If you believe that the native americans/Indians have been treated fairly by the United States and by the Dept. of the Interior...don't OPPOSE the Akaka bill. If you believe that Queen Lili'uokalani had no rights and was legally kept in her personal prison by outsiders...Don't oppose the Akaka Bill. If you believe that the United States has really helped Hawai'i by building up the largest military presence here in the world, Don't oppose the Akaka Bill. If you believe that Kanaka Maoli/Hawaiians gave up their land, their rights, their right to self-determination years ago...Don't oppose the Akaka Bill.But...If you think that the United States since the first outsiders placed their selfish feet on lands they didn't own...then massacred the native Americans has NO right to harm the original people of the continent of North America. If you think the US has no right to back an illegal overthrow of a sovereign and peaceful nation in the middle of the pacific ocean. If you think that you, as a Kanaka Maoli, have the right to live in the land of your and your ancestors' birth... for thousands of years before outside contact. If you think the US has no right to your land...no right to intrude on your government, no right to harm your people, no right to oppress and dominate us...as Kanaka Maoli...Then...SAY NO TO THE AKAKA BILL...AND SEND IN YOUR TESTIMONY TO SAY SO.------------------Aloha mai,AKAKA Bill hearings will be held on Thursday, August 6, 2009 (tomorrow) at 8:15 am HI time. You can watch in OPPOSITION by going to: http://www.indian.senate.gov.Testimony in OPPOSITION to the AKAKA BILL (Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009) can be emailed to testimony@indian.senate.gov.Testimony will be accepted from August 6 to August 21, 2009. Testimony in OPPOSITION received during this time period will be entered into the hearing record. Any testimony submitted after the hearing record closes, will NOT be recorded. Therefore, it is absolutely critical that your voice in OPPOSITION is heard and OPPOSING testimony is submitted during the time period stated above.Please note that email is the preferred sending method, as the mail processing procedures to the Senate may delay your testimony in OPPOSITION. You can submit your testimony electronically in a Word document or PDF file, attached to your email. In the subject line of your email, please put “S. 1011 Testimony for the Record”.Below is an example testimony in OPPOSITION, please feel free to “cut and past” the testimony below OR feel free to revise and use the testimony in OPPOSITION below for formatting.____________________________________________________________________________August 6, 2009The Honorable Byron L. Dorgan, ChairmanThe Honorable John Barrasso, Vice ChairmanU.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, MembersCommittee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate838 Hart Office Building Washington , DC 20510RE: OPPOSITION TO S. 1011 Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009Dear Honorable Dorgan, Honorable Barrasso, and Members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs,I thank you for allowing me to submit this testimony in OPPOSITION to S. 1011, which seeks to express the policy of the United States regarding the United States relationship with Native Hawaiians and to provide a process of the recognition by the United States of the Native Hawaiian governing entity.The main reasons for OPPOSING S. 1011: Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009 is as follows:The lack of hearings held in Hawai‘i that would allow the Hawaiian people to present testimony on the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. In 2000, two (2) days of hearings were held on Oahu Island , all other hearings were cancelled. The current and past bills addressing the “United States relationship with Native Hawaiians to provide a process of the recognition by the United States of the Native Hawaiian governing entity” were subsequently redrafted and amendments were added as concessions to the previous federal administration and the state of Hawai‘i with no input or testimony from the Hawaiian people. Essentially, no hearings were ever held in Hawai‘i on the current legislation before the 2009 Congress. The Hawaiian people seek the right to a “fair and democratic” process that includes hearings on S. 1011 throughout the islands that comprise the state of Hawaii . For 9 years, Hawaiians have requested that the island wide hearings cancelled in 2000 be rescheduled so that the hundreds of Hawaiians who want to testify can be included and their concerns heard.S. 1011 disenfranchises the Hawaiian people by ensuring that persons residing on the U.S. continent, many of whom have no contact or relationship with Hawaiian culture or Hawaii , will control the electoral process. By including a huge American continental population, the drafters of S. 1011 have guaranteed that the Hawaiians of Molokai, Maui, Kauai , Hawaii Island and Lanai will be outvoted at their own Constitutional Convention. Most importantly, the Hawaii based native Hawaiians such as the Hawaiian Homesteaders who are the sole beneficiaries of the Ceded Lands and Hawaiian Homelands trusts will be outvoted by a