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The Honorable Joseph Biden, President of the Senate
The Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Republican Leader
The Honorable Richard Durbin, Majority Whip, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Jon Kyl, Republican Whip, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Patrick Leahy, Chair, Senate Judiciary Committee
The Honorable Jeff Sessions, Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee
The Honorable Byron L. Dorgan, Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs
The Honorable John Barrasso, Vice Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs
December 7, 2010
Dear President Biden and Distinguished Senators:
We version of the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act will be tacked onto the
spending bill in the next week or so. We hope that this does not happen. A bill as
important as this deserves careful consideration. It would be a matter for concern if it
were to be made law without a hearing on its new provisions.
The current version of the legislation may create new problems and exacerbate
those previously identified, but because the changes to the bill do not eliminate the
serious constitutional concerns identified in previous communications, our position
remains the same. We therefore attach a copy of a letter we wrote opposing an earlier
version of the bill.
Sincerely,
Gerald A. Reynolds
Chairman
Abigail Thernstrom
Vice Chair
NITED STATES COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS INTH STREET,NW,WASHINGTON, DC20425 www.usccr.gov1 understand that there is a possibility that the new and significantly revised1
laws and policies of the Federal Government with respect to discrimination or denials of equal protection of
the laws under the Constitution of the United States because of color, race, religion, sex, age, disability, or
national origin, or in the administration of justice. 42 U.S.C. 1975(a). The Commission voted 5-2-1 to send
this letter. Commissioners Arlan Melendez and Michael Yaki voted against sending the letter, and Vice
Chair Abigail Thernstrom abstained.
Commissioners Reynolds and Taylor’s terms as Commissioners expired on December 5, 2010. Each
indicated his willingness to sign this letter on December 5.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is an independent, bipartisan agency that makes appraisals of the
Replies
page 2 of 5
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August 28, 2009
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker
The Honorable John Boehner, Republican Leader
The Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader
The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Republican Leader
The Honorable Nick J. Rahall II, Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources
The Honorable Doc Hastings, Ranking Member, Committee on Natural Resources
The Honorable Byron Dorgan, Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs
The Honorable John Barrasso, Vice Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs
The Honorable John Conyers, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary
The Honorable Lamar Smith, Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary
The Honorable Patrick Leahy, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary
The Honorable Jeff Sessions, Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary
Re: Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act
Dear Distinguished Members of Congress:
Three years ago, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a report opposing the
passage of the proposed Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. Although that
report focused on an earlier version of the proposed legislation, that earlier version was
substantially similar to S. 1011. Specifically, the report stated:
“The Commission recommends against passage of the Native Hawaiian
Government Reorganization Act ... or any other legislation that would
discriminate on the basis of race or national origin and further subdivide the
American People into discrete subgroups accorded varying degrees of privilege.”
We write today to reiterate our opposition to the proposal.
Congress has the constitutional authority to “reorganize” racial or ethnic groups into
dependent sovereign nations unless those groups have a long and continuous history of
separate self-governance. Moreover, quite apart from the issue of constitutional
authority, creating such an entity sets a harmful precedent. Ethnic Hawaiians will surely
not be the only group to demand such treatment. On what ground will Congress tell these
other would-be tribes no?
NITED STATES COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS INTH STREET,NW,WASHINGTON, DC20425 www.usccr.gov1 We do not believe1
on August 7, 2009. Commissioners Melendez and Yaki voted against sending a letter from the
Commission.
Commissioners voted 6-2 to develop a letter expressing our views on the legislation at an open meetingPage 3 of 5
Some advocates of S. 1011 readily concede that the bill is an effort to preserve the
State of Hawaii’s current practice of conferring an array of special benefits exclusively
on its ethnic Hawaiian citizens—to the detriment of it citizens of African, Asian,
European or other heritage. In essence, it is an attempted end-run around the Supreme
Court’s decisions in
Constitution, however, cannot be circumvented so easily. And even if it could be, we
would oppose passing legislation with the purpose of shoring up a system of racially
exclusive benefits.
Rice v. Cayetano2 and City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co.3 The4In closing we would like to point out that in 1840, the Kingdom of Hawaii adopted
a Constitution with a bicameral, multi-racial legislature. The Constitution was signed by
two hands—that of Kamehameha’s son King Kamehameha III and that of the holder of
the second-highest office in the nation, Keoni Ana, the son of the British-born Hawaiian
Minister John Young. Its opening sentence, the substance of which was suggested by an
American missionary, was based loosely on a Biblical verse: “Ua hana mai ke Akua i na
lahuikanaka a pau i ke koko hookahi, e noho like lakou ma ka honua nei me ke kuikahi, a
me ka pomaikai.” Translated, the passage might read: “God has made of one blood all
races of people to dwell upon this Earth in unity and blessedness.”
It would be ironic to attempt to honor the dynamic, cosmopolitan Kingdom of
Hawaii by disdaining these words.
If you would like any further information or we can do anything else to assist you,
please do not hesitate to ask. We can be reached through the Chairman’s special
assistant, Dominique Ludvigson, at (202) 376-7626 or at dludvigson@usccr.gov.
5 We urge you to vote against the measure.2
528 U.S. 495 (2000).3
488 U.S. 469 (1989).4
our website, www.usccr.gov.
For further elaboration on our reasons for opposing the bill, please see our Report, which is available on5
“restored” and “reorganized” as a membership group based on ethnic Hawaiian bloodline. It was, in fact, a
multi-racial society from the first moment of the island chain's unification in 1810. In the true spirit of
Aloha for which Hawaii is famous, its rulers were welcoming of immigrants, who came from all over the
world, particularly from Portugal, China, Japan, the United States, Great Britain, and Germany. By 1893,
when the Kingdom came to an end, ethnic Hawaiians were a minority of the population.
Contrary to the spirit of S. 1011, the Kingdom of Hawaii was not a kinship-based tribe that can beThank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Gerald A. Reynolds
Chairman
Abigail Thernstrom
Vice Chair
Todd Gaziano
Commissioner
Gail Heriot
Commissioner
Peter Kirsanow
Commissioner
Ashley Taylor, Jr.
Commissioner
cc: Commissioner Arlan Melendez
Commissioner Michael Yaki
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Peter Kirsanow
Commissioner
Ashley Taylor, Jr.
Commissioner
Gail Heriot
Commissioner
Todd Gaziano
Commissioner
Cc: Arlan D. Melendez, Commissioner
Michael Yaki, Commissioner
INTH STREET,NW,WASHINGTON, DC20425 www.usccr.govWhat is Title II of the "Civil Rights Act of 1964?"
Title IIOutlawed discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce; exempted private clubs without defining the term "private."
MLK on Communism a need to know
King had read Marx while at Morehouse, but while he rejected "traditional capitalism," he also rejected Communism because of its "materialistic interpretation of history" that denied religion, its "ethical relativism," and its "political totalitarianism."