Hawaiian National Lands Settlement - State Negotiating with Itself
A few thoughts on OHA's proposed settlement on
the so-called "ceded" lands which are in truth Hawaiian national
lands...
OHA does some good things to
benefit the Hawaiian people.
But the
basic fact is that OHA is part of the state government. The state government is
the local administrative authority of the United States' illegal occupation of
the Hawaiian islands.
Since Rice v.
Cayetano, OHA's trustees are elected by the entire voting population of the
state, and anyone can run for trustee. OHA has no claim whatsoever to
legitimacy as a representative of the Native Hawaiian people, much less the
Hawaiian kingdom national population or
government.
So in this settlement
proposal, it is basically the state negotiating with itself over how to divvy up
the land and assets of the Hawaiian kingdom.
I don't doubt that some folks involved
have sincere interest in the benefit of the Hawaiian people and want to try to
get as much land and assets as possible to support the welfare of the Hawaiian
people, so I don't want to personally denigrate anyone who may feel like they
are acting in good faith under the present
conditions.
But I think it is
absolutely essential to keep in mind the perspective that this is in fact just
the illegal state negotiating with itself. OHA doesn't represent the Hawaiian
national population, and whatever the outcome of this bill, OHA cannot make any
agreement or settlement on behalf of the Hawaiian national population or its
government, and cannot extinguish or diminish the rights of the Hawaiian kingdom
and its people under international law. That is important to put on the
record.
Hearing on the proposed
settlement bill is scheduled for next Monday, March 17 at 2:45 pm in Capitol
room 414.
Posted: Thu - March 13, 2008 at 09:43 PM