Growing up in Pearl City, Krystal Ka‘ai said she sometimes took living in Hawaii’s “beautifully diverse” communities for granted. That changed when she moved to the mainland and realized that her strong sense of cultural identity could better inform her work and guide her passions.

The Kamehameha Schools graduate made history in 2021 as the first Native Hawaiian appointed executive director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. She said she hopes to bring that same inclusivity and strong cultural identity that she grew up with to the national scale.

Ka‘ai is among at least nine people from Hawaii or with local ties who have been recently appointed or nominated to key federal positions, most of which seek to better support and advocate for AA and NHPI communities. Some of these appointees and other local community leaders say this is a good step in the right direction in bringing more visibility to and representation from Hawaii. But many also say that execution is key moving forward, pointing out that there is still a lot more work needed to continue pushing for social, economic and racial justice.

“Representation is important. We are not monolithic. We represent so many different ethnicities and various backgrounds,” said Ka‘ai, who is Native Hawaiian, Japanese and Portuguese. “One of the great benefits is really being able to ensure that the folks 5,000 miles away in the islands are included in the work that we are doing at the national level that directly impacts people all across the country.”

The White House initiative, which was first launched during the Clinton administration in 1999, seeks to advance equity, justice and opportunities for AA and NHPI communities. That includes promoting inclusion, expanding language access and assistance programs, improving efforts to disaggregate data, and addressing anti-Asian hate and violence. President Joe Biden announced Ka‘ai’s appointment in May, and the initiative launched in December.

As part of the White House initiative, Biden announced in December the selection of 23 members to serve on the all-volunteer President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, which makes recommendations to the administration on key issues.

Michelle Kauhane, senior vice president of community grants and initiatives at the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, is one of five people selected for the commission who are either from Hawaii or have Hawaii ties. None of the Trump administration’s 12 appointees to the commission in 2019 were from Hawaii.

Kauhane, who is Native Hawaiian, Chinese and Portuguese, said she applied for the commission because she wanted to bring her experiences working in the AA and NHPI communities to the national scale. Kauhane, who grew up in Kaneohe and lives on Hawaiian homestead land in Kapolei, graduated from Kamehameha Schools and is former president and CEO of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.

“I gave it a try, and I definitely thought it was a long shot,” she said. “We’re an island state in the middle of the Pacific, so our challenges and opportunities are different. It’s important to have voices from all communities at the table where decisions are being made.”

For the first time, Native Hawaiians were included in the White House initiative’s name. (It was formerly called the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.) That already shows progress, said Kuhio Lewis, president and CEO of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.

In August, Lewis was part of a group of about a dozen AA and NHPI leaders whom Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris invited to the White House to talk about issues facing their communities. Lewis, the only Native Hawaiian at the meeting, said he talked about economic development and visibility.

“These are all little things that will equate to just being visible as a community,” he said. “The opportunity for me to be at the White House, it came by way of people from our ethnic groups advocating. This is critical to our evolution, to our representation and diversity being elevated in all of these positions.”

Besides Kauhane, Amy Agba­yani, an emeritus assistant vice chancellor for student diversity and equity at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, was selected as a commissioner. Born in the Philippines, she served as chairwoman of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission.

Others with Hawaii ties named to the commission include Kimberly Chang, a California doctor who was born and raised in Honolulu; Kerry Doi, a fourth-generation Japanese American born on a Hawaii plantation who heads the Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment; and actor Daniel Dae Kim, who lives in Hawaii.

“The skill sets of the commissioners run the gamut of different issue areas,” Kauhane said. “We each not just represent a region, but an issue area of importance to the administration.”

Biden also nominated ‘Iolani School graduate Nani Coloretti as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget in November. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she would be considered one of the highest-ranking Asian Americans in government and the highest-ranking Filipino American in the Biden administration. Colo­retti served as deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Obama administration.

And in September, fellow ‘Iolani School graduate Summer Lee Haunani Sylva was appointed as the Department of the Interior’s senior adviser for Native Hawaiian Affairs. Additionally, Keone Nakoa, born and raised in Honolulu, was selected as the Interior Department’s deputy assistant secretary for Insular and International Affairs. A UH Manoa graduate, Nakoa previously worked as the Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ Washington, D.C., bureau chief and a speechwriter for the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka.

