ANOTHER PROMINENT VOICE AGAINST THE CURRENT FEDERAL RECOGNITION BILL !
The Honolulu Advertiser
Sunday, May 2, 2004
Pro, con articles on Akaka bill fail to address land issues
By Haunani-Kay Trask
The April 25 pro and con articles on the pending Akaka bill do not address the deals struck between Gov. Linda Lingle, the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the federal Interior and Justice departments, the Hawai'i congressional delegation and the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement relating to the global settlement for Hawaiian lands and revenues. In the interests of clarity, here is what needs to be understood:
* The current Akaka bill is not the product of a democratic process. Only the listed entities above were included in the creation of the latest version of the bill. Sovereignty groups, community organizations and the larger Hawaiian
public were intentionally excluded.
* No hearings have been held on the current bill, precisely to exclude oversight by the native community. New sections were added to the bill that provide that the U.S. courts will have jurisdiction to hear claims against the United
States arising under federal law on the date of enactment of the bill. No historic claims, such as loss of self-government and lands at annexation, will be allowed.
* The bill requires the United States and Hawai'i to obtain a global settlement for Hawaiian lands and revenues before the Hawaiian nation is recognized. In other words, Big Brother will determine our land and resource base and the
structure of our governing entity. This is not self-determination. It is state determination.
* Native Hawaiians must agree to extinguish our rights to lands and sovereign powers over them as a prerequisite to federal recognition. This is outrageous. If we have no land base, no entitlements and no political entity, we won't
need federal recognition.
* In the April 7 version of the bill, certification of organic documents that provide for the creation of the Native Hawaiian governing entity is subject to future negotiations with the federal and state governments as well as congressional legislation and state legislation to implement any agreement. This process forces Hawaiians to agree to the worst settlements in order to meet the 20-year sunset provision. Without a settlement, we lose the right to bring claims against the United States. Such a timetable encourages government negotiators to wait out the 20 years, when all claims expire.
Apart from obvious bad intentions, this deal also violates U.S. law and international law. Hawaiians need to understand the current version of the Akaka bill as a termination, rather than resolution, of the question of native existence
and recognition...
...What is to be done? What Hawaiians need is power - the power to reclaim ceded lands, all entitlements that
accompany them, and substantive recognition as a self-governing nation.
In other words, Hawaiians need sovereignty on our own land base in our own country run by our own elected representatives. We do not need the latest version of a paper nation railroaded by the congressional delegation and their hand-picked Hawaiian collaborators. Hawaiians must oppose the current Akaka bill. If passed, it will be the death knell of any native claim to land and self-government.
Haunani-Kay Trask has been a Hawaiian nationalist for more than 20 years.
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