HAS ANYONE BOTHERED TO ASK HAWAIIANS IF THEY WANT THE AKAKA BILL?
Here's What TownHall.Com Says About It -
...One of the many problems with the bill is that no one has asked the Native Hawaiians themselves about this “Hawaiian issue.”
I spoke with Kilikina Kekumano and Leon Siu - both Native Hawaiian activists opposed to the Akaka bill.
They are opposed largely because the legislation seeks to deal with a Hawaiian issue without ever consulting the people of Hawai`i about it.
Kekumano, who was adopted as a young girl by a mainland American family and now flies between her family’s land in Virginia and Hawai`i while working on this issue, says the Akaka bill will create racial division in Hawaii where there has been none.
“I guess I got mad reading the newspapers…telling everyone that this is what the Hawaiians want,” she said.
It is not what they want, she contends. And, polls seem to back her up.
A poll conducted by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in March of 2005 showed that 74 percent of Hawaiians were against the Akaka bill and federal recognition.
A conservative think-tank in Hawai`i, the Grassroot Institute of Hawai`i, commissioned a survey in 2005, which showed that 67 percent of Hawaii residents were against the Akaka bill, and 48 percent of Native Hawaiians surveyed agree.
The Institute’s most recent survey shows that 70 percent of Hawaiian residents want to vote on the Akaka bill before it’s considered on a national level, and 67 percent of residents continue to oppose the Akaka bill.
That’s all Siu wants—a say.
He pointed out that no hearings have been held in Hawai`i on the current or any previous version of the Akaka bill, despite the immense impact it may have on the state.
“We’re not opposed to the government helping us do something,” he said, “but together as a community, we should figure out what’s best....”
Here's Where To Read More -
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/MaryKatharineHam/2006/06/05/199857.html
