Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 11, 1 November 1996 — Pay up Hawaiʻi: Don't blame Hawaiians [ARTICLE]

Pay up Hawaiʻi: Don't blame Hawaiians

Gov. Ben Cayetano's remarks on Honorable Judge Heely's fair and just decision on Hawaiian land issues shows his laek of respect. The governor's bad mouthing of the aboriginal people's share of ceded land revenue tells me he is anti-Hawaiian. The ceded land revenue settlement awarded native Hawaiians is a small part of the lion's share that the state presently enjoys. The governor's insistence on changing the law so that the Hawaiians' share of revenue will be drastically reduced is unconscionable. Ceded land is stolen land, and the state has no clear title to it. The Apology Bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton determined this.

The exact amount of Hawaiian land ceded to the U.S. by the Provisional Government of 1898, without the native population consent, is unclear. Don't blame Hawaiians for the state's deficit. Blame the past and present administrations. Their extravagant ways have done us in. Why should the native Hawaiian get them off the hook by sacrificing our share of ceded land revenue? What other state of the union eontrols more than 50 percent of its land mass revenues thereof? This state is rich, yet our governor is not satisfied with this windfall of ill-begotten land. Paul D. Lemke Kapa'a, Kaua'i