ASSOCIATION OF HAWAIIAN CIVIC CLUBS
A RESOLUTION
No. 2018 – 20
URGING RECOGNITION FOR KA ‘OHANA O KALAUPAPA IN ITS EFFORTS TO ESTABLISH THE KALAUPAPA MEMORIAL
WHEREAS, Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa, a non-profit Native Hawaiian organization established in 2003, is made up of Kalaupapa residents, family members, and descendants of individuals sent to Kalaupapa since 1866; and
WHEREAS, Kalaupapa resident Clarence “Boogie” Kahilihiwa is President of the Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa, and Kalaupapa resident Bernard K. Punikai‘a is Honorary Chairman of the Board; and
WHEREAS, their membership also include professionals involved in preserving the history of Kalaupapa, and longtime friends of the community; and
WHEREAS, Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa recognizes the importance of the kama‘āina, mea kōkua, and children that were born at Kalaupapa and they are committed to ensuring that the residents of Kalaupapa be able to live out their lives there with the support and services they need; and
WHEREAS, Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa is committed to ensuring that the people taken from their families and sent to Kalaupapa, of whom 90 % were Native Hawaiians, are given their rightful place in the history of Kalaupapa, of Hawai‘i, and of the world; and
WHEREAS, on December 22, 1980, as a result of the efforts of resident and education advocate of Kalaupapa, Richard Marks, others at Kalaupapa and the community at large, and then United States Representative Patsy Mink, Kalaupapa was designated a National Historic Park; and
WHEREAS, on March 30, 2009, the United States Congress passed the Kalaupapa Memorial Act which directed the United States Department of the Interior to authorize Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa to establish a memorial listing the names of those who were sent to the peninsula due to government policies concerning leprosy; and
WHEREAS, Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa’s ongoing project is to establish the Kalaupapa Memorial that will eventually list the names of everyone who was sent to Kalaupapa and their families; and
WHEREAS, of the 8,000 people who have lived and died at Kalaupapa, fewer than 1,000 have marked tombstones, and the memorial will return the names of all these individuals to their rightful place in a history that they helped to create and provide families with a place to remember their kupuna; and
WHEREAS, a traveling exhibit “A Source of Light, Constant and Never-Fading” presented by Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa focuses on the very personal relationship between the Royal Family and the citizens of the Hawaiian Kingdom who were forcibly sent to Kalaupapa because they were thought to have leprosy now officially called Hansen’s Disease in Hawai‘i; and
WHEREAS, this exhibit has been made available to the people of Hawai‘i beginning in 2012 through 2018; and
WHEREAS, on July 21 and 22, 2018, the Hawaiian Inter Club Council of Southern California hosted “A Source of Light, Constant and Never-Fading” at the Ho‘olaule‘a at Alondra Park, and the exhibit received praise and a warm aloha from all who visited it.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs at its 59th Annual Convention in Kalapaki, Kauaʻi, in the malama of Welehu and the rising of ʻOlepau, this 17th day of November 2018, urging recognition for Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa in its efforts to establish the Kaulapapa Memorial; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs consider inviting Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa to share their traveling exhibit “A Source of light, Constant and Never Fading” at its 60th Annual Convention to be held on Maui in 2019, and hosted by Maui Council of which Moloka‘i is a part; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted to Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa, DeGray Vanderbuilt and Valerie Monson, Kalaupapa Memorial Committee, Hawaiian Inter Club Council of Southern California, ‘Ahahui Kīwila Hawai‘i o San Diego, Kaha I Ka Panoa HCC, as well as the Governor of the State of Hawai‘i, President of the State Senate, Speaker of the State House of Representatives, Chair of the State Senate Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the State House Committee on Ocean, Marine Resources & Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and all County Mayors.
The undersigned hereby certifies that the foregoing Resolution was duly adopted in the malama of Welehu and the rising of ‘Olepau on the 17th day of November 2018, at the 59th Annual Convention of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs in Kalapaki, Kaua‘i.
Annelle C. Amaral, President