Sylva, who is Native Hawaiian, Portuguese, Tahitian and Scottish, grew up in Waimanalo and served as executive director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., where she led litigation on water rights, public trust and Native land claims. She said that serving the Native Hawaiian community “has always felt like a privilege and kuleana to me.”

“While protecting and enhancing government entitlements, programs and services for Native Hawaiians are an important part of this work, so too is having a deep and emphatic understanding of the historical trauma and injustices that continue to plague our community,” Sylva said in an email to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “Making room for those who know firsthand the needs of their community is a prerequisite for meaningful trust building.”

Need for ‘concrete changes’

Key issues that Ka‘ai said she plans to work on include addressing the disproportionate health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to NHPI populations, data disaggregation, greater access to language assistance programs, and the rise in anti-Asian hate and violence. Kauhane said her priorities include tackling homelessness and the pandemic’s impacts, particularly in the NHPI communities, as well as expanding access to language assistance. Sylva added that some of her priorities are working to strengthen the Hawaiian Home Lands trust and the legal obligations owed to beneficiaries, and protecting natural and cultural resources.

Local community leaders say other issues they hope will be prioritized are the inequities in the criminal legal system, access to clean water, economic development and voting rights. They agree that having more representation from Hawaii is a good first step but is not the be-all, end-all solution.

They also agree that the islands are well positioned to lead the push for more representation and equity. Hawaii is the most ethnically diverse state in the country, according to 2020 census data.

Hawaii also has the largest Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations in the country, according to census data. About 37% of Hawaii’s population is Asian, followed by California with 15% and New Jersey with 10%. Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders account for about 10% of the state’s population, followed by Alaska with 2% and Utah with 1%. Those numbers reflect census respondents who identified as Asian and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander alone.

When including those who identified as Asian alone or in combination with other ethnicities, that number jumps to nearly 57% for Hawaii. The same is reflected for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, who increase to 27% of the state’s population.

Josie Howard, CEO of We Are Oceania, a nonprofit that serves and advocates for the Micronesian and Pacific Islander communities in Hawaii, said she hopes this representation on the federal level will lead to more federal funding for groups like hers. One of the nonprofit’s greatest challenges, she said, is building capacity and finding money to continue supporting their communities.

Howard, who is from Onoun island in Micronesia, said she also hopes to see more representation from the COFA community in the future. “COFA” refers to the Compacts of Free Association, an agreement that authorizes migration to the U.S., as well as financial, social and health assistance, to those from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau.

Minda Yamaga, first vice president and president elect of the Japanese American Citizens League Honolulu chapter, a civil rights organization that works to challenge racism and bigotry directed against Japanese Ame­r­icans and the greater Asian American community, said representation can lead to more meaningful conversations about key issues facing the AA and NHPI populations.

But she pointed out that the White House initiative isn’t new, so she hopes that these initiatives and Hawaii representatives will move beyond conversations to affect change.

“We are happy to support these kinds of nominations and appointments. It’s certainly in step with our mission,” Yamaga said. “But we do want to make note that this is not the end of the story by any stretch of the imagination. There’s a lot of work still to do. Concrete change comes from advocacy, funding and money. Representation is a step. It is not the final step.”

Lewis of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement agreed that “this is about building. This is a very positive first step in the right direction that will allow us to open even bigger doors. (But) it’s not going to be the be-all.”

Ka‘ai acknowledged that there is a need for systemic, structural changes when it comes to the inequities faced by AA and NHPI communities. She said that is one of the White House initiative’s long-term goals.

“We truly feel, and I personally feel, that we are at an inflection point for our community,” Ka‘ai said. “Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and everything that we’ve seen over the past two years with the rise in anti-Asian hate, there is a level of visibility at the national level for the AANHPI community unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. We are ready to hit the ground running.”

9 WHO WERE NAMED TO FEDERAL POSITIONS

>> Krystal Ka’ai, executive director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

>> Michelle Kauhane, member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

>> Amy Agbayani, member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

>> Nani Coloretti, nominated as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget

>> Summer Lee Haunani Sylva, senior adviser for Native Hawaiian Affairs at the Department of the Interior

>> Keone Nakoa, Interior Department’s deputy assistant secretary for Insular and International Affairs

>> Kimberly Chang, member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

>> Daniel Dae Kim, member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

>> Kerry Doi, member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

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Jayna Omaye covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national serv­ice organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under­covered issues and communities