• November 4, 2021 – Indigenous Sustainability and Resilience to Climate Extremes: Traditional Knowledge and the Systems of Survival. The final installment of a three-part exploration of emerging issues at the intersection of environmental justice and Indigenous rights. Speaker Dr. Rebecca Tsosie Rebecca Tsosie is a Regents Professor of Law at the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. She previously directed the Indian Legal Program at Arizona State University and is credited with establishing a nationally recognized center known not just for its educational leadership but also its direct service to tribal governments. Professor Tsosie, who is of Yaqui descent, also serves as a justice for the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation Supreme Court and as a judge on the San Carlos Tribal Court of Appeals. 

• October 14, 2021 – Wai and Waiwai: Restorative Environmental Justice and the Future of Fresh Water. Panelists will explore how restorative environmental justice can inspire and inform community-oriented law and policy solutions to our most pressing water issues across the pae ʻāina. Panelists include Dr. Kamanamaikalani Beamer and Post J.D. Fellow Uʻilani Tanigawa Lum.

• April 1, 2021 – The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands: Learning from the Past, Shaping the Future. The final panel of a three part series which will explore the future of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands in light of historical struggles and systemic challenges to fulfilling the promise of HHCA. Panelists include Deputy Chair Tyler Gomes and Chief Operations Officer Rebecca Soon. Moderated by Professor of Law Emerita, Melody Kapilialoha MacKenzie.

• March 4, 2021 – The Current Re-Emergence: Recent Challenges to Implementing the HHCA. This second panel will explore current challenges to implementing the HHCA by sharing updates on state judicial and legislative actions, and potential Congressional approval of earlier state-passed amendments to the HHCA. Speakers Lehua Kinilau-Cano and Dr. Jonathan Likeke Scheuer will frame these efforts in the historical struggles over many of the same issues, as well as the systemic challenges to fulfilling the promise of the HHCA. Moderated by Ka Huli Ao Post-JD Fellow Sabrina Kamakakaulani Gramberg.

• February 4, 2021 – Land, Race, and Restorative Justice: 100 Years of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (HHCA). Ka Huli Ao’s first Maoli Thursday of the Spring 2021 semester featured a conversation with Former Governor John D. Waiheʻe, attorney Carl Varady, and Professor Troy Andrade on “Land, Race, and Restorative Justice: 100 Years of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act.” Through a restorative/reparative justice lens, our Spring 2021 Maoli Thursdays will explore the Act’s history, its current challenges, and future opportunities for fulfilling Prince Kūhiō’s vision. Part I examined the state’s trust responsibility under the HHCA, the claims process, and the recent Hawaiʻi Supreme Court decision in Kalima v. State.