WHAT ARE THE SOLUTIONS?
The Akaka bill (S.344) and Department of Interior are not the answers, so what are? Can the United States really help us create a bright future for the Hawaiian Nation? What solutions will benefit all residents of Hawai’i?
Hawaiians want and deserve freedom just as much as US citizens do. They want freedom restored to Hawai’i. Some people say, “the illegal act of war that overthrew your Queen can’t be erased . . . like it or not, you’re all Americans now.” But, every day we see people around the world fighting for, and winning back their native and national rights. Their quest, and ours are totally legitimate and very real.
Like everyone else, Hawaiians want four basic things –
FREEDOM – The freedom to decide their own future for themselves. That “freedom” was taken away when the sovereign Nation of Hawai’i was overthrown in 1893. It was taken away again by illegal annexation to the United States in 1898. And, it was taken away a third time by the so-called statehood vote in 1959. According to international law, a new vote must to be taken that offers three options – 1) Independence, or 2) Free-Association or 3) Integration (nation within a nation.)
RIGHTS – The rights of the independent Nation of Hawai’i were never relinquished. The destruction and denial of these rights must cease. Everyone who descends from citizens of the Hawaiian Nation prior to 1893, Native Hawaiians and all others, are entitled to these rights.
IDENTITY – The political identity of Hawaiians must be acknowledged by the United States. Hawaiians will decide their own future, without interference by the US. Also, only those with any measure of indigenous blood may define Native Hawaiians. A blood quantum imposed by others is an unacceptable means to divide and conquer.
LAND BASE - Hawaiians love their country and lands just as much as US citizens love the US. Therefore, it is only fair and just to take into consideration the ramifications of the overthrow of a people who have never relinquished their rights or abandoned their desire to control their land and resources through their own representative government. Hawaiians want ALL their land back, not just some of it.
One of the biggest lies perpetuated today is that when Hawaiians achieve nationhood again it will be at the expense of everyone else. But no one will be kicked out; their businesses seized or their homes and property confiscated. Instead, everyone, Hawaiians and all others, will be citizens of the sovereign and independent Nation of Hawai’i. The Hawaiian Nation included people of many ethnic backgrounds that were loyal citizens before the illegal overthrow and it will be so again.
The truth is a sovereign Hawaiian nation will need the contributions and talents of all of its citizens to remain viable in the world. Hawaiians would be no better than the very supremacists that overthrew and occupied them were they to divide people by race. Hawaiians have always been inclusive, not exclusive.
How would this be accomplished politically given a civil war resulted the last time a state tried to leave the US?
Unlike the southern US states, the Kingdom of Hawai’i and its citizens never agreed to become part of the United States in the first place. Therefore a move for Hawai’i to secede from the US would be both unnecessary and inappropriate.
Much like removing the top coat of paint to reveal the one underneath, the US Congress, after consultation between Hawaiians and the US at the level of state to state, could simply enact a US federal law that dissolves the entity known as the “state government” in Hawai’i. What would be left in its place is what has existed all along anyway without interruption – the Nation of Hawai’i.
Only at that point, would it be appropriate for the citizens of Hawai’i to decide their future as it relates to a relationship with the United States. Those possibilities would include –
Integration with the US – Becoming a state again or a tribe of the US under federal recognition.
Free Association – Much like Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Independence - Did you know that when Ronald Reagan was president, one of the most conservative US presidents in recent times, his administration actually granted the Marshall Islands independence in 1986, which then lead to a free association relationship with the US?
Precedent for Hawaiian independence exists right now within US law as outlined above. There are no laws that exist today within the US to prevent the US federal government from dissolving a state government. It is only fear and ignorance that holds the status quo in place.
