The stolen sovereignty of Hawaii's indigenous people
The 'Akaka bill' is a US colonial device to ratify the robbery of the Kanaka Maoli people's rights in the 1893 coup. We do not assent
- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 6 July 2011 19.30 BST
- Article history
On Wednesday 6 July 2011 at 2pm HST, Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie will sign SB1520 – a scam built to undercut the restoration of the Hawaiian Nation under international law – into law. This recently passed state legislation by the name of the "First Nation Government Bill" will authorise a process for the creation of a "Native Hawaiian governing entity". Adding insult to great injury, this disgrace will take place at Washington Place in Honolulu, the residence of former Hawaiian monarch, Queen Lili'uokalani, who was overthrown by a US-backed coup in 1893.
This legislation is the state version of federal legislation, which had been repeatedly proposed and defeated in U.S Congress throughout the last decade, known as the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganisation Act, and dubbed "the Akaka bill" (named after Democratic US Senator Daniel Akaka). The Akaka bill, and the new state version of it, was pushed by a powerful Hawaiian organisation, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, and two key Hawaii state agencies, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. It is supposed to represent self-determination for Native Hawaiians, but nothing could be further from the truth.
From the start, Hawaii's congressional delegation attempted to ram through the bill despite massive opposition to it among the Kanaka Maoli (indigenous Hawaiian) people whom it affects first and foremost. The delegation held just one five-day hearing, back in 2000, on the bill since its inception, and only on the single island of O'ahu. Although there was overwhelming opposition to the bill, the delegation reported quite the opposite to Congress. The federal version of the legislation proposed that the US government recognise a "Native Hawaiian governing entity" that was to be certified by the US Department of the Interior in conformity with US federal law and practice regarding Native American tribal nations.
For independence activists who advocate for the restoration of a Hawaiian nation under international law, the entire bill was a farce since the historical harm the United States first committed in Hawai'i in 1893 – by backing an illegal coup – brought down not a Native Hawaiian governing entity, but the Hawaiian Kingdom government, an independent state comprising Kanaka Maoli and non-indigenous subjects. Consequently, the Kanaka Maoli people and other descendants of Hawaiian Kingdom citizens have, since that time, accumulated fundamental political and other claims against the United States under international law. These the United States must recognise rather than hope to dispel via the enactment of state-driven proposals.
While the state version does not authorise a "nation to nation" relationship between the US federal government and a Native Hawaiian governing entity, the First Nation government legislation (like the federal version) is a bogus trap. The new law sets up a commission to produce a "Native Hawaiian roll", where Kanaka Maoli sign on to take part in the formation of the First Nation within the state process – the first time there would be any documented evidence of acquiescence to the US government or its subsidiaries.
Protesters will be there today to protest the supposed surrender of the Hawaiian Nation to the United States of America, as the trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and other state agents take position to transition into the new First Nation. Those Kanaka Maoli and other Hawaiian nationals will be holding signs with declarations such as "Hell no, we won't enroll" – punctuated by "and neither would the Queen".
Replies
87 page document, I read it and it paints a terrible process of our people and the governing processes!!!
http://nj.gov/state/programs/pdf/native-american-committee-report.pdf
This piece of writing from the 1520 SB was the very argument, I had with Ben Cayetano and Charlie Toguchi in 1978! The words "shall be amended" was written in the Office Of Hawaiian Bill. The umbrella Jon Van Dyke insertion at the state level via Steve Kuna who wrote the bill.
7 SECTION 3. The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, shall
8 be amended, subject to approval by the United States Congress,
9
if necessary, to accomplish the purposes set forth in this Act10
in a manner that is expeditious, timely, and consistent with the11
12 the current beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act,
13 1920.
As Dr. Kehaulani says, "this is a bogus trap"! She is also right on the 'First Nation too" and at the state level. The connection to the US government thus invalidating all else before seems the clear truth.
To understand this go and read an, 87 page document and the follow up of New Jersey and it's Native Americans process. One would get a clear'er picture of what will transpire from now until 2012 in their report without the people's voices.
