HEWA ALERT - URGENT ACTION NEEDED
Needing all Kia’i and a supporters to contact the Hawai’i Congressional Delegation Re Biden’s nomination of Clare Connors for US Attorney!!!
THE CONFIRMATIONS HEARINGS MAY HAPPEN THIS THURSDAY!!!
Who to call -
The Congressional Delegation contacts to express your opposition to Clare Connors being nominated as the US Attorney. Senator Mazie Hirono (who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee): (202) 224-6361 (DC Office), 522-8970 (Hawaii Office) and Senator Brian Schatz: (202) 224-3934 (DC Office), 523-2061 (Hawaii Office).
Here is the Mauna Kea Aelike/Consensus Building Ohana’s statement on the matter:
STAND UP AND OPPOSE THE APPOINTMENT OF CLARE CONNORS TO U.S. ATTORNEY
President Biden says he cares about Indigenous peoples and social justice, but he doesn’t appear to include the Hawaiian people in that claim, because he has chosen to elevate Hawaii’s Attorney General, Clare Connors, to the position of U.S. Attorney for Hawaii. And equally egregious is the sad fact that Hawaiian leadership in the state’s Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) has given Biden’s nomination of Connor’s tacit approval.
Moku Nui Aelike/Consensus Building Ohana would like to make it clear that we oppose Connors’ promotion. In our experience, she does not respect Hawaiians as the Indigenous people of Hawaii, and she certainly does not respect our cultural and legal rights. She has done the exact opposite.
Clare Connors is responsible for the arrests in 2019 of 38 of Hawaiian kupuna (elders). Connors is also responsible for the ongoing judicial prosecution of these kupuna, whose so-called crime, in Connors’ estimation, is that they stood up in protest to protect our most sacred site, Mauna Kea, from further abuse and destruction by the state. She directed all of the threats of violence against our kupuna and kia’i (protectors).
For Hawaiians, it is unconscionable that Biden, and presumably the “State of Hawaii” would promote Connors to a position that will give her more power to federally harass and abuse Hawaiian people, particularly our elders. There is an obvious racial component to what Connors has perpetrated here against us, and the fact that OHA and other Hawaiian leaders have not spoken out about Connors’ mistreatment and prosecution of Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) is absolutely unacceptable.
We cannot allow her to be given more power to make life for Hawaiians more painful and brutalizing than it already is, particularly given our inability to exercise our legal and moral rights to self-determination.
We are calling upon OHA and other Hawaiian leadership to join us in speaking out against the confirmation of Clare Connors for U.S. Attorney.
/s/ Moku Nui Aelike/Consensus Building Ohana
