Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 5, 1 May 2000 — TRUSTEE MESSAGES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Help Learn more about this Article Text

TRUSTEE MESSAGES

Alonq history ortreaties

ĪHE RECENT high court ruling invalidating OHA's voting practices and challenging its existence is clouded with other adverse claims. One is that OHA beneficiaries do not have a treaty with the United States and therefore do not enjoy recognition. There are five treaties or eonventions between the United States and Hawai'i, whieh means treaties do exist between the parties, even though they might be conveniently overlooked: • The first convention was eoncluded on Dec. 23, 1826 and in its Article I it confirmed the peaee and friendship between the United States and their majesties, the queen regent and Kauikeaouli, king of the Sandrespective citizens and 5tTBj'^ietk and and declared that peaee and friendship perpetual. • A second treaty was ratified on Aug. 19, 1850, and it eonfirmed in its Article I that there would be peipemal peaee and

amity between the United States and the king of the Hawaiian lslands, his heirs and successors. • In a third case, a Postal Convention was concluded between the United States of America and the Hawaiian Kingdom and was approved by causing the seal of the United States to be afifixed thereto by President U.S. Grant on May 5, 1870. • A fourth treaty was the Treaty of Reciprocity signed by King Kalakaua on June 17, 1876. In Article I it said, "For and in consideration of rights and privileges granted by his majesty the king of the Hawaiian Islands in the next succeeding article of this Convention, and as an equivalent therefore, the United States of Ameiiea hereby agrees to admit ~ l^(^tfig'scfieāure: "^^ame^hem^ the growth and manufacture or produce of the Hawaiian Islands, into all the ports of the United States, free of duty." • A fifth instrument or supplementary convention was enacted

by means of a proclamation to note that both parties had ratified » oi itw> 1 876 Treaty of Reciprocity on Nov. 9, 1887. This review explains Hawai'i and its people have treaties with the United States dating back many years. It also indicates they are perpetual, particularly the Postal Convention of May 5,

1870 whieh is still operational. Īhese treaties respect Hawai'i as an equal and its dominion and domain or jurisdiction over the lands and waters of Hawai'i. Also these treaties or conventions ean be viewed from the perspective of the 1993 Public Law

103-150, known as the Apology Bill, and its intent to achieve reconciliation, whieh ean be eonstrued to mean we do have neeessary treaties, not as a dependent sovereign nation but rather as an equal with the United States that expected recognition. Further, we do not feel the 15th Amendment should apply in this case. Hawai'i's treaties have been called peipemal and ean be recognized as such. It is conceivable that the president ean eall for recognition of Hawai'i's treaties as a beginning to address Rice vs. Cayetano and its threat to OHA's practices. In Rice, for the first time ever, the high court has applied "reverse discrimination" and has favored the colonizers of Hawai'i. There may now be a need for a sixth treaty to permit the closure of the 1893 landing of armed United States marines in Honolulu, whieh then President Grover Cleveland called "an act of war." They remain here today without any settlement. ■

[?]

"These treaties respect Hawail as an equal and its dominion and domain or jurisdiction over the lands and waters of Hawail."

[?]