ARE SCHATZ & KAHELE PLOTTING NEW AKAKA BILL?
Hawai`i Free Press - March 4, 2021
From The UK Guardian -
…The Biden administration is poised to settle this problem by federally recognizing a Native Hawaiian government in a similar process to that which it does American Indian tribes….
The situation in US Congress is not promising. The Democratic-controlled US Congress looks poised to complete the colonial settlement. Senator Brian Schatz from Hawai`i is now the chairman of the Senate’s Indian affairs committee, and in his first meeting hosted discussion about federal recognition. His position is one that the Native Hawaiian senator Daniel Akaka previously held while advocating for the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. The Akaka Bill, as it was called, suggested that it could reconcile US participation in illegally overthrowing the Hawaiian Kingdom’s government.
While Democrats largely support federal recognition – as reconciliation for past harms in Hawai`i – Republicans grumble that Native Hawaiians aren’t American Indians and aren’t, therefore, eligible for tribal governance. The question “Are Hawaiians Indians?” continues to be debated, exasperating conservatives and liberals alike, yet it exposes the manipulation of federal Indian law and policy in an ongoing process to settle US possession of Hawai`i.
The thief returns to the scene of the crime asking for forgiveness but refusing to return what they stole.
Recently elected Native Hawaiian US representative Kai Kahele, like Senator Schatz, supports federal recognition, despite his own community’s opposition. Congressman Kahele is being courted by Representative Deb Haaland – who affirmed a commitment to Native Hawaiian issues during her Senate confirmation hearing – to take over her seat as co-chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus. With the posturing of Schatz and Kahele, the political landscape is ripening for a new bill to come to fruition….
