Winona Rubin

From dKosopedia

Category: Native Hawaiians

Winona Kealamapuana Ellis Rubin, widow of Judge Barry J. Rubin, headed up the non-profit Hawaiian education group Alu Like for 10 years and ran the state Department of Human Services from 1986 to 1994.

Alu Like Inc., which provides social services to more than 17,000 native Hawaiians, is largely dependent on federal money. Alu Like's services include child care, at-risk youth education, vocational training and elderly programs for native Hawaiians. Rubin is one of the founding members of Alu Like.

In a Star-Bulletin article dated July 18, 2005, Rubin voiced her take on the Akaka Bill:

"People act like they have a crystal ball and are reading all kinds of things into the Akaka Bill. It is just a second step in a long series of steps started with the Apology Bill," said Winona Rubin, a leader in the native Hawaiian community and chairwoman of the board of Alu Like Inc., a nonprofit service organization founded in 1975 to help native Hawaiians achieve social and economic self-sufficiency.

"There is nothing in the bill that indicates decisions that will be made relative to any new native Hawaiian government," Rubin said.

"The bill is good because it finally recognizes native Hawaiians at the level they should be recognized at with other indigenous peoples (American Indians and Alaska natives)."

The Akaka Bill sets up a process designed to lead eventually to the formation of a native governing body that would have a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

Rubin and others say the bill only authorizes the creation of the new native Hawaiian government and does not itself create it. Further, they said the bill does not give any new government control over land, people or resources. Under the Akaka Bill, such authorities would be the subject of future three-way agreements involving the new government and the state and federal governments. [1]

Rubin is the recipient of the 1999 David Malo Award.

External Links

• Pros: This is a chance to follow up on ’93 Apology (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 7-18-05]