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+--- Thread: More on Homeless Native Hawaiians (/showthread.php?tid=18396)
RE: More on Homeless Native Hawaiians - Eric1600 - 05-26-2017
MarkD, part of the problem with those assumption is also based on a western cultural views. You don't have to be rich to be happy. You don't have to have money to enjoy your life. You don't need a fancy car or a huge house to enjoy your family. The 15 year old report Wailua Boy pasted, http://www.ksbe.edu/_assets/spi/pdfs/reports/demography_well-being/05_06_5.pdf, emphasizes:
Income is a common—but sometimes misleading-measure of material well-being. An understanding of family income must take into account the broader context of
household circumstances and economic conditions.....
It is important to note, however, that income and poverty are measures that reflect whatis often considered a Western perspective on quality of life. The Native Hawaiian population has remained strong and resilient despite widespread socioeconomic disadvantage, and much of this resilience may lie in the cultural and social strengths that form the foundation of Native Hawaiian families and communities. For more on these and other Native Hawaiian strengths, see KaHuaka‘i:2005 Native Hawaiian Educational Assessment by Kana‘iaupuni, Malone, and Ishibashi (2005), from which this report was derived. Developing the socioeconomic capacity of Native Hawaiians and building on the community’s strengths will be key in enabling Native Hawaiian families to provide for their children culturally,spiritually, socially and economically.
So I just want to repeat what I said earlier: Don't try to sew all these threads of HHL, religious rights (keep in mind many anti-TMT people are not native Hawaiian), sovereignty, homelessness into one narrative because you'll just end up with knots.
Yes poverty is high particularly with Native Hawaiians. It is even worse for the Pacific Islanders who come here. See table 8.2: https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/AAPI-IncomePoverty.pdf But even this study, like several State studies, sometimes puts Pacific Islanders into the same group as Native Hawaiians.
There's no coincidence that the focus for the TMT was to provide a lot of funds to expand good job opportunities with priority to Hawaiians, create a large educational fund managed by locals for kids and encourage Hawaiian cultural growth (probably not necessarily religious depending on your views of Mauna Kea) for both Hawaiians and for people that come here. You won't find Walmart or Target or Home Depot giving millions to do these things and they are directly leasing from HHL rather than the state, much less giving $250k per year directly to OHA.
All that aside, there is a specific, powerful and rich group specifically to help "Group B": OHA. You might be interested in this 2012 PBS Interview https://vimeo.com/36155852 OHA manages half billion dollars in assets as of 2016 ($574,805,179). Watching the video (and reading their financial statements) is a bit frustrating for me, and probably others.
You can read OHA's financial statement: http://19of32x2yl33s8o4xza0gf14.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/OHA-2016-FS_Final.pdf OHA is supposed to be the organization working directly with the State to help Hawaiians. In the report you can see what they are spending their money and time doing.
RE: More on Homeless Native Hawaiians - MarkD - 05-26-2017
From Eric: part of the problem with those assumption is also based on a western cultural views. You don't have to be rich to be happy.
I agree very strongly and see this as a major part of some of our problems. Most mainlanders, IMO, are highly acquisitive. This outlook, for the most part, does not see much value in sharing, especially with strangers.
Hence, for example, many Caucasians from the mainland see no problem with building big houses on the shoreline and then trying to block local people from accessing the coast. That there is a problem here is completely alien to them.
They have been doing this for 150 years (the proverbial "haoles with their big houses on the beach.") A big culture clash. No confusion in my mind as to why Caucasians (my race) have historically been viewed as one of the least desirable immigrants to Hawaii.
There is a long history of native Hawaiians (and others) complaining that the haoles are always taking, taking, taking.
RE: More on Homeless Native Hawaiians - Eric1600 - 05-26-2017
Race wasn't really my point. And if you really feel the need to point fingers at races, here in Hawaii it's the Asians (mostly Japanese) that run things and have higher incomes.
RE: More on Homeless Native Hawaiians - MarkD - 05-26-2017
OK. And I will clarify that my "taking" statement refers primarily to the taking of land. And it happened a long time ago, and much of the land has new owners, who paid for it. (The first "owners" just appropriated the land.)
And the same pattern of land appropriation occurred around most of the world.
But this observation goes a long way in helping explain why some native Hawaiians, American Indians and similar peoples who historically had a "you do not have to be rich to be happy" outlook are having major problems competing.
RE: More on Homeless Native Hawaiians - leilanidude - 05-26-2017
Hence, for example, many Caucasians from the mainland see no problem with building big houses on the shoreline and then trying to block local people from accessing the coast. That there is a problem here is completely alien to them.
-------
Does it make any difference what size the house is?
Do Hawaiians not ever build big houses on the shoreline and try to block access through their property?
RE: More on Homeless Native Hawaiians - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 05-26-2017
I don't feel I'm dreaming big, I only feel it is a logical, workable solution.
I agree with you Tink. Unfortunately my comment to "dream big" may not have been as clear as I intended. I meant to say that DHHL may consider our ideas overly ambitious.
Both your suggestions and mine are real world ideas that could be implemented without a great degree of additional effort. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. As you pointed out, Habitat for Humanity could be used as a blueprint, easily applied here in Hawaii. Modifying the building codes to suit the needs of all Hawaiians who would like to build on a DHHL property, not just the relatively wealthy as it's structured now, would also alleviate the housing problem in a big way.
RE: More on Homeless Native Hawaiians - Eric1600 - 05-26-2017
OK. And I will clarify that my "taking" statement refers primarily to the taking of land. And it happened a long time ago, and much of the land has new owners, who paid for it. (The first "owners" just appropriated the land.)...
But this observation goes a long way in helping explain why some native Hawaiians, American Indians and similar peoples who historically had a "you do not have to be rich to be happy" outlook are having major problems competing.
I might not be getting your point exactly, but you should travel the various Pacific Islands before making the link that taking lands and introducing western standards is what makes people not competitive in the world, especially in remote areas like islands in the pacific.
RE: More on Homeless Native Hawaiians - MarkD - 05-26-2017
Questions from Leilanidude and comments:
1. Does it make any difference what size the house is? A large house signifies an affluent owner, and these folks have a track record of commandeering the shorelines (I discussed details in other threads).
2. Do Hawaiians not ever build big houses on the shoreline and try to block access through their property? Sure Hawaiians sometime do. But if one goes to Alii Drive or North Shore Oahu or North Shore Kauai and surveys the shoreline ownership, Caucasians dominate.
I look for patterns of behavior in most things. We can ignore these patterns, but I see more value in noting them.
Another comment on the race thing. If we dispensed with this we would not have affirmative action in college admissions. If we selected students purely on academic achievement, the ratio of students would be something like: 90% Asian, 7% white and 3% other
Several days ago, another access issue on Portlock, Oahu. The landowners are at it again.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/35502757/portlock-gate-controversy-highlights-beach-access-clashes-statewide
RE: More on Homeless Native Hawaiians - Eric1600 - 05-26-2017
Such a mish-mash of assumptions. From the article you linked:
"...it's really the lack of enforcement by our government agencies."
...
Professor David Callies says skirmishes have risen because Hawaii law does not guarantee access to the public beach
It's not so much a race thing.
RE: More on Homeless Native Hawaiians - MarkD - 05-26-2017
I can agree we can define it as a rich person thing rather than a race thing. I have followed the shoreline issue for decades. It is an important concern for many local people in Hawaii.
I agree maybe it is not of much of significance in Puna, though those threads I pulled from Punatalk that dated back 8-10 years ago showed a lot of concern. (I posted them last month.)
I guess all those posters are long gone from Punatalk. (I think I would have been more at home here at that time.)