(c) Copyright 2021
Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D.
All rights reserved
INDEX OF NEWS REPORTS AND COMMENTARIES FROM JANUARY 1, 2021 AND CONTINUING
January 3, 2021: Tom Yamachika, President of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii, explains that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allows Indian tribes to conduct gaming operations in a State, even if the State doesn’t agree, under certain conditions. Basically, you need to have an Indian tribe, Indian lands, and gambling that is permitted by the State. So the DHHL proposal to put a casino on the Hawaiian Homelands would allow tribes from the mainland to build their own casinos in Hawaii.
Jan 6: Free Hawaii blog publishes YouTube video based on Buffalo N.Y. news report warning that President-elect Biden supports a planned bill in Congress to give long-delayed federal recognition to numerous Indian tribes including Native Hawaiians. Full text of news report is provided.
Jan 21: Honolulu TV news: Some are renewing a push for federal recognition of Native Hawaiians under Biden administration
The new administration is opening the door for federal recognition for Native Hawaiians, allowing greater self-determination and control similar to other Native American tribes.
Jan 23: Leon Siu, who styles himself Foreign Minister of the Hawaiian Kingdom, publishes Ke Aupuni Update for January. 10,000 Hawaiian flags were planted in the state Capitol grounds for opening day of the legislature. New U.S. President Joe Biden inherits the obligation to carry out the executive agreement he made with [ex]queen Lili'uokalani to help restore the monarchy [silly, but don't laugh in his face].
Jan 26: Biden Raises Hopes For Native Hawaiians Seeking Federal Recognition
But the idea is controversial as many don’t think that establishing a nation within a nation is the best option.
February 4, 2021: Senator Brian Schatz (D, HI) is now Chairman of Indian Affairs Committee. Several news reports; video of 7-minute speech. See also Conklin webpage "Rebuttal to maiden speech by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D,HI) on June 11, 2013 pleading for federal recognition for a phony Akaka tribe"
https://www.angelfire.com/big09/AkakaSchatzMaiden061113.html
Feb 7: Leon Siu, who styles himself Foreign Minister of the Hawaiian Kingdom, publishes Ke Aupuni Update expressing happiness that DHHL proposal for casino is stalled in legislature; and warning about new push for federal recognition of phony Hawaiian tribe by inserting "Native Hawaiian" into a bill to simultaneously recognize numerous real tribes; urging signups on petition to remove McKinley statue and name from Honolulu high school.
Feb 15: Senator Brian Schatz (D, HI) is not only chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, but also chair of an appropriations subcommittee where he can send billions of dollars to Hawaii; and also chair of Democrat special committee on climate change.
Feb 20: Leon Siu, who styles himself Foreign Minister of the Hawaiian Kingdom, publishes Ke Aupuni Update: "We Are a NATION! We Are Not a TRIBE! ... Bundling Native Hawaiians into a bill with real American Indian tribes that want Federal Recognition, practically guarantees passage. That means, Hawaiians would get swept along in a fed Rec group plan."
Feb 21: Honolulu Star-Advertiser editorial columnist reports "This is not the time, Schatz said, for another version of a Native Hawaiian sovereignty bill as envisioned by Akaka. Instead, the new chairman said he wants to work to 'enhance the trust relationship that already exists with the federal government and Native Hawaiians and enhance revenue streams with education, health, housing and broadband.' ... “Under (former President Barack) Obama, there was the beginning of the self-determination process. My thought is to help that along, but self-determination means self-determination. That means a consensus has to be developed among Hawaiians about the relationship they want or don’t want between a Native Hawaiian governing entity and the federal government. It is not ripe yet,' said Schatz."
Feb 24: OHA press release: Board Chair Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey testified this morning at the first hearing of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs chaired by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaiʻi), urging senators to help address the needs of Native Hawaiians. Full text of press release, links to entire written testimony and video of her speech to them.
Feb 27: Free Hawaii blog notes that OHA Chair Hulu Lindsey's testimony to Senate Committee on Indian Affairs indicates intention to push for federal recognition of Hawaiian tribe.
March 4, 2021: Ethnic Hawaiian professor at University of Toronto authors article in "The Guardian" newspaper warning "The Biden administration is set to officially recognize a Native Hawaiian government. That may sound positive, but it isn’t"
March 14: A 28-minute YouTube interview of Leon Siu "Thereʻs been some amazing Hawaiian Kingdom progress lately at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva."
March 17-19: Hawaii House Committee on Education holds hearing on resolution asking Department of Education to remove the name of President McKinley from that high school and to remove his statue from that campus; resolution draws strong testimony in opposition and gets shelved.
March 31-April 1, 2021: Robin Danner, President of the so-called Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations, writes to new U.S. Dept. of Interior Secretary Haaland portraying SCHHA as the same as a tribe and asking for bureaucratic changes at DOI to make that seem true.
Apr 12: Anne Keala Kelly to DOI Sec Haaland 'We're not Native Americans'
Apr 16: Hawaiian cultural practitioners, community leaders and activists who speak for Hawaiian rights and the protection of Mauna Kea, send letter to Secretary of Interior, Deb Haaland, in advance of a congressional proposal for Hawaiian reparations. Letter alleges illegal overthrow of monarchy, illegal annexation, U.S. belligerent occupation of Hawaii.
Apr 24: Leon Siu, who styles himself Foreign Minister of the Hawaiian Kingdom, publishes Ke Aupuni Update: Black lives matter, Asian lives matter, but don't Hawaiian lives matter? How haoles invaded Hawaii, created a fake Republic and then Territory and then State of Hawaii; and converting natives into loyal Americans, forgetting our language, our culture, our history and identity. McKinley High School was the center of brainwashing Asian immigrants to become Americans and support the haoles.
Apr 27:
(a) Indian Country Today online newspaper publishes news release: "The Association of Hawaiians for Homestead Lands (AHHL) join the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA) in congratulating the first Native American to lead the Department of the Interior (DOI), where the federal agency has a direct duty of protection and oversight of all native Hawaiians defined under a 100-year-old federal law."
(b) Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, released the following statement on the Department of the Interior’s announcement on steps it is taking to restore Tribal homelands, empower Tribal governments, and better manage Indian lands.
List of Relevant Biden Administration Documents (i.e., executive orders) ["includes a Carcieri Fix" which Congress has refused to pass every year since the Supreme Court ruled in the Carcieri case]
List of Withdrawn Trump Administration Documents
(c) US Department of the Interior News Release. Interior Department Takes Steps to Restore Tribal Homelands, Empower Tribal Governments to Better Manage Indian Lands
END OF INDEX
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FULL TEXT OF ITEMS LISTED IN THE INDEX, FROM JANUARY 1, 2019 AND CONTINUING
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/ID/26972/Gaming-on-Hawaiian-Homelands.aspx
Hawaii Free Press Sunday, January 3, 2021
Gaming on Hawaiian Homelands
by Tom Yamachika, President, Tax Foundation Hawaii
Recently, a sharply divided Hawaiian Homes Commission sent to Governor Ige a legislative proposal to allow limited casino gaming on Hawaiian homelands.
As Civil Beat reported, commission chair William Aila put the proposal forward as a revenue opportunity at a time when government needs it badly.
Both the Governor and legislative leaders, however, had expressed reluctance, in part because of possible unintended consequences.
Four years ago, we wrote about those consequences. They arise because of a federal law called the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, or IGRA. President Ronald Reagan signed it into law on October 17, 1988, and, interestingly enough, the primary legislators involved in drafting it were Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, Representative and then (as of 1987) Senator John McCain of Arizona, and Representative Mo Udall of Arizona.
The IGRA allows Indian tribes to conduct gaming operations in a State, even if the State doesn’t agree, under certain conditions. Basically, you need to have an Indian tribe, Indian lands, and gambling that is permitted by the State.
