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Norton Axed Over Native Hawaiian Recognition?

by: Jerry Reynolds / Washington D.C. correspondent / Indian Country Today

WASHINGTON - Gov. Linda Lingle of Hawaii began to make good on an election-year pledge to campaign for federal recognition of Native Hawaiians with a well-received visit to the nation’s capital in February.

Last September in Honolulu, in a four-candidate gubernatorial debate sponsored by the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, the Republican Lingle provoked storms of applause by promising die-hard advocacy in Washington for federal recognition of Native Hawaiians "whether you vote for me or not." Since winning the governor’s seat in the traditional Democratic stronghold of Hawaii, Lingle has looked like a good bet to advance the bill among the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill through her credibility with them as a fellow Republican.

And so it has proved. It’s still early days, and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands Director Micah Kane expects to be part of future Native Hawaiian delegations to D.C. on this subject. But Lingle’s meetings with congressional leaders, cabinet heads, Bush administration "heavies" in the White House and the President himself went exceptionally well, and in every one of them she positioned federal recognition of Native Hawaiians as a "states’ rights" issue, traditionally dear to Republicans, rather than the racial issue foes have depicted. The basis of this "states’ rights" view is that the issue is "non-partisan in Hawaii, and the governor’s visit underscored that," according to Paul Cardus, press secretary for Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, primary sponsor of the proposed federal recognition legislation (the "Akaka Bill" in everyday parlance, S. 344 in the 108th Congress).

Lingle’s meetings on balance "went very well," confirmed Lingle Policy Chief Randy Roth, who was in attendance at most of them. "A number of people that we were concerned would not have open minds, did prove open to the governor’s discussion. Certain key people seemed to be moved by the governor’s presentation.

"… She just feels a lot better about the bill’s chances than she did before these meetings."

Most notably perhaps, at the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing Feb. 25, where Lingle joined Haunani Apoliona of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, U.S. congressional delegate Eni F. H. Faleomavaega of American Samoa (a sister island to Hawaii), Kane of DHHL and others in testifying on behalf of federal recognition for Native Hawaiians, committee chairman Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colorado, acknowledged the support of Interior Secretary Gale Norton for the Akaka Bill.

This announcement of Norton’s support, coming from a second party of Campbell’s stature among Republicans, quickened the pulses of the hopeful throughout Hawaii, for the Interior would have to be considered the lead cabinet agency on federal recognition of Native Hawaiians. Norton has not herself announced her support for S. 344, "but that’s what the governor’s people are saying," said Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement President Robin Danner, praised in Lingle’s camp for familiarizing the governor and her advisors with the many fine points of Native Hawaiian culture. Added Akaka press secretary Cardus, "Norton and Senator Akaka have met four or five times and this issue has always been discussed."

In a curious way, the emphasis on caution and a long hard process coming out of the Lingle and Akaka camps may be taken as an indication of just how much progress their cause has made in recent days. In Washington’s political culture, caution is often thrown to the wind at the outset, only to grow in direct proportion to the actual chances a bill has of becoming law.

"We’ll have a better idea of that in a month," Cardus said. The record of the Feb. 25 committee hearing is open until March 20, and after that it is anticipated that Campbell and his committee co-chair, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, will move to "mark up" S. 344 on the legislative calendar. As the Senate process proceeds toward a vote on the bill, more will become known as to any movement in the positions staked out by past opponents of the Akaka Bill.

For Native Hawaiians, much hinges on S. 344. Following a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2000 that found a long-established Native Hawaiian voting preference unconstitutional on racial grounds, many Native preferences in Hawaii have come under attack in the courts. The Supreme Court precedent in the voting rights case has encouraged court challenges to vital Native interests in Hawaii, involving many millions of dollars in support of Native needs and threatening the viability of key Native-specific institutions, including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and Kamehameha Schools.

Only one proposal has made public headway on resolving the problem: formal federal recognition of a Native Hawaiian government for purposes of a government-to-government relationship with the United States. As proposed by the Akaka Bill, federal recognition would extend the same preferences to Native Hawaiians that Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages now enjoy, but without breaking altogether new ground because federal recognition has always extended to Native Hawaiians in some form. The preferences of a more formal federal recognition would derive not from membership in a minority, but from status as Indigenous peoples under self-determined governance. This status would be based on the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, which has been upheld many times by the Supreme Court, and on the historical relationships of the United States with Indigenous peoples within its borders. As Akaka contends, federal recognition for Native Hawaiians would complete the political and legal relationship of the United States with its Indigenous peoples.
http://www.indiancountry.com/article/1048780915



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What is the Hawaiian Federal Recognition Bill?

