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HENKEL: Thank you, Dana. Next is Ronald Fujiyoshi on the list.
<br />FUJIYOSHL Aloha. My name is Ronald Fujiyoshi. I'm the treasurer of Ohana Ho`opakele,
<br />and I wanted to actually thank the staff of the Planning Department including from the Director
<br />on down for their cooperation and the Windward Planning Commission members. I know it's
<br />been a long time so there's been some changeover in membership on this, but this is a study
<br />that the studies, the psycho -sociological studies a long time coming. And, at first, it wasn't the,
<br />there were five organizations that put the proposal forward including Sierra Club, Pele Defense
<br />Fund, Malu `Rina, Puna Pono Alliance, and Ohana Ho`opakele, but it didn't quite fit the, the
<br />way the request was done. And, so even we—we were gratified that even with the first claims
<br />adjuster recommending it not be passed, the Planning Commission unanimously passed it over a
<br />year ago. And, here we are more than a, almost a year and a year and a half, even beyond a year
<br />and a half later, and it still hasn't been done. So, I'm glad that we finally, it seems that the pieces
<br />are together. That, it's—it's there.
<br />Now, I think for those of you who are new, the other proposal that was granted was the so-called
<br />Adler fund which was the geothermal public health study. And, in that, there was, at the end,
<br />there was no Native Hawaiian on that study, and in the last meeting, it was only then that the
<br />public of Native Hawaiians came forward and said how much was lacking in that study. And, so
<br />members who were on that study were part of the proposal that helped bring this proposal
<br />forward saying that it lacked the impact on Native Hawaiians. And, so it's not just a people
<br />only think about the health defects of geothermal but they haven't really studied the psycho -
<br />sociological impact on what it means to be Native Hawaiian and how it affects you.
<br />Now, besides being the treasurer of Ohana Ho`opakele since 2000, I'm also a pastor of the
<br />`Ola`a First Hawaiian Church, and I'm a Christian pastor and, you know, I'm part of this because
<br />our church in 1993, we had our president of the United Church of Christ come to Hawaii and
<br />apologize to the Native Hawaiians for the complicity of our church in the overthrow. At that
<br />time in 1993, when I was part of that, we didn't really know the complicity of the church in the
<br />overthrow. And, now, we're finding out even more, and so, recently, I found out that the five top
<br />people in our church drafted the Bayonet Constitution that forced Kalakaua to give up more of
<br />his rights and give it to his all -white advisory group.
<br />And, so, we're saying, you know, the church, you know, my church people, you know, because
<br />of their racist attitudes, they demeaned the culture that was here and just treated them as pagans,
<br />and that kind of impact has gone on up till this point with the banning of the Hawaiian language,
<br />rewriting of history of the Hawaiian people so that people grew upI grew up not knowing that
<br />history. And, I grew up here in Hawaii.
<br />And, so I think we all know that this study is a long coming, and it will help really provide some
<br />of the data that we can now move on into the future and correct some of the injustice that was
<br />done in the past, so thank you very much for working with us and bringing this proposal forward.
<br />Thank you.
<br />HENKEL: Thank you. Gary Harrold, you're next. You've got three minutes.
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