Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 8, 1 August 2000 — Congressional bill [ARTICLE]

Congressional bill

The draft of Senator Akaka's Hawaiian bill to be introduced in Congress is ugly. Hawaiians deserve more than the status of Native Americans who are subservient to the United States. The age of majority of our citizens, as well as who is a Hawaiian, are done deals in the bill. Calling our nation a "Native Hawaiian governing body" is an insult. The time line for a census of Hawaiians is within one year of the bill's passage, and requirements are for a general meeting to nominate the Hawaiian interim goveming eouneil within 90 days and elections in 30 days. What's the msh? Why does the Secretary of the Interior have authority over the timetable? Hasn't the Native Hawaiian Convention developed constimtions to critique? Are we going to redo what a group of elected Hawaiians has already done? The nastiest features of the bill are the eliminahon of OHA and the validation of annexation, statehood and the power of the United States to make Hawaiians wards and pass that authority to the state. The reaffirmation section kills our right to create a nation with full control over our assets. So far the good has eluded the Hawaiians but we have received more than our share of the bad and ugly. We must kū'ē. Lela Hubbard 'Aiea Thanks to Sen. Akaka for his bill on Hawaiian sovereignty. Note the U.S. apology. Note the discussions leading to the decision in Rice vi. Cayetano. There was reference to

Native Americans, the Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Indian Affairs. There is talk of a "nation within a nation" and perhaps land held in trust similar to the arrangement with American Indians. At the time of the annexation, Hawai'i was recognized as sovereign by other nations, including the U.S. Geographically, Hawaiians are from the Pacific Oeean area, not the American continents. Therefore, Hawaiians are not Native Americans or American Indians. A tmly sovereign Hawaiian nation should conduct its relationship with the U.S. through the State Department, not Interior or its Bureau of Indian Affairs. Hawai'i could exist beside the U.S. rather than within it. Hawaiians could have dual citizenship and benefits from both. Although the entire nation was seized, many Hawaiians are asking only one part of their nation be returned. The U.S. has supported the retvun of New Guinea and Hong Kong, but it is slow to retum what it has taken. Now is the time to begin. Meanwhile, our nation will always live within the hearts and culture of its people. Stanwood B. Formes Albuquerque, N.M.