January 2004

Article by Katie Young

Haunani Apoliona has the hands of a musician but the heart of a native Hawaiian leader — a leader who's trying to design a new future for the people of Hawaii.

As a member of the local band Olomana, her thumbnails are left characteristically long — good for strumming her 12-string slack key guitar. But that's about the only visible sign that Apoliona, also the chairwoman and a trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, is a musician.

In her 12th floor OHA office on Kapiolani Boulevard, Apoliona's desk is covered with papers and important documents, a ti plant decorates her cabinet, and a United States census map hangs on the door depicting the number of Hawaiians that reside in each of the Mainland states.

Apoliona's Monday morning has already included a press conference to talk about the history of OHA before she sits down with MidWeek for a lengthy interview. Then she rushes off to another meeting with Gov. Linda Lingle and Congressional delegates regarding the Akaka bill, currently stalled in Congress.

With so many Hawaiian issues at the forefront of the news these days, she is focused and thoughtful, indications that Apoliona takes her culture and her charge as a trustee seriously.

She says it has been her goal to bring about a reformation of the often controversial OHA organization in the three years that she's chaired it.

"It has been a painful and challenging learning environment for me in my seven-year history with OHA, but I have learned a lot and gotten to work with some honorable and committed people," says Apoliona, who was elected as a trustee in 1996 — her first run for a public office. "We now look to the horizon of forming a Hawaiian nation that will assume a more extensive leadership role in the future of the native Hawaiian community."

Nathalie Walker photo

Looking to the future for Apoliona and OHA means dealing with several upcoming issues that are part of OHA's revised strategic plan "Hoʻoulu Lāhui Aloha," meaning "to raise a beloved nation."

"OHA's vision means that we're involved with supporting the passing of the Akaka recognition bill and at the same time helping to launch a Hawaiian governance process that is to help move self-determination for Hawaiians forward," says Apoliona.

The Akaka bill, Senate bill 344, if passed would provide a political status for native Hawaiians as it does for Alaska natives and American Indians.

OHA has chosen this Saturday, Jan. 17, (the 111-year anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy) as the time to begin the process of this new Hawaiian governance.

Starting at 11 a.m. in front of Aliiolani Hale (the judiciary building fronted by the statue of King Kamehameha), any person of Hawaiian ancestry may enroll, regardless of whether they reside in Hawaii or another state or country.

"They will be identifying themselves as Hawaiians," says Apoliona. "This is not an enrollment for the Akaka bill. Once people enroll, we will set the time for candidates for delegates to be identified, followed by an election of delegates. All this is scheduled to happen in the year 2004. Eventually, the goal is to convene an aha, a constitutional convention, that will work toward deciding on a new governing entity."

Apoliona believes that the Akaka Bill will pass and at that point, once the new Hawaiian governing entity is established, the delegates can debate and deliberate about what Hawaiian governance is going to look like in the future. The provisions of the Akaka bill could be a part of that.

The process will take a significant amount of time, notes Apoliona; no new governing body will spring up overnight. Currently OHA's focus is to get the largest number of Hawaiian people participating in the base enrollment.

Apoliona says that only from the largest number of enrolled Hawaiians can they elect the most promising delegates and leaders. If there is a weak turnout, there will likely be weak leadership later.

"It's time for the Hawaiian community to get in, participate and help design the future," she says. "It's an opportunity to take the next step and say it's been 111 years since the overthrow of the monarchy. Now we have a chance to chart the next 111 years going forward."

There is much pain yet to be healed from the 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani, says Apoliona. Through the generations that followed, there has been anger, pain, hurt and depression as Hawaiians have struggled as a people.

Yet, she says, there have been some significant strides for this native group.

"For example, some beneficiaries have realized benefits from the Hawaiian Home lands, there are all these service groups and aliʻi trusts that have tried to address some of these priorities and needs of Hawaiians."

Then came the Federal Apology Bill in 1993, which recognized that a wrong had been done to the native Hawaiians 100 years ago and that some form of reconciliation must occur.

A 1993 attempt to establish a native Hawaiian government by the state failed after lawmakers created the Hawaiian Sovereignty Advisory Commission. But lack of funding and opposition by native Hawaiian organizations prevented an election of delegates. Apoliona thinks that the political and social climates have changed and now is the right time to make a move forward.

This is why she believes participation is key. "Hawaiians cannot expect someone else to help resolve a history if the Hawaiian people don't take some leadership in it," she says. "And this governance process will challenge Hawaiians to step up and be a part of shaping some resolution. When that goes forward, we have to be able to let go of the anger and the hurt from the past. There is no turning back."

So what will happen to OHA then, an organization established by the state Constitution in 1978 by the Constitutional Convention (Con Con) as the initial steps of Hawaiian self-determination?

Eventually, says Apoliona, OHA will dissolve in light of a new governing body.

"At the time of its creation, OHA was viewed as having two priorities," she says. First was as a body that would regulate and track dollars that were going to benefit native Hawaiians from ceded land revenues. "The second was to be the vehicle to advance Hawaiian self-determination. OHA was always seen as the transition, interim entity."

When it comes time for that, OHA will have to determine how to transition its assets without "politics undermining it," says Apoliona. "That will take assistance from state and federal legislation and the community."

