Aloha mai kākou,
I support OHA.
I say that plainly because I believe it sincerely. Not because OHA is perfect. No institution made up of people ever will be.
I say it because I believe in what OHA was created to be. And I hope more of us will say it, too – not because everything is pono, but because what OHA becomes depends on whether we participate in shaping it.
Nearly 50 years ago, Native Hawaiian founders, activists, poets, kiaʻi, lawyers, kumu, mākua and kūpuna imagined something extraordinary: that Native Hawaiians should have a representative voice in government and an institution dedicated to advancing the wellbeing, self-governance and aspirations of our lāhui.
OHA was born from that vision and from the movement that fought to save Kahoʻolawe, stood with Kalama Valley families facing eviction, revived ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and Hawaiian culture, and refused to let Hawaiʻi’s history, identity and people become scenery for someone else’s prosperity.
Its founders were Kānaka determined to hold the state accountable to the unfulfilled promises of the Admissions Act – and to honor the debt owed for the ancestral lands whose transfer made statehood, and much of its own prosperity, possible.
OHA has always been kūʻē, mālama pono and aloha ʻāina made manifest. Those values are its moʻokūʻauhau.
Today, OHA is building a trust approaching $1 billion while investing deeply in our lāhui each year, turning trust assets into opportunity and improving the lives of Native Hawaiians.
And OHA’s statewide elected Board of Trustees is chosen by the people it serves. Unlike private aliʻi trusts, whose trustees are appointed by judges – who are themselves appointed by governors and political leaders – OHA’s trustees are chosen by the people. This is not criticism; it’s a distinction that matters.
At OHA, a Kanaka’s choice can become a board seat. A board seat can become policy. Policy can become action.
That is an extraordinary expression of public trust; a belief that our people can choose leaders with the vision, qualifications and courage to serve with integrity, and that their collective decisions can reflect the best interests of beneficiaries and the trust entrusted to them.
OHA is not a creature of state government. Native Hawaiian visionaries and allies fought for a different future. OHA is ours because they willed it into being. And it is ours because we have the power to decide what comes next.
OHA is, in many ways, our best efforts and our neglect made visible. Laid bare. That is the truth.
So choose wisely. But more importantly, choose.
Do not walk away. A nearly billion-dollar trust created specifically to advance the needs and aspirations of Native Hawaiians is worth participating in, holding accountable, and guiding.
OHA is still becoming. “I ulu nō ka lālā i ke kumu.” The branches grow because of the trunk.
So water OHA. Bring your voice, your vision, your questions, your criticism, your hope, and your kuleana. And begin with something simple: I support OHA.
And then help us make it worthy of saying.
Ke aloha nō mau a mau,
Summer Lee Haunani Sylva
Ka Pouhana Kūikawā
Interim Chief Administrator
