Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 12, 1 Kekemapa 2004 — Akaka Bill scandal [ARTICLE]

Akaka Bill scandal

We are saddened and disappointed by the phony parade of politicians, historians and lawyers, followed by our colonized Hawaiians, all tooting their "American values" in support of the Akaka Bill and the determination that this is a "window of opportunity" for Native Hawaiians to achieve self-determi-nation and self-governance. There are many in the general puhlie who do not have the slightest elue of the scandal behind this scheme. But the truth behind the Akaka Bill is that it is simply a cover-up and confirmation of the flimsy and heinous intent to undermine Native Hawaiians in their quest for self-determination that began in the early 1970s. When OHA was created as a state agency in 1978, it heeame the Trojan donkey of carrying out this vile scheme. But after 25 years,

along comes Rice v. Cayetano, and the scam is out of the bag. Thus began the scramble by our longtime politicians and colonized Hawaiians to get out of their self-created "KAUMAHA!" Meanwhile, for the last 25 years, Ka Lāhui Hawai'i, a Native Hawaiian initiative, has been talking the talk and walking the walk, only to be chastised, ignored and denied. We are the only indigenous people in all of the 50 states of America to be treated this way. Samuel L. Kealoha Jr. Former OHA trustee Moloka 7