‘We’re moving forward with our kingdom’

KAPAA — New faces. Similar messages.

Dayne Aipolani, the Alii Nui (high chief) of the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi, said it’s important that everyone work together — somehow — to move forward for a better future for the Hawaiian people.

“We’re not here to scold these people,” he said. “They’re not responsible for what happened back in the overthrow, but we are going to take responsibility now and we’re moving forward with our kingdom.”

Tuesday brought to a close a pair of public meetings on Kauai to discuss whether the U.S. Department of the Interior should re-establish a government-to-government relationship with Native Hawaiians.

Much like the meeting Monday in Waimea, the majority of those who spoke before press time at Kapaa Elementary School voiced similar opposition to the idea.

James Alalem told the DOI panel “hell no” to its series of questions related to the idea, and said the department is not about protecting the Hawaiian people.

“You guys protecting only you guys self because you want Hawaii,” he said.

Others, however, felt very differently.

Bill Fernandez, a Kauai native and retired judge, said he believed that “the only reasonable, rational course that Hawaiians can take is to have a government-to-government relationship with the United States of America.”

By doing so, he said Hawaiians would have the opportunity to protect their language, culture, gathering rights, sacred places and more. Fernandez also said he felt U.S. law can be fair, especially to native people, drawing a loud roar of disapproval from the crowd.

“How many Hawaiians you put in jail as a judge?” one man yelled from the back of the room, forcing the facilitator to intervene.

A large police presence outside the building kept things peaceful. Several people waved posters, with the words “Ignore the Truth” and “De-occupy Hawaii Nei.”