[Insert disclaimer here. I am not a lawyer. These are my own opinions.] This week will mark one of the most important debates for Hawai'i since statehood. Today, Congress will hear the so called "Akaka Bill." The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005, is commonly referred to by the name of the Hawai'i senator, Daniel Akaka, who introduced the bill. This measure would further the process whereby the US would eventually recognize native Hawaiians in ways similar to, but not exactly like, native Alaskans or native Americans.
Broadly speaking, the bill provides three points:
It establishes the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations in the Department of the Interior to serve as a liaison between Native Hawaiians and the United States. It establishes the Native Hawaiian Interagency Coordinating Group to be composed of federal officials from agencies which administer Native Hawaiian programs. Both of these provisions are intended to increase coordination between the Native Hawaiians and the federal government. And third, the bill provides a process of reorganization of the Native Hawaiian governing entity.
The bill is seen as the second of many steps to recognize certain legal rights that, it is said, Hawaiians either never relinquished or were illegally taken from us. Chief among those rights is the third point mentioned above, the ability to form our own "governing entity", much as native Americans have formed their own. What form that governing entity would take is not spelled out in the bill.
Nonetheless, the process of recognizing these rights began with the enactment, on November 23, 1993, of Public Law 103-14 150 (107 Stat. 1510), commonly referred to as the "Apology Resolution" which states, in pertinent part, that Congress:
(3) apologizes to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the people of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893 with the participation of agents and citizens of the United States, and the deprivation of the rights of Native Hawaiians to self-determination;
(4) expresses its commitment to acknowledge the ramifications of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, in order to provide a proper foundation for reconciliation between the United States and the Native Hawaiian people; and
(5) urges the President of the United States to also acknowledge the ramifications of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and to support reconciliation efforts between the United States and the Native Hawaiian people.
This is a very complex undertaking and as is made even more so by certain people who spread misunderstandings, distortions, and outright lies. I don't know if justice will finally be done, but this effort is as close as Hawaiians have ever been. Imua
Aloha!
