FREEHAWAII.INFO PRESENTS A FOUR-PART SERIES -
Hawaiian Patriot Keala Kelly's Opening Statement At The Akaka Bill Forum, Aug. 23, 2005 Held At The Japanese Chamber Of Commerce, Honolulu, Hawai`i
Here's Part Three -
I have found that Hawaiians who oppose this bill have nothing in common with anyone involved with legal attacks on Hawaiian trusts or state agencies that serve Hawaiians.
Those groups and individuals compare Hawaiian empowerment with Apartheid - that analogy is offensive to all people of color, especially those who have suffered at the hands of white supremacists the world over.
The Akaka Bill, like the recent 9th circuit court's ruling, is an opportunity for Hawaiians to look honestly at the institutions of the American system and interpret its intention towards us and our homeland.
If we look at America through the eyes of our kupuna [elders,] what we see is the same country that helped overthrow the Kingdom.
We see the same country whose political, economic and legal system has displaced the Kanaka Maoli [Native Hawaiian]and used our homeland as a playground and a military outpost while developing what is now the largest arsenal in the world.
We see a country that admitted and apologized in 1993 for its role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and yet refuses to return the stolen property they received for their efforts.
We see a system that does not respect our ways as Hawaiians and therefore cannot provide us any real justice, only a poor imitation of justice that first and foremost satisfies the US.
This bill places our assets in the Dept of Interior, an agency that is presently defrauding our indigenous friends on the continent of billions of dollars worth of their trust assets and is refusing to comply with orders from its own government's federal courts.
Imagine what they can do to us with all the practice they've had on the Indians. We can't even get the state of Hawai`i to inventory our lands, do we really think we're gonna get anywhere with the feds?
And this legislation was created by the feds. It emerged from the offices of Senator Inouye and Senator Akaka.
The Akaka Bill does not represent the hopes of Hawaiian people and is not a document created by the Hawaiian people.
But this one is. I have here a copy of one of the two Ku'e [protest] petitions signed in 1897 by almost every single living Kanaka Maoli in the Kingdom. I believe we need to stand for our queen and our kupuna and ku'e [resist.]
The Conclusion Tomorrow...
