Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 9, 1 September 2006 — lt's lederal lecognition, or the demise of Hawaiians [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

lt's lederal lecognition, or the demise of Hawaiians

Bnyd P. Mūssman TrustEE, Maui

Aloha mai kākou. I weleome you and thank you for taking the time to read these trustee articles. As you may be aware, my monthly focus has been specifically on federal recognition as the only way Hawaiians ean eonhnue to live in Hawai'i as indigenous Hawaiians and not just residents of Hawai'i. Like it or not, we are all Americans unless the Secretary of State has approved your withdrawal of citizenship and you have found another world nation to accept you. I'm afraid the Nation or Kingdom or Reinstated Nation, or Hawaiian Kingdom or whatever, won't do, since none are recognized by the United States as legitimate governments. And so, we'd best count our blessings as American citizens first then work to preserve our identity as the indigenous people of Hawai'i within the framework of the U.S. Constitution. I realize that there are those who disagree and would seek only complete independence as the best solution for the Hawaiian people to achieve justice and regain our stolen kingdom. To do that, the U.S. must agree, and with a history, precedence and population already established here in Hawai'i, that is not going to happen. Some vocal opponents of recognition say give the OHA trust fund to the Hawaiians and be done with it. Great. Everyone gets $1,000 to spend on booze, drugs, gambling and however they choose to squander their only hope for future posterity. Dismantling OHA without a recognized govermnent to replace it will be tantamount to giving up everything we have to eall our own today: our lands, our homes, our people, because we will have a gaping void in leadership and resources to help Hawaiians help Hawaiians. So what then? Well, those who believe

we are racists because we want to keep our identity as Hawaiians and receive benefits that others cannot, are aggressively seeking to remove everything Hawaiian and turn Hawai'i into another California. Hawaiians are the first people here, as are the Indians and Alaskans there. Our position is not based on race but on historical and polhieal fact: we are the aboriginal indigenous people of Hawai'i, and therefore of the United States, and did not voluntarily surrender our sovereignty to the United States. We happen to be Hawaiians, and Hawai'i is our homeland. We are not from Europe, Asia, Africa or the other Polynesian Isles. We happen to have been here when everyone else decided to make this their home. Congress recognized the need to aid a dying race of indigenous people with the Hawaiian Homes Act and acted to help us recover from the effects of the overthrow. Ever since, it has provided benefits to the Hawaiian people, but most recently denied us the protection of federal recognition. Therefore, we need to eonhnue to seek federal recognition to protect us against the attacks of being race-based. We need to work with our congressional representatives and craft another Akaka Bill with appropriate modifications. We need to push ahead within the law to create a polhieal body that ean represent Hawaiians in Congress and be a voice in securing immunity from the repeated attacks against us in court. We need to educate the people of Hawai'i, then the Congress, then the mainland, about who we are, what we are seeking, where we are going, why we are not racists, and how they ean help. Finally, we need to be innovative and aggressive in our efforts to help Hawaiians and need to prepare for a financially secure future for any new government while providing housing, eommunications, education, eeonomie development and heahh for Hawai'i's first people. We will eonhnue to work with Congress. The primary election is important, so don't forget to vote. Hawaiians ean make a difference. H