AKAKA BILL SHAMEFUL
A Former Ofiice Of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Speaks Out -
From West Hawai'i Today - Letters to the editor (May 9, 2004)
Editor:
I am ashamed to bear the same name as the revised Akaka Bill that
will further put our Hawaiian people into a quagmire after more than
one hundred years since the theft of our Hawaiian Nation. This recent
version of the Akaka Bill S 344 is not the vehicle "...that would
grant federal recognition to Native Hawaiians." Nothing could be
further from the truth! Even the title of this latest version of the
Akaka Bill has been changed (April 21) from "Native Hawaiian
Recognition Act" to "Native Hawaiian Governmental Reorganization
Act." The Bush Administration, through its Department of Interior
Secretary Gayle Norton, is calling for a reorganization of our
Hawaiian Government before we Hawaiians have the opportunity of
self-determine what our government is to be.
With the passage of this Bill, we Hawaiians will have 20 years to go
round and round in circles set up the Bush Administration Department
of Interior, forcing us Hawaiians to get approval at each and every
step of the way from the first the Head of the Department of
Interior, Congress and State Legislature; then to go back and forth
with these entities on every single issue to be resolved. They intend
with this process to have us Hawaiians "spin our wheels" by following
this bureaucratic paper "trail of tears" and quicksand.
There is no rush to pass this fault-laden Bill at this time. It has
been over four years since we had a Federal Hearing at home for
Hawaiian Justice. This "revised" Akaka Bill S 344 is so drastically
different from any of its past versions that it necessitates Federal
Hearings to be held on these Hawaiian Islands. This is only fair as
it deals with self-determination and our Hawaiian destiny in our own
homeland of over one thousand years. It is imperative this be a true
democracy as our Hawaiian future is at stake.
E. Moanikeala Akaka
Former Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee
