HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	159
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

RECOGNIZING THE HISTORIC, CULTURAL, AND STRATEGIC CONNECTIONS AMONG THE PEOPLES OF OCEANIA, OF WHICH HAWAI‘I IS A PART, AND URGING GREATER COLLABORATION WITH GOVERNMENTS OF NATIONS AND PROGRAMS AND TRAINING TO COMBAT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PACIFIC ISLAND COMMUNITIES.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the Oceania region in the Pacific Ocean constitutes what has been described by renowned Tongan scholar Epeli Hau‘ofa as a "sea of islands", with interconnections of history, culture, and strategic interests; and

 

     WHEREAS, some historians argue that civilizations in Oceania did not consider the boundary of their islands as being limited to their shorelines but rather to a perceived space in a much broader sense of space that extended far across the sea and sky; and

 

     WHEREAS, the diverse cultures and peoples of Oceania have significant deep and historic ties among one another, such as the contemporary theory that originally, Pacific Island peoples migrated from Taiwan and Southeast Asia; and

 

     WHEREAS, other commonalities include an Austronesian linguistic background, hundreds of years of trade across the Pacific prior to western contact and similar understandings of spirituality such as the concept of mana, as well as similar cultural practices such as the use and preparation of taro; and

 

     WHEREAS, the geographical and anthropological descriptions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia are western categorizations of the Pacific Islands that by themselves do not fully capture the complex and diverse nature of cultures in Oceania; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, that this body recognizes the historic, cultural, and strategic connections among the peoples of Oceania, of which Hawai‘i is a part; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body recognizes the contributions and accomplishments of the people from Pacific Island nations and territories in the State of Hawai‘i, and condemns racial and cultural discrimination, violence, and defamation against these individuals; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body urges the Governor and executive departments to collaborate and exchange best practices with the corresponding government officials of these nations on commonly shared policy issues such as combating sea level rise; strengthening ecological protection; furthering natural disaster mitigation and economic development; managing tourism, rural or remote access to healthcare and other necessities, and agricultural production; and promoting indigenous rights; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body urges the Governor to implement programs and training to combat discrimination against Pacific Island communities; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to Hawai‘i's congressional delegation; Governors of Guam, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Papua, and New Guinea; Government President of New Caledonia and French Polynesia; Prime Minister of the Cook Islands; Administrator Superior and Assembly President of Wallis and Futuna; Consulates General and heads of state of the Republic of Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Commonwealth of Australia, Independent State of Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Republic of Fuji, Solomon Islands, Republic of Vanuatu, Independent State of Samoa, Republic of Kiribati, Kingdom of Tonga, Tuvalu, Republic of Nauru, Niue, French Republic, and Republic of Indonesia; Governor; Director of Labor and Industrial Relations; Director of Health; Director of Public Safety; Superintendent of Education; Chairperson of the Hawaii Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights; Chief Executive Officer of We Are Oceania; Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat; Chair of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Center for Pacific Islands Studies; President of the East-West Center; President of the Pacific Forum; and Director of the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Peoples of Oceania; Hawaii; Historic, Cultural, and Strategic Connections