The Hawaiian Federal Recognition Bill (S. 344) is now before Congress. The bill proposes that Hawaiians be formally recognized as the indigenous people of Hawai'i by the United States. This will reinforce their unique political status and open the door for them to establish their own mechanism of self-governance. The language in the bill is not final. But with the passage of this bill, Hawaiians will enjoy the same status as other native peoples in the United States who have already received federal recognition.

The bill seeks to affirm the indigenous status of the Hawaiian people and their political relationship with the United States. Hawaiians will achieve parity with more than 550 Native American and Alaska Native tribes already recognized by the federal government. The bill is a crucial first step to protect hundreds of health, education, housing, employment, economic development, and arts and culture programs benefiting the Hawaiian community. All these programs and services are now in jeopardy by legal challenges calling them race-based discrimination.


What does the bill do?

It affirms the special trust relationship between the federal government and Native Hawaiians.
It provides for a Native Hawaiian governing entity organized by Native Hawaiians.
It provides a process for federal recognition of a Native Hawaiian governing entity.
It establishes an office within the Department of the Interior to focus on Native Hawaiian issues and to serve as a liaison between Native Hawaiians and the federal government.
It prevents the sale, disposition, lease, or encumbrance of lands, interests in lands or other assets of the Native Hawaiian governing entity without the consent of the Native Hawaiian governing entity.
It says the Hawai'i State Legislature must, through act or resolution, support the recognition of the Native Hawaiian governing entity by the United States before the Native Hawaiian governing entity is certified by the United States.
It says Native Hawaiians have the inherent right to self-governance and autonomy in their internal affairs as the indigenous people of Hawai'i.




http://www.nativehawaiians.com/



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Justice Department Directs State to Recognize Constitutional Obligation


The dThe decision of the Supreme Court in OHA vs. State of Hawaii reinforced rather than diminished the obligation of the State to OHA. In concluding its opinion, the Court stated:



Given our disposition of this case, and the context of its complexity, we would do a disservice to all parties involved if we did not acknowledge that the State's obligation to native Hawaiians is firmly established in our constitution. How the State satisfies that constitutional obligation requires policy decisions that are primarily within the authority and expertise of the legislative branch. As such, it is incumbent upon the legislature to enact legislation that gives effect to the right of native Hawaiians to benefit from the ceded lands trust. Although this court cannot and will not judicially legislate a means to give effect to the constitutional rights of native Hawaiians, we will not hesitate to declare unconstitutional those enactments that do not comport with the mandates of the constitution. [Citations omitted]



It is apparent from this language that the Court, while recognizing the The

difficulty its interpretation of Act 304 would create, intended to signal unequivocally to the State that its solemn trust obligation to OHA and its beneficiaries remains intact.

http://oha.org/


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New hopes arise for ancestral culture
By Alani Apio
Honolulu Advertiser

Hawaiian sovereignty is a given, a foregone conclusion.

I can feel it in my bones; I believe it in my na'au, my guts. Make no mistake: it will continue to be messy and difficult to shape. But it will come to pass and it will be the single most enriching event to happen to the residents of this pae 'aina, this archipelago, in the past 225 years.

Nearly two years ago, I wrote about a dangerous mindset I saw in public discourse: that Kanaka (Hawaiian) claims to land, sovereignty and rights stemming from the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom were baseless; that pursuing these claims was racist and would result in the violent balkanization of our beloved 'aina.

I wrote that this mindset had spawned legal suits, supported both here and in the United States, intended to destroy Kanaka entitlements and rights. Gathering rights, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the ali'i trusts were all under attack.

They still are. Furthermore, legal experts on both sides say that given the mindset of the Bush administration and current Supreme Court, these attacks will succeed. Federal recognition of Native Hawaiians as a sovereign native people will render these attacks moot.

Act sovereign, be sovereign and it is no longer a dream. It is reality.

Grand words you say, but what does that really mean? Kuleana —responsibility. It means reassuming our kuleana to malama — care for and protect — this whole archipelago and everyone who lives here. It means actions as simple as picking up our 'opala (rubbish), helping kupuna across the street.

It means lifestyle changes like losing weight and stopping smoking so we are healthy role models for all our keiki. It means smiling at our neighbors wherever we are — living the aloha that we cherish so deeply.

Still too simple? Consider this: Let us Kanaka realize that fighting for the ceded lands, or even a portion of them, fighting for sovereignty, gathering rights, or Hawaiian Home Lands is simply not enough to stave off — let alone reverse — the entrenched values of conspicuous consumption and waste that will sink these Islands even if we do carve out a homeland within them to supposedly "protect" ourselves.

We are all connected. What happens to Waipo, Waikiki and South Kona happens to us all at some level. Our heritage compels us to care for all. And in so doing, the rest of the residents of Hawai'i will see that they have nothing to fear from us and everything to gain. The key to surviving, thriving on these Islands lies in the soul of Kanaka stewardship: Kuleana.

Kuleana means I must understand — in my na'au — that everything I consume, whether it is water, food, gas, clothes or electricity, has a price, and that when I use more than what's absolutely necessary for my survival, someone or something, somewhere, is going to go without. I must know what my kuleana is, and live up to it.

What if those who oppose us brand us as racists? Never mind. Our ali'i and beloved kupuna gave us a legacy of aloha and kuleana that teaches us to care for all. So instead of fighting them, I'll malama their keiki and mo'opuna (children and grandchildren), their friends and 'ohana as if they were my own. For in truth, my 'ohana is their 'ohana. And when those lost souls reach their haumaka 'iole, their twilight years, we'll take care of them, too.

Let us realize that the "us" and "them" was taught to us by them out of fear and greed. Our kupuna taught us that it's a "kakou (we, inclusive) thing." There is no "them" in kakou. So let us drop this ridiculous notion of blood quantum: We are trying to save a culture whose value system holds the keys to survival on these Islands, maybe even the planet.

Let us stop fighting about who's "in" and who's "out," who will get what and who won't. When these Islands sink under the effluence of America's greed and obscene consumption — values that we as a society have decidedly embraced as well — Hawaiian Home Lands, ceded lands and the ali'i trust lands won't rise to the surface.

Fellow Kanaka, we need to step forward together and live our values, day by day, moment by moment, and show others how to live in a pono (righteous) way. Kanaka, we need to stop begging, fighting for a piece of the pie and realize that this whole pae'aina, from South Point to Kure Atoll, is ours — not to own, but to malama in the deepest sense of the word.

Who "owns" this 'aina? What a ridiculous notion: No one "owns" this land, not America, not Na Kanaka. Our ali'i never pretended to own this land. We didn't even have the concept of ownership until foreigners imported it. To live here is a privilege. And if you're not doing your part to malama Hawai'i, then you are not earning the privilege of living here.

All of us who understand, truly, what aloha is, have got to step up to the proverbial plate, live it day to day, moment to moment, and show others how to live like that. This is the leadership we need.

Let us all finally acknowledge publicly that what is good for Na Kanaka is good for all. And, all my 'Ohana Kanaka, let us finally shed our anger and fear and acknowledge that it is not in us to not malama all.

The details must not stop us from committing to a course of action: Assume Kanaka sovereignty is a given. Kanaka, let us gather as one, as our kupuna of old showed us when building a massive fishpond or heiau, and chart out a course that not only ensures our survival, but ensures the survival of our neighbors and friends as well.

People of Hawai'i, work with us as we chart the course to make these Islands self-sustaining, green, clean and nourishing for all. There is enough here for all, we just have to look at our resources through the eyes of our kupuna.

The spirit of aloha enticed those from distant lands and gave them a welcoming home. That we Kanaka were willing to share, that is not what makes our history sad. It is that we lost control and had to relinquish our kuleana. It is time we reclaim it.

If we Kanaka take this mindset, I believe we will create a plan that will not only be acceptable but will be embraced by this state's leadership and the people of this pae'aina.

Two years ago, public discussion reverberated with hatred and dissent. Today, I hear acceptance and encouragement. The present leadership of this state is showing signs of fearlessness, foresight and enlightenment.

Hawaiian sovereignty will come to pass, and it will be the single most enriching event to happen to the residents of this pae'aina in the past 225 years.

People of Hawai'i, shall we truly restore aloha to our breath and to this 'aina?

E ka Po'e Kanaka, let us assume the 'ahu'ula kuleana of our kupuna. Makaukau?

(Kanaka, let us assume the cloak of responsibility bequeathed us by our ancestors. Ready?)

