Aug. 5, 2026

Leaders from Kamehameha Schools, Papa Ola Lōkahi and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands opened the 25th annual Native Hawaiian Convention with a discussion on self-determination as their institutions face renewed legal challenges.

Throughout the conversation, panelists returned to a common belief: no single institution can fulfill its mission alone. Papa Ola Lōkahi CEO Sheri Daniels said health, education, housing and economic opportunity are all deeply interconnected, making collaboration across organizations essential to the well-being of our kaiāulu.

“One of the practices that community can do is practice kapu aloha,” Daniels said. “We want you to have a voice. We want you to be engaged. But I’m asking community to be mindful of how … and when you engage.”

Kamehameha Schools CEO Jack Wong grounded that sentiment in Ke Aliʻi Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s vision, saying KS’ kuleana is to prepare every Hawaiian learner to lead with service and purpose.

“Princess Pauahi’s legacy is to educate her people, so they can continue to lead in this community,” Wong said. “Our job is really to take that from the past, stand on the shoulders and move it forward.”

Looking beyond today’s challenges, the panel explored what it means to activate ea in the future. Wong said Native Hawaiian institutions remain living expressions of the Hawaiian Kingdom, continuing the work envisioned by Hawaiʻi’s great aliʻi.

“If we go to the schools that our aliʻi created, we go to the hospitals they created … if we go to and live in their homes, how do we question that that nation doesn’t still exist [if] it still continues to serve?” Wong said.

The speakers agreed that preserving its legacy depends on active participation. They encouraged the crowd to support Native Hawaiian organizations not only in moments of crisis but through everyday acts of partnership and civic engagement with kapu aloha.

“We have to work together … and if we continue to work collaboratively, we will have a big and strong impact on the lāhui,” Department of Hawaiian Home Lands Director Kali Watson said. “I stress you have to get involved rather than be passive. … We don’t cower in corners. We get out and we fight.”

Wong closed by returning to Pauahi’s vision, reminding the audience that the work of strengthening the lāhui belongs to everyone committed to Hawaiʻi’s future.

“I would like to see, in the future, that we emerge from this chapter the same way we came in,” Wong said, “as a nation.”