OHA's busy with other matters as well. A hearing on the Arakaki v. Lingle lawsuit was scheduled for this Monday, Jan. 14, to determine whether or not OHA would be dismissed from the suit in which 16 plaintiffs are seeking to stop all public funds to OHA. In November, a district court judge excused the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Hawaiian Homes Commission, state homesteaders association, federal government and other intervening parties from the suit.

Tad Tamura photo

Controversy is not new to OHA. It has been widely reported that the organization has had its share of problems over the years, including internal bickering among trustees as well as claims from the greater community regarding misuse of state funds to benefit only native Hawaiians, and disagreements within the Hawaiian community itself.

When Apoliona came to OHA in 1996, she knew the organization was in disarray, but hoped that fresh leadership would help.

Previously she had served as the executive director of Alu Like for six years and had almost a two-decade career with the organization. "I'm a social worker by training, and moving from Alu Like to OHA has just continued to reinforce my sense of being Hawaiian," she says. "Alu Like helped me gain a better appreciation for the kinds of challenges in our community from the standpoint of health, education and general well-being. Being at OHA has enlightened me on public policy and how it impacts our Hawaiian community. Sometimes what I've seen and experienced has appalled and alarmed me.

Other times it has been inspiring."

By recommendation of OHA's youngest trustee, John Waihee IV, Apoliona delivered the first ever State of OHA address in December.

"We know that OHA's relationship with the community has, at times, been troublesome," says Apoliona. "There has been a feeling that OHA has not heard or responded to the Hawaiian community's needs. This is not the kind of relationship OHA wants to have with the community."

Apoliona thinks that the OHA board has entered into a different stage of development with compatible leadership styles, talented trustees and a competent administrator in Clyde Namuo. She hopes it marks a turning point for a less-politicized OHA.

"OHA has been accused of trying to control everything, but that's not so," says Apoliona. "We're trying to catalyze change."

Fellow OHA trustee Oswald Stender has known Apoliona for over 20 years and supports her position. "Haunani has demonstrated her capabilities in her leadership of Alu Like and as chair of OHA," says Stender. "She has a Hawaiian heart, patience and a great devotion to the work that we do. And, of course, I love the music of Olomana."

It's hard to imagine that with all her OHA duties, Apoliona still finds time to play with Olomana, as she has for the past 22 years. She's still with the group every Saturday night at the Hilton Hawaiian Village from 8 p.m. to midnight.

But Apoliona, who on Page 30 plays her father's Martin guitar that she inherited in high school, says that many people have always recognized her as a musician first.

"At times that has been a more positive way to connect with the community or individuals," says Apoliona, who plays a double-neck acoustic Alvarez guitar with Olomana.

Those who have seen her depicted in only serious, ruminative poses in the media may be surprised to catch her on stage with Olomana, whose band members also include Jerry Santos, Wally Suenaga and Willie Paikuli. "People are surprised at what I say on stage; we joke around a lot," she says. "In many ways I am very shy, and I do have my serious side, too."

The music uplifts her spirit and takes her back to the days of her childhood when her musical family would sit under the lychee tree at her Saint Louis Heights home and Apoliona, a self-proclaimed "urban Hawaiian," would play the ukulele the way her father taught her.

As a Maryknoll School student in the 1960s, Apoliona, who is a mix of Hawaiian, Chinese and Caucasian, borrowed a classmate's guitar and taught herself how to play.

"I asked him, 'How do you make your fingers?' and he said, 'You play ukulele, right? So just put your fingers where your ukulele chords are and then figure out where your two other fingers would go.'"

To this day, Apoliona doesn't read music, but plays everything by ear. At first she played folk music, but in college she created a Hawaiian studies curriculum for herself at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. She became much more engrossed in all things Hawaiian, thanks to encouragement from her parents and kupuna Aunty Malia Craver, who works for Queen Liliuokalani Children's Center.

She played with fellow musicians Haunani Bernadino, Aaron Mahi and Eldon Akamine in the group Kaimana, and recorded an album in 1977.

The only solo recording Apoliona accomplished was in 1988. Na Lei Hulu Makua, Na Wahine Hawaii earned six 1988 Na Hoku Hanohano awards, including Traditional Hawaiian Album of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year. She captured another Hoku award for her 1994 recording with Olomana for her original composition E Mau Ana Ka Ha ʻaheo.

That title track was the last time Apoliona wrote a song. "I know there's more song inside of me," she admits. "Another solo album is still in the works. You have to wait for that creative spirit to direct you."

Apoliona says another Olomana album is also in discussion.

"Right now I only make up songs to sing to my dog, Makaʻi, but that doesn't count," she jokes. "What I'd really like to do is write a song for OHA, but again, when the spirit comes, the song will come."

Apoliona turns 55 next week, and this coming year holds much more than a numerical significance for her. There are OHA elections to think about, lawsuits to settle, legislation to push through and a new Hawaiian government to structure.

"I haven't changed my naʻau," Apoliona says. "I've always felt first that I'm Hawaiian."

"Each time when faced with a significant decision in my life I took the time to reflect and think, and to draw on the principles instilled by my parents, like service over self-service, earn your way through hard work, be fair and respectful of people ... and in the final analysis drew on the discernment that comes from the naʻau, which for Hawaiians provides a foundation of insight. As I look back, each decision laid the foundation for the next challenge and the next choice."

As with anything in life, when Apoliona made one choice, there were other avenues left uncharted — other paths she might never take or that would have to be set aside for later.

"Life is too short," she says. "And there is so much to do."

Article reprinted with permission from MidWeek Printing, Inc., copyright (c) 2004.