Berry and Van Norman will be engaging in discussions about specific areas of concern to native Hawaiians. On the first day, discussions will be focused on health, education, housing, culture, economic development, land and natural resources. For each issue, there will be a 45-minute discussion among the panelists, and it will be followed by one hour of public comment. To allow as many people to comment as possible, each person or organization will be limited to three minutes. Public comment will also be included, and each participant will be limited to three minutes for comments.
Every Hawaiian voice is needed.
We are going to lose out if the Hawaiians do not come. Reconciliation efforts were originally started by Sen. Daniel Akaka, who stresses that reconciliation should not be viewed as one particular issue or a narrowly defined process. Akaka wrote the U.S. Public Law 103-150, the apology resolution, which was signed by President Clinton and passed by the U.S. Congress in 1993. It was the first step in the reconciliation process. In the resolution, the United States apologized to the native Hawaiians for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai'i on Jan. 17, 1893.