margin of 10 to 1.The effort being pursued in the US Congress “violates the most fundamental principles of democracy and human rights”. In the 9 years during which time the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act has evolved, the Hawaii Federal Delegation made several concessions to previous federal and state administrations, the goal of which is to maintain the political status of the Hawaiian peoples as wards of the United States and state of Hawaii, and to ensure that the vast land and fiscal resources of the Hawaiian people are utilized for federal and state priorities.The Administration of President Barrack Obama came to office promising open government dedicated to “Truth and Justice for all Peoples”. I call upon the Obama Administration, and the Democrats in the U.S. Congress to live with the integrity of their own words. I call for the Congressional Committee to hold hearings on the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act in Hawaii to provide the Hawaiian peoples their right to participate in the process and to seek amendments to the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act.Therefore, I strongly urge you to OPPOSE S. 1011, until Congressional hearings are scheduled and held in Hawaii, on all islands, and on the U.S. Continent, in all States where a significant population of Hawaiians reside, in order to provide the Hawaiian Peoples their “right to a “democratic fair, free, and impartial process of self-determination”, and to empower them with the ability to determine the culturally appropriate mechanism for their own self-governance.Mahalo nui loa (thank you),NameAddress
Hearing on S.1011, the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009
5 August 2009
The Honorable Byron L. Dorgan, Chairman and The Honorable John Barrasso, Vice Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs:
Dear Senators:
As a native Hawaiian who has not been represented by the Senators who are trying to pass the S.1011, my immediate family and I urge you to vote NO to that insidious bill. When the bill was first proposed, a hearing was held in Honolulu and the testimony was overwhelming against it for a variety of reasons. Because of that, hearings on the neighbor islands were cancelled. We want to ratify or reject that bill before it is taken to your committee.
Our voices have been purposely shunned by these snollygosters who prefer to dictate to us rather than represent us. These small interest elites are an abhorence to the democratic system and might be in it for personal pecuniary interests rather than defend the concerns of those most affected by it.
There are issues to be resolved even before considering the actions they are proposing. We vehemently reject this bill and conditions it wants to set up for us. Our concerns, circumstances, the situation that confronts it, need to be addressed first. There are legal international rammifications that must be settled and abided by; such as violations of the laws of occupation, neutrality, and the lack of a lawful treaty of annexation/cession which the U.S. is unable to present. The multiethnic Hawaii nationals overwhelmingly voted against cession to the U.S.A. in 1897 and we support their choice.
We love our country as much as the U.S. Americans love theirs. There is a political and moral thing to do and that is vote NO to S.1011.
Mahalo,
Tane
AKA: David Michael Kaipolaua'eokekuahiwi Inciong, II
Comments
Donna
Hearing on S.1011, the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009
5 August 2009
The Honorable Byron L. Dorgan, Chairman and The Honorable John Barrasso, Vice Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs:
Dear Senators:
As a native Hawaiian who has not been represented by the Senators who are trying to pass the S.1011, my immediate family and I urge you to vote NO to that insidious bill. When the bill was first proposed, a hearing was held in Honolulu and the testimony was overwhelming against it for a variety of reasons. Because of that, hearings on the neighbor islands were cancelled. We want to ratify or reject that bill before it is taken to your committee.
Our voices have been purposely shunned by these snollygosters who prefer to dictate to us rather than represent us. These small interest elites are an abhorence to the democratic system and might be in it for personal pecuniary interests rather than defend the concerns of those most affected by it.
There are issues to be resolved even before considering the actions they are proposing. We vehemently reject this bill and conditions it wants to set up for us. Our concerns, circumstances, the situation that confronts it, need to be addressed first. There are legal international rammifications that must be settled and abided by; such as violations of the laws of occupation, neutrality, and the lack of a lawful treaty of annexation/cession which the U.S. is unable to present. The multiethnic Hawaii nationals overwhelmingly voted against cession to the U.S.A. in 1897 and we support their choice.
We love our country as much as the U.S. Americans love theirs. There is a political and moral thing to do and that is vote NO to S.1011.
Mahalo,
Tane
AKA: David Michael Kaipolaua'eokekuahiwi Inciong, II
Pearl City, Hawai'i