State Recognition for Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribe passes Assembly vote
Published: Friday, February 18, 2011, 6:35 PM Updated: Friday, February 18, 2011, 6:41 PM
“This is a great moment for the Native people of New Jersey, but we can’t rest yet,” Chief Mark Quiet Hawk Gould wrote. “In order to become law ... the bill will now have to go before a State Senate subcommittee and then for a full vote on the Senate floor. If it passes in the Senate, it then goes to the Governor’s desk. The Governor could sign it into law or veto it. If he chooses to veto it, it could still become law. A veto may be over-ridden by the State Legislature if there is a two-thirds majority in favor in each House - the Assembly and the Senate.”
Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, D-Hudson, serving as primary sponsor of bill A-2571 with Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-Mercer, and L. Grace Spencer, D-Essex, moved the bill on Thursday with an explanation of its necessity and implications.
“In the early years of New Jersey history, settlers sold off or drove out most the tribal peoples living here - most but not all,” Quigley said. “A few remain, struggling like other residents to feed and shelter their families and seek brighter futures for their children. Their descendants are modern-day, law-abiding, tax-paying residents of New Jersey, proud of their tribal heritage and traditions and eager but unable to take advantage of opportunities the United States offers to persons of Native American lineage. The federal government classifies Indians into three categories: members of federally recognized tribes, members of state-recognized tribes and social groupings. They classify our Native American neighbors as merely a social grouping because we’ve never said otherwise.”
Quigley went on to clarify that the state had passed a resolution two decades ago acknowledging the existence of three tribes, but “that’s not considered good enough these days - only legislation counts.”
The effects of this lack of formal State Recognition for the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape, Ramapough Lenape and the Powhatan Renape Tribes of New Jersey have included the denial of scholarships and college admission slots for New Jersey Native American children “because they’re not Indian enough,” Quigley explained.
New Jersey tribes have also been denied grants from governments and private organizations based on lack of official recognition, while facing a $25,000 penalty through federal government enforcement of laws for each sale of handmade jewelry labeled as made by Native Americans.
“The New Jersey Indians would like a little more respect for their centuries-old existence in New Jersey, too,” Quigley added. “What they don’t want, and what this bill specifically states they are not getting, is any permission to operate casinos, to claim real estate or to sell tax-free gasoline or tobacco. The bill very clearly says these things are not being granted and that the level of recognition of the tribes is for very specific, limited purposes: it’s for their kids to get scholarships and entrance to college, for their social welfare organizations to be eligible for public and private grants and for Indian artisans to be able to sell their own products without facing fraud charges. These are more than reasonable requests, and we should grant them.”
Quigley also acknowledged the Assembly Hall presence of Chief Gould and other representatives of the New Jersey tribes before receiving and responding to oppositional commentary from Assemblyman Jon M. Bramnick, R-21st District.
Bramnick cited the case of New York v. Shinnecock Indian Nation as a source of his concern that the State Recognition does not prohibit the federal court from “using that recognition and then expanding the rights of the Indian tribes to then permit and allow casino gambling.”
Quigley responded that the requirements for meeting the federal standard as an Indian tribe include many criteria that the New Jersey tribes cannot meet, one example being the documentation of direct lineage to the Native American tribes due to their inclusion in the broad 19th- and 20th-century state classification of “colored” on birth certificates.
“I’d also like to point out that the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribes have tribal law which specifically forbids them for participating in or profiting in any form of vice,” Quigley stated. “So, truly, they’re not interested in casinos. It’s not what they want, and the bill says they can’t have it, and this will not advance their case for federal recognition in any way whatsoever.”
Bramnick thanked Quigley for her response but encouraged others to vote no so the bill would not “move ahead with the precarious situation where casino gambling may be being authorized by this body.”
Sixteen votes sided with Bramnick’s stance, eight were abstentions and 51 members of the Assembly voted in support of the bill, which was then declared as passed to progress as such.
“I will continue to pray to the Creator for strength, wisdom and guidance,” Gould wrote. “Through unity and prayer, we will prevail.”