submitted hcc-waimanalo resolution for ahcc convention

8/14/2019 Submitted HCC-Waimanalo Resolution for AHCC Convention

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RESOLUTION NO. __________

URGING THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII TO ADOPT ANOFFICIAL LANGUAGES ACT SIMILAR TO THOSE ADOPTED BY CANADA AND

IRELAND TO ENSURE THE CONTINUED RESTORATION OF THE HAWAIIAN

LANGUAGE

WHEREAS, along with Hawaii, the list of officially multilingual countries and U.S.jurisdictions now numbers no fewer than 44, including Abkhazia, American Samoa, Aotearoa

(New Zealand), Belgium, Bolivia, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, China (Hong Kong &

Macau), Czech Republic, Djibouti, Ecuador, Finland, Guam, both cities of Hialeah & Miami

(Florida) and San Francisco (California), India, Israel, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan,Kenya, Kyrgyszstan, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway,

Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovenia, Somalia,

Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; and

WHEREAS, several other governments provide bilingual services by right for

indigenous minorities, including Australia, England (Wales) and Mexico; and

WHEREAS, Native Hawaiian entities, be they cultural groups, civic groups, political

groups, or religious groups have traditionally included use of the Hawaiian language in some

form as a defining aspect of their collective identity and indigenous sovereignty; and

WHEREAS, in 1978, the general population of the State of Hawaii through popular

vote for a new state constitution to include Article XII, Section 7, confirmed their support ofthe right of native Hawaiian people to maintaining traditional and customary rights, among

which is to right use of the Hawaiian language within ones daily life, as well as to includeArticle X, Section 4, confirming their support of special promotion of the teaching of theHawaiian language in publicly supported education in Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, the Native American Languages Act of 1990 reversed a centuries longhistory of the United States finally recognizing the right of Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives

and American Indians, to give official status to their languages and use them in their own

government, and in activities supported by the federal government, including public

education; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. census reported a 90% growth in reported use of the Hawaiian

language in the home between 1990 and 2000 from 14,315 to 27,160, resulting in expansionto 6.7% of the 401,162 Native Hawaiians within the United States reporting use of the

Hawaiian language in their homes; and

WHEREAS, it is predicted that the numbers of Native Hawaiians reporting use of the

Hawaiian language in the home will again double to more than 12% of all Native Hawaiians

by the census in 2010; and

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WHEREAS, Hawaiian language education is generally perceived as if it were

enrichment and foreign language education, and because of this perception, Hawaiian

speaking children are yet seen as having no right to education in Hawaiian since there ispresently no guarantee that Hawaiian speaking children may choose Hawaiian medium

education and receive transportation to their schools; and

WHEREAS, some Hawaiian children are leaving Hawaiian immersion programs for

fear of being inadequately prepared for acceptance into the colleges and universities of their

choice; and

WHEREAS, fluency in Hawaiian is not a minimum qualification for employment in

Kula Kaiapuni Hawaii (a Hawaiian language immersion school) and standardized testing of

students in these schools in Hawaiian is not available (despite proof that nationalstandardized tests as used in Hawaii are biased against minority children, even when such

children are educated in English); and

WHEREAS, the Hawaiian Civic Clubs were originally organized through theHawaiian language, and included in their organizational structure a Hawaiian language

secretary; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaiian Civic Clubs have advocated for many of the legal

provisions and organizational structures that have allowed individual kpuna, mkua, pio,

and kamalii to move forward in grassroots, individually-motivated revitalization of theHawaiian language; and

WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians away from the Hawaiian Islands have actively workedto maintain and strengthen knowledge of the Hawaiian language among their own families

and communities by joining together as exemplified by the spread of Hawaiian Civic Clubs

to nine states outside of Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, 40 years after the adoption of their Official Languages Act, Canada has

grown from a country where English predominates to a country proud of its two officiallanguages, and support for bilingualism among Canadians is at an all time high; and

WHEREAS, Article XV of the Hawaii State Constitution declares Hawaiian to be an

official language except that Hawaiian shall be required for public acts and transactions onlyas provided by law; and

WHEREAS, an Official Language Act, upon adoption by the Hawaii StateLegislature, will establish the equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to the use

of official languages in all institutions of the legislature and government of the state;andWHEREAS, nearly 2,000 residents of Hawaii, including Aha Pnana Leo and three

public officials and candidates for State, Municipal and Office of Hawaiian Affairs offices,

are members of Hawaii Bilingual which supports a Hawaii residents right to receive public

services in either official language of Hawaii.

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NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Association of Hawaiian Civic

Clubs in Convention at Makena, Maui this 7th day of November 2009, that the StateLegislature adopt an Official Languages Act similar those adopted by Canada and Ireland to

ensure the continued restoration of the Hawaiian language.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Hawaii State Legislature adopt legislation

that: 1) ensures respect for both English and Hawaiian as the official languages of the State

as well as ensures equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in allgovernmental institutions, in particular with respect to their use in the Legislative

proceedings, in legislative and other instruments, in the administration of justice, in

communicating with or providing services to the public and in carrying out the work of State,

County and municipal institutions, 2) supports the development of Hawaiian and Englishlinguistic minority communities and generally advances the equality of status and use of the

Hawaiian and English languages within the Hawaiian Islands, 3) sets out the powers, duties

and functions of governmental institutions and public bodies with respect to the official

languages of the State, including the establishment of an Office of the Commissioner ofOfficial Languages (and to define its functions), as well as 4) provides for the publication by

the Commissioner of Official Languages of certain information relevant to the purposes ofthis Act and related matters.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, in

Convention at Makena, Maui this 7th day of November 2009, calls upon the federalgovernment of the United States to assure that, in accordance with the Native American

Languages Act, continued efforts are made at the federal level to create polcies, structures

and programs to assure that Native Hawaiians be supported in their use of the Hawaiianlanguage (in addition to the English language) in federally funded programs for Native

Hawaiians in the State of Hawaii and elsewhere;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted

to the Governor of Hawaii, State Senate President, State Speaker of the House, State Senate

Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, State House Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, Office ofHawaiian Affairs Chair of the Board of Trustees, Mayor of Honolulu and all County Mayors

and Council Members of the Counties of the State of Hawaii, all Royal Societies, and the

Chairs of the Boards of Trustees of the Alii Trusts and Kamehameha Schools, the Sovereign

Councils of the Hawaiian Homeland Assembly, and the members of the Hawaii Delegationin the United States Congress.

INTRODUCED BY: Hawaiian Civic Club of Waimanalo

REFERRED TO: ________________________

ACTION: ______________________________

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