We now have neither Indians nor Indian lands here. However, there’s nothing to prevent Native Americans headquartered elsewhere from packing their bags and moving here if the opportunity is right. Indian lands usually means a reservation, but it could be any lands over which an Indian tribe exercises governmental power, so there is nothing to prevent any of the federally recognized Native American tribes from whipping out a checkbook, buying up some land, and then calling it tribal land.
Once those elements are in place, the IGRA says that the State will need to allow casino gaming on tribal lands if it allows casino gaming anywhere else. Those are the rules for what the IGRA calls “Class III gaming.” Thus, if the Hawaiian Homes Commission is successful in getting our lawmakers to legalize casino gaming in Kapolei, casino gaming will be allowed in other locations in Hawaii for Indians on Indian lands.
There will be some temporary hurdles. A tribal ordinance permitting the gaming needs to be approved by the National Indian Gaming Commission, which shouldn’t be tough for a tribe that already conducts Class III gaming in another state. Finally, either the state and the tribe need to negotiate a compact, or deal, or the Department of the Interior needs to approve regulatory procedures over the gaming. In other words, if the tribe and the State don’t agree to a deal the Department of the Interior can shove one down the State’s throat.
And here is the kicker. The IGRA also provides that States are not allowed to levy taxes or fees on tribal gambling, unless specifically allowed in the compact. Thus, not only can an Indian tribe come to Hawaii to conduct casino gambling, but it might be able to conduct the gambling free of State tax. Here, that could be a tremendous competitive advantage over the proposed DHHL casino, where its legislative proposal specifically provides for a forty-five per cent (45%) tax on gross gaming revenues. And that may be on top of the familiar Hawaii GET, no exemption for which is provided in DHHL’s proposal.
The reason none of this has happened yet in Hawaii is simple. Hawaii has not allowed any form of gambling so far. So, under the IGRA, not even Class II gaming (bingo games and similar) is allowed in Hawaii.
All of that being said, are we in Hawaii ready for Class III gaming and the consequences that may well ensue from them.
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/01/free-hawaii-tv-free-hawaii-broadcasting.html
Free Hawaii blog January 6, 2021
"ALERT - US FEDERAL RECOGNITION IS BACK"
US Fed Wreck Is Now Back On The Table.
US President-Elect Joe Biden Is Formally Backing It.
It Includes Tribal Plans For Both Native Alaskans & Hawaiians.
Watch This For Details & What You Should Do Next.
Then Share This Video Today With Your Family & Everyone You Know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWVyQUwG2L4
** News report mentioned in the 3-minute video:
https://buffalochronicle.com/2020/12/20/biden-backs-an-indian-recognition-bill-early-in-the-next-congress-to-include-hawaiians-alaskans-others/
Buffalo [New York] Chronicle, December 20, 2020
Biden backs an Indian recognition bill early in the next Congress — to include Hawaiians, Alaskans
President-elect Joe Biden is offering his formal backing to an ‘omnibus Indian recognition bill’ early in the next Congress. Sources close to the matter expect the bill to include formal federal recognition of the indigenous political status of Native Hawaiians and Alaska Natives, allowing those indigenous groups to move their current land holdings into federal trust and to organize self-determining tribal governments recognized under federal laws pertaining to American Indians.
Former Senator Daniel Akaka tried several times to achieve passage of the Native Hawaiian Recognition Act, from 2000 to 2006, and nearly achieved Senate passage, falling short by only a few votes. That bill would have allowed Native Hawaiians to organize a tribal government and enjoy the federal protection of their lands from encroachment. More than 500,000 individuals in Hawaii identify as Native Hawaiian in the 2010 census.
Alaska Native Villages and Alaska Native Village Corporations are not currently able to organize under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, largely because of the work of former Senator Ted Stevens to ensure that indigenous Alaskans would not need the federal approval of the Department of the Interior to sell or lease their lands for the purpose of resource extraction.
The bill is also expected to include Congressional recognition of a dozen American Indian tribes and bands of tribes that are currently unrecognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs — including the Lumbee Nation of North Carolina, the Buffalo Creek Band of Haudenosaunee Indians, the Wampanoag Nation of Indians, the Eastern Cherokee Nation of Georgia, and the Lenape Nation, