehood the children of the indigenous Hawaiian peoples
have experienced a U.S. government-imposed, two tiered system of
discrimination based on fifty percent blood quantum, both below and above,
which has divided the indigenous Hawaiian peoples; and
WHEREAS, the indigenous Hawaiian peoples have been deprived of the
exercise of their sovereignty, including self-determination, control of
their islands and ocean resources, use of their language, and exercise of
their cultural and religious practices; and
WHEREAS, the self-determining indigenous Hawaiian rights movement has
sustained momentum from the first contact with other nations; and
WHEREAS, the Hawai`i National Organization for Women (NOW) has formally
recognized the existence and work of the independent indigenous Hawaiian
peoples' NOW VISION SUMMIT self-determing grassroots sovereignty movement
since October 1, 1994; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. government is currently conducting a sovereignty vote
through the State Office of Hawaiian Affairs (SOHA);
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that NOW provide moral support for and encourage
political recognition of the self-determining indigenous Hawaiian peoples
and the newly forming independent indigenous Hawaiian women's
non-governmental organization.
Submitted by: Racial and Ethnic Diversity Committee
Author: Audrey E. Keesing, MPH, President of Hawai`i NOW
I have been informed that the independent indigenous Hawaiian women's
non-governmental organization has been named by a 91 year old kupuna and
it is open to all indigenous Hawaiian women of one drop Hawaiian blood.
The name of the women's organization is 'Na Wahine O Ke Anuenue,' literally
"Women of the Rainbow," whose kuleana(sp?) is Ho'omau Pono, "Perpetuating
Righteousness."
This is the first and only resolution on the indigenous Hawaiian peoples
civil and human rights to be submitted before NOW to my knowledge. It is
my hope that it is the first of many more, because as we know from shared
experience, if the civil rights of Hawaiian women are not upheld, then
Hawaiian and women's human rights are not upheld. I think the timing of
the passage of this resolution could not be better. The time is Hawai`i
NOW:)!
I would like to thank the indigenous Hawaiian people for their hospitality
and generousity to five generations of my family, (including my ancestors
Thomas Jaggar, volcanologist, Felix M. Keesing, founder of the Department of
Anthropology at the University of Hawai`i, and Roger M Keesing, a Solomon
Islands anthropologist and a hanai spiritual ancestral guide interned with
the indigenous Kwaio peoples) and for teaching me and mine the meaning of
Ho'omau Pono.
With best wishes...May all your dreams and prayers come true through love,
harmony, peace, and understanding.
Aloha and mahalo,
Audrey E. Keesing
President, Hawai`i NOW
(808) 735-3786
Sam & Julie Monet
P.O. Box 309
Haleiwa, Hawai`i 96712
Sam: Ph 808-638-8934
Julie: Ph 808-638-7299
Fax: 808-638-8018
email: monet@aloha.net