Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 11, 1 November 2005 — Ten questions for Akaka detractors [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Ten questions for Akaka detractors

Bnyd P. Mūssman TrustEE, Maui

Aloha all. With the Akaka Bill bogged down in the mire of other federal matters consuming the

time of the U.S. Senate, let us not be led down the path of complacency or defeat because there may seem to be no light at the end of the tunnel. On the contrary, this year is the best opportunity for Hawaiians to achieve anything in Congress, and we must continue to exert our efforts to pass the bill, whieh will allow us to preserve what we have today. As for the future and getting more than we have today, that is best left for another day. For some of those who oppose the Akaka Bill, whieh is clearly an antidote for judicial uncertainty, I have the following questions: • Why stop the bill if it is not going to hinder or stop you from going to the United Nations and arguing for independence from the United States? • What is the alternative to recognition by the United States of a Hawaiian governing entity under the Constitution of the United States? • If it is an independent nation, what is the reality of the United Nations compelling the United States to give up one of its 50 states? • Why stop assistance and benefits including gathering rights to so many Hawaiians today by stopping Akaka and thus losing the Arakaki case in the hopes that you will have a better case to argue at the United Nations? • How ean you collaborate with the Twigg-Smith and Arakaki group to defeat Akaka? There is clearly something wrong with this pieture. • What's your beef with the United States, and do you prefer perhaps China or North Korea or maybe

Japan instead? • Why do you want to jeopardize the future well-being of so many Hawaiians by removing the possibility of affordable housing, heahh care, educational benefits, Hawaiian Homes, etc. - all of whieh ean be addressed today? • Are you willing to give up everything we have now in the hopes of having it all some centuries down the line? • Is it a matter of pride or is it a matter of power? • Just who or what group would take power and with what authority? I'm sure there are responses to the above questions, but the bottom line is our continued existence as a viable and recognizable people under the laws of the United States. We have mueh to gain with the Akaka Bill with whatever imperfections it may have and everything to lose should it fail. Some piek at every little detail that they envision could end up bad for Hawaiians, but spend little time looking at the overall picture and the effect the loss of the Akaka Bill will have upon our people. The future of Hawaiians rests in the balance, and Congress will decide soon. Should it deny the bill, then the success of the anti-Akaka movements from the Twigg-Smiths to Hui Pū will result in the final defeat of the Hawaiian people as a legally recognized body in the United States and in the world. No longer will there be blanks to fill in asking whether you are Native Hawaiian on various applications and other forms. No longer will Alu Like, Hui No Ke Ola Pono, OHA, Nā Pua No'eau and other Hawaiian service organizations continue to function and help the thousands of Hawaiians they help today. The ali'i trusts will suffer consequences. What will become of Hawaiian Homes lessees? Their homes and future will certainly be in jeopardy. And so, we ean not rest until the bill is passed and Hawaiians have the legal basis to begin again to build a nation, albeit within a nation. E!2

LEO 'ELELE • TRUSTEE MESSAGES —