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Jan/19/op/op05a.html/



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Bush Faces State Support
for Native Hawaiian Nationhood

Honolulu Advertiser
KAMEHAMEHA DAY Reprint 2003

Lawmakers agree to revise Hawaiian recognition bill

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -

"It would help if the White House came out for us," Sen. Dan Inouye,
D-Hawai'i, the vice chairman of the committee, said yesterday after a
speech to a conference on self-determination for indigenous people
attended by several Hawaiians. "I think we're closer."

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, the bill's principal author and a
member of the committee, said the changes improve the bill "by
providing additional clarity and guidance."

Inouye, Akaka and their counterparts in the House, Democratic Reps.
Neil Abercrombie and Ed Case, agreed to revise the bill after meeting
last week.

The main roadblock in Congress has been from conservative Republicans
who argue that the legislation would validate "unconstitutional"
race-based "preferences" for Native Hawaiians. Other Republicans, and the
Interior Department, have asked for more information on how a
Hawaiian government would work.

Rather than address their critics directly, Hawai'i lawmakers decided
earlier this year to propose the same version of the bill that
stalled during the last session. But after a hearing before the
Indian Affairs Committee in February, and talks with Interior
Secretary Gale Norton and the Hawaiian community, the delegation
opted to make changes.

New office set up

The bill would establish a new Office for Native Hawaiian Relations
within the Interior Department and an interagency coordinating group
to monitor Hawaiian issues before the federal government.

The new office would develop a roll of Hawaiians who choose to
participate in creating a new government. Hawaiians could then select
an interim governing council that would draft the structure and scope
of a government and hold elections for government leaders. The new
government could be recognized by the Interior Department and could
negotiate with federal and state governments over issues such as land
use or Hawaiian programs.

According to congressional officials, Norton did not want the
prospect of several Hawaiian groups coming forward with claims of
sovereignty. The original version of the bill, first proposed by
Akaka in 2000, included a similar process for recognition.

Rowena Akana, a trustee for the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs,
said people in the Hawaiian community had similar concerns.
"Everything the Interior secretary was saying the people were
saying," Akana said. "They wanted a process."

Forward movement

Earlier this month, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs outlined its own
timetable for Hawaiians to convene and begin to consider a new
government this year. Haunani Apoliona, the chairwoman of the OHA
board of trustees, said that effort would complement, not compete
with, the federal recognition bill.

"The important thing is that this is moving forward," Apoliona said.

Gov. Linda Lingle testified on behalf of the bill in the Senate in
February and has urged the Bush administration to support the
legislation. State Attorney General Mark Bennett and Micah Kane,
director of the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, are actively
lobbying administration officials and Republican lawmakers.

"We've tried to educate them about the need for recognition and its
importance to our state," said Kane, who plans to visit Washington in
June to discuss the bill and other issues. "I think we're continuing
to make steady progress."

Now that the Hawai'i legislative session is over, Case and others
here hope Lingle will invest more of her time on Hawaiian
sovereignty. "It's really going to be up to her to convince the Bush
administration," Case said.

Many believe that if Lingle is able to get the Bush administration to
back the bill, it would help soften opposition among Republicans in
Congress.

Robin Danner, president of the Council for Native Hawaiian
Advancement, said Lingle has made a difference. "She took the first
10 steps," Danner said.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that it was unconstitutional for the
Office of Hawaiian Affairs to exclude non-Hawaiians from voting in
trustee elections. The ruling has prompted other legal challenges to
Native Hawaiian programs as race-based preferences.

There is no consensus in the Hawaiian community on sovereignty - some
Hawaiians would settle for nothing less than independence from the
United States - but many Hawaiians believe the federal recognition
bill could provide some legal protection for Native Hawaiian programs
and parity with American Indians and Native Alaskans.

H. William Burgess, an attorney representing people challenging the
constitutionality of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the state
Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, is here this week lobbying against
the bill.

"We really shouldn't have separate government forms based on ancestry
or race," Burgess said.


http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/May/14/ln/ln01a.html


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"The cause of Hawaii and independence is larger and dearer than the life of any man connected with it. Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station."
- Lili`uokalani, Hawaii's last Queen


"To oppose the policies of a government does not mean you are against the
country or the people that the government supposedly represents. Such
opposition should be called what it really is: democracy, or democratic
dissent, or having a critical perspective about what your leaders are
doing. Either we have the right to democratic dissent and criticism of
these policies or we all lie down and let the leader, the Fuhrer, do what
is best, while we follow uncritically, and obey whatever he commands.
That's just what the Germans did with Hitler, and look where it got them."
-- Michael Parenti

"One can resist the invasion of armies, but not the invasion of ideas."
-- Victor Hugo

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