November 12, 2020 – Restorative Justice for Native Peoples: Stories from the Pacific and the U.S. Continent. Our final Maoli Thursday for the Fall 2020 semester featured a conversation with Indigenous activist-scholars and WSRSL graduates, Julian Aguon, human rights lawyer and founder of Blue Ocean Law, and Derek Kauanoe, Professor of Practice at the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law, on envisioning restorative justice for Native Peoples. They explored pressing questions such as: Does the law further or hinder justice for Native Peoples? Can it repair the harms of colonization — land dispossession, cultural destruction, and the loss of political sovereignty? How can a restorative justice approach further Native Peoples’ claims to self-determination, including the return and restoration of ancestral land and resources? Ka Huli Ao Post-JD Legal Fellow N. Mahina Tuteur moderated.
October 14, 2020 – The Collective Memory of Injustice: History, Law, and Native Hawaiian Rights’ Claims. Our second Maoli Thursday of the semester was held on a Wednesday! It featured a conversation with Dr. Kamanamaikalani Beamer, Professor of Hawaiian Studies (with a joint appointment at the William S. Richardson School of Law and Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge), and Dr. Troy Andrade, Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Ulu Lehua Scholars Program at the William S. Richardson School of Law. Our speakers probed compelling questions: How does a society’s historical framing of group injustice shape the power of that group’s present-day justice claims? How do dominant narratives about historical events determine whether historical injustices are repaired? How might a reframing of the collective memory of injustice be deployed to advance Native Hawaiian rights and self-determination? Associate Director and Faculty Specialist Susan Serrano moderated.
September 17, 2020 – Race, Rights, and Resistance: A Law School Conversation. Our first ever virtual Maoli Thursday of Fall 2020 featured a conversation with Dean and Professor of Law Camille Nelson and Professor of Law Emeritus Charles Lawrence on the relevance of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in these tumultuous times. Our esteemed speakers explored what “justice” means in times of COVID, vast economic inequality, and intensifying racial and political polarization. They also considered how CRT’s tools can foster connections between Black Lives Matter and Native Hawaiian advocacy efforts. Professor of Law andKa Huli Ao Director D. Kapuaʻala Sproat moderated.
March 5, 2020 – Carmichael v. Board of Land and Natural Resources: The Fight for Maui’s Waters Continues. Our last Maoli Thursday of the Spring 2020 semester focused on Carmichael v. BLNR, a case arising from a lengthy and complex dispute over water rights in East Maui. At the heart of Carmichael are four revocable permits issued to Alexander and Baldwin, Inc. and its subsidiary, East Maui Irrigation Co., Ltd., authorizing the diversion of millions of gallons of water from four areas of the Koʻolau Forest Reserve. Carmichael could have sweeping impacts on the use of public trust resources, Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices, and statutes implementing land use regulations and vital resource protections. Speakers included Alan Murakami, staff attorney at the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation; David Kimo Frankel, an attorney specializing in environmental and Native Hawaiian legal issues; and Isaac Moriwake, managing attorney at Earthjustice’s Mid-Pacific regional office. Summer Sylva, executive director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, provided commentary, and Kaulu Luʻuwai, 2L, moderated.
February 13, 2020 – I ka ʻOlelo Ke Ola: Education and Advocacy in the Wake of Clarabal. Ka Huli Ao’s first Maoli Thursday of the Spring 2020 semester focused on Hawaiian language education and advocacy in the wake of Clarabal v. Dep’t of Educ., a case that held that the Hawaiʻi Constitution imposes on the State a duty to provide for a Hawaiian education program in public schools that is reasonably calculated to revive the Hawaiian language. Panelists included: Kamehaʻililani Waiau, principal of Ke Kula ʻo Samuel M. Kamakau, Laboratory Public Charter School; David Kauila Kopper ’10, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation; and Amy Kalili ’06, ʻOiwi TV and director of Mokuola Honua. Liʻipiʻilani Stevens Nāhiwa ’21 moderated.
