Gov. Abercrombie today signed into law SB1520, which was created by the state legislature as a state-level substitute for the Akaka Bill once the Republicans took over Congress and it became apparent that the window had closed for any hope of a federal recognition bill passing any time soon.
It spends several pages recounting the history of the state’s relationship with Native Hawaiians, including mention of “the Sovereignty Advisory Council, the Hawaiian Sovereignty Advisory Commission, the Hawaiian Sovereignty Elections Council, and Native Hawaiian Vote, and the convening of the Aha Hawai’i ‘Diwi (the Native Hawaiian Convention)” which were all variations on the same theme, the state trying to facilitate some process for “Native Hawaiians” to organize a government. They had with varying levels of participation and none of them actually resulted in much as far as ongoing process or established institutions, but they were part of an evolving dialogue and educational process. But we really have been through this before already, for good and bad, and I get a bit of deja vu with this bill. Even with OHA itself, OHA is described in this bill as a “trust vehicle to act on behalf of Native Hawaiians until a Native Hawaiian governing entity could be reestablished…” and before Rice v. Cayetano there was already a roll of eligible voters in the OHA election, with basically the same criteria, which was just a subset of the whole state election roll.
Anyway, then it has the formal statement of recognition.
The Native Hawaiian people are hereby recognized as the only indigenous, aboriginal, maoli people of Hawaii.
The bill then establishes “a five-member Native Hawaiian roll commission within the office of Hawaiian affairs” appointed by the governor and nominated by “qualified Native Hawaiians and qualified Native Hawaiian membership organizations.” One member must come from each of the four counties, with one member at-large. The commission then compiles and publishes a roll which
shall serve as the basis for the eligibility of qualified Native Hawaiians whose names are listed on the rolls to participate in the organization of the Native Hawaiian governing entity.
and
is intended to facilitate the process under which qualified Native Hawaiians may independently commence the organization of a convention of qualified Native Hawaiians, established for the purpose of organizing themselves.
Then it has the disclaimers, including ”
Nothing in this chapter is intended to serve as a settlement of any claims against the State of Hawaii, or affect the rights of the Native Hawaiian people under state, federal, or international law.
So that’s the bill.
Here’s the AP initial breaking news article and the state senate news release in the Molokai Dispatch. There’s also an op-ed piece in the UK Guardian by J Kēhaulani Kauanui which expresses an opposing argument from a pro-independence perspective.
Update: here’s the full report from the Star-Advertiser.
(I’ll share some of my own thoughts about the bill when I get together soon.)
So all the lies come home to roost. Occupation has run its course and Hawaiians have had enough. Independence was always our first and only choice. Free Hawai’i!
Hey. First of all, I respect that it’s not your job to educate non-Hawaiians about these issues, so I understand if you don’t wish to answer my questions for any reason.
I was just curious to know about how the qualification/enrollment system for Native Hawaiians might work. Will it be as it is with some other Indigenous enrollment rules and require a “blood quantum”? If a person is of mixed Native Hawaiian/other heritage(s) but was raised by and well connected to their Native Hawaiian community, will that person have the same rights as other “full-blooded” Native Hawaiians? Who gets to decide about whom is a Native Hawaiian or not? I hope that non-Native Hawaiians won’t be involved in that process, but that doesn’t mean that prejudices won’t arise even if the committee that decides on these matters is fully composed of Native Hawaiians. The Molokai Dispatch article you linked above seems to favor the law, while the first commenter beneath that article is highly critical of the law and states that the law dictates to Hawaiian Nationals (by which I assume they mean Native Hawaiians?) about whom can be considered Native Hawaiian.
I am completely for Hawaiian sovereignty, so I’m not trying to contest the legitimacy of this new law or Hawaiian independence by asking these things. However, I’m curious about the kinds of questions that this law might raise or re-raise for Native Hawaiians (especially those of mixed ancestry) about which people have land rights, inheritance rights, the right to participate in decision-making, etc.
I really appreciate your time and any information you can share or link to me about this subject. I’d love to learn more. Thanks!
To me SB NO. 1520, S.D.2, H.D.3, C.D.1 that was Gov. Abercrombie signed is a piece of convoluted legislation put together to substantiate fancy rather than legal fact, an expediency that looks like justice and compassion, but really is using language inaccurately as the means to justify a foul end in the guise of justice and compassion. It would take me a great deal of time to put together a position paper in opposition to what is coined in this American law.
I will just say here that the term “inherent sovereignty” used in this law to reflect what was said in the Apology bill is a loaded term that will choke the Hawaiian people in the end because “inherent sovereignty” is not the same as “sovereignty” in the legal sense as defined by Black’s Law Dictionary.
To quote from Dr. Sai’s dissertation, p. 182, “Self-determination, inherent sovereignty, and indigenous peoples are terms fundamentally linked to not just the concept, but to the political and legal process, of de-colonization, which presupposes sovereignty to be an aspiration and not a legal reality.”
This so-called recognition law designed and fostered by the Hawaii State Legislature, a puppet government of the U.S. Federal Government, signed by the U.S. Governor of the State of Hawaii and to be initiated by OHA (another puppet) is strictly another mode of promoting the Akaka bill to make it look reasonable.
Remember that kanaka ‘oiwi are the major component of the lahui – descendants of the Hawaiian citizenry under the Hawaiian Kingdom – a free, independent, and sovereign state.
Don’t get on the OHA roll. Instead, keep on rolling, friends.
Aloha kakou!
Mahalo for the comments above. I was riding my bicycle today and was just fuming! I am sick of the American Empire and her bastard minions, i.e. Fake State! When I was little my mother, she was English and my father a Scott, she used to tell me bedtime stories of the bombing of London by the Nazis. I thought it was very exciting at 10 years old-bombs, fires, raining shrapnel, but now I understand it for what it was…an invasion. Presently, I have an American passport for convenience, so I can work in the States and with those under her “care”. But, I can’t wait for a working Hawaiian Kingdom so I can apply for a passport and with it to be a subject of her. I don’t care if I can go only to one or two other countries at first with my new passport, say, Switzerland or Tahiti Ha! I just want out of the evil, lying, cheating, murdering US Empire! The gloutenous whore. I feel like this every day. I thought too, well if the Hawaiians are the native, aboriginal, and maoli peoples of Hawai’i then the Fake State of Hawai’i will have to recognize their genius of the past. Say, the brilliant thrust of the Hawaiians to become a nation, treaties, embassies, Constitution etc. etc. with a population of different races as nationals. Too, her creation and ability to uphold the Constitution of 1864, et al, the penal code, and the civil code etc. And in which there is a form for becoming a national…$5 payment and an oath of allegence. I’m up and ready for that! Wonder what they’d do, the “entity”, and what the Fake State would do with such a request? Then, we’d find out pretty quickly who are puppets and whose pulling the strings! But, I have a feeling we already all too painfully know.
Imua Hawai’i!