Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 3, 1 March 1998 — AUTONOMY ACT [ARTICLE]

AUTONOMY ACT

The "Native Hawaiian Autonomy Act" is divisive and cynical in the extreme. Autonomy and sovereignty are synonymous. Certainly the drafters of this bill knew that states are prohibited by the U.S. Constitution from involvement in the establishment or recognition of any sovereign entity. In that context, U.S. District Judge David Ezra admonished us as legislators last year to avoid any involvement in furtherance of Native Hawaiian sovereignty. Native Hawaiians must cometo Washington and speak with a single voice that has no racial accent. All citizen of Hawai'i have an interest in the just resolution of Native Hawaiian claims. We must secure a loeal consensus to approach the federal government with a focused plan of action. The federal govemment has explicitly recognized the inherent sovereignty of the Native Hawaiian people and their right to self-determmation. I urge all members of the legislature to commit ourselves to end division along ethnic lines and to bind all to a united front so that the implications of that federal recognition ean be realized. Malama Solomon State Senate