MOTION FILED TO STOP PHONY NA`I AUPUNI CONVENTION & ELECTIONS
The plaintiffs in the suit against the State of Hawai`i and its agencies to stop the racially exclusive election and constitutional convention to establish a native Hawaiians-only nation (Keli’i Akina, et al v. The State of Hawai`i, et al) have filed a motion for a preliminary injunction.
The motion asks the court to put the election on hold until after a decision is reached.
The group of four Native Hawaiians and two non-Native Hawaiians who brought forth the suit against the election are asking that all the groups involved—including OHA, Na`i Aupuni, and the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission—be prevented from engaging in voter registration or calling and holding elections while the case is ongoing.
Keli`i Akina, Ph.D., President of the Grassroot Institute and one of the Native Hawaiian plaintiffs says, “It is imperative to stop draining public funds on a racially discriminatory process that the majority of native Hawaiians have chosen not to endorse, especially while the needs of native Hawaiians for housing, jobs, education, and health go underfunded....”
...Dr. Akina adds, “Many Native Hawaiians have come forward to state their objections to being put on the roll without their permissions. Others, like I, object to the Roll’s effort to exclude those who do not endorse a specific set of beliefs about Hawaiian sovereignty. To pretend that this election represents and honest effort to embody the voice of native Hawaiians is disingenuous.”
