Hawaiians on long and winding road

We won’t be surprised if the six-month delay the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs just announced in its nation-building process grows even longer.

OHA trustees have now heard loud and clear — first at a special OHA public hearing in May and again during a series of statewide, televised hearings held by the U.S. Department of the Interior in June and July — that Hawaiians want more time to educate themselves and their friends and families about what is at stake.

Already, some critics are saying that two years are needed to truly enhance the effort, and that this short extension won’t be enough. Hawaiian nationalists, whose views were dominant at the recent hearings, are among those calling for more time.