YOU CAN HELP STOP THE AKAKA BILL
Make Your Voice Heard Today
Help stop the Akaka bill today by submitting testimony to the US congress.
Testimony must be submitted by this Thursday, June 25, 2009, 11am (HST.)
Cut and paste the example below. Email to the House Natural Resources Committee to teresa.bravo@mail.house.gov and also fax to (202) 225-1931.
Please Note - If emailing your testimony, it must be in a Word or PDF format attached to your email.
Here's The Sample Testimony To Use -
June 20, 2009
The Honorable Nick J. Rahall II, Chairman
The Honorable Doc Hastings, Ranking Member
House Committee on Natural Resources
U.S. House of Representatives
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
RE - OPPOSITION TO H.R. 2314 - Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009
Dear Honorable Rahall, Honorable Hastings, and Members of the House Committee on Natural Resources,
I thank you for allowing me to submit this testimony in OPPOSITION to H.R. 2314, which seeks to express the policy of the United States regarding the United States relationship with Native Hawaiians and to provide a process of the recognition by the United States of the Native Hawaiian governing entity.
I OPPOSE H.R. 2314: Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009 because -
Lack of hearings held in Hawai`i that would allow the Hawaiian people to present testimony on the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act.
In 2000, only two (2) days of hearings were held on O`ahu Island. All other hearings were cancelled.
The current and past bills addressing the United States relationship with Native Hawaiians to provide a process of the recognition by the United States of the Native Hawaiian governing entity were subsequently redrafted and amendments were added with no input or testimony from the Hawaiian people.
Therefore no hearings have ever been held in Hawai`i on the current legislation before the 2009 Congress.
The Hawaiian people seek the right to a fair and democratic process that includes hearings on H.R. 2314 throughout the islands that comprise the state of Hawai`i.
For 9 years, Hawaiians have requested that the island wide hearings be rescheduled so that the hundreds of Hawaiians who want to testify can be included and their concerns heard.
H.R. 2314 disenfranchises the Hawaiian people by ensuring that persons residing on the US continent, many of whom have no contact or relationship with Hawaiian culture or Hawai`i, will control the electoral process.
By including a huge American continental population, the drafters of H.R. 2314 have guaranteed that Hawaiians of Molokai, Maui, Kaua`i, Hawai`i Island and Lana`i will be outvoted at their own Constitutional Convention.
Most importantly, the Hawai`i based native Hawaiians such as Hawaiian Homesteaders who are the sole beneficiaries of the Ceded Lands and Hawaiian Homelands trusts will be outvoted by a margin of 10 to 1.
The effort being pursued in the US Congress violates the most fundamental principles of democracy and human rights.
In the 9 years during which time the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act has evolved, the Hawai`i Federal Delegation made several concessions to previous federal and state administrations, the goal of which is to maintain the political status of the Hawaiian peoples as wards of the United States and state of Hawai`i, and to ensure that the vast land and fiscal resources of the Hawaiian people are utilized for US federal and state priorities.
The Administration of President Barrack Obama came to office promising open government dedicated to truth and justice for all peoples. I call upon the Obama Administration, and Democrats in the US Congress to live with the integrity of their own words.
I call for the Congressional Committee to hold hearings on the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act in Hawai`i to provide the Hawaiian peoples their right to participate in the process and to seek amendments to the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act.
Therefore, I strongly urge you to OPPOSE H.R. 2314 until Congressional hearings are scheduled and held in Hawai`i on all islands, and in all States on the US continent where a significant population of Hawaiians reside, in order to provide the Hawaiian peoples their right to a democratic fair, free, and impartial process of self-determination and to empower them with the ability to determine the culturally appropriate mechanism for their own self-governance.
Mahalo nui loa,
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