Letters to the Editor
Saturday, April 3, 2004 http://starbulletin.com/2004/04/03/editorial/letters.html
HAWAIIANS DON'T NEED LANGUAGE OF AKAKA BILL!
Congress can clarify its relationship to Hawaiians by recognizing their unique status, which differs from racial minorities.
Supporters of the Akaka-Stevens bill tenaciously push the bill for that reason. They have not mentioned or even examined the language already signed into law by the U.S. Congress through the "No Child Left Behind Act," which included a section on the Native Hawaiian Education Act. This Public Law (107-110) was signed by President Bush on Jan. 8, 2002.
That law already includes the exact language that proponents of the Akaka-Stevens bill say they want and need to secure:
"Title VII, Part B, Sec. 7202. Findings: (12) (B) Congress does not extend services to Native Hawaiians because of their race, but because of their unique status as the indigenous people of a once sovereign nation as to whom the United States has established a trust relationship."
It is limited to those indigenous to Hawaii, excluding non-Hawaiian nationals of the kingdom of Hawaii, who were never legally referred to as "Hawaiians." It is the very same language proponents say they so desperately need in U.S. law.
This tells me that this bill is really about the settlement of claims in exchange for the extinguishment of title rather than for funding of services extended to Hawaiians.
This is the case of dumb and dumber.
David M. K. Inciong II
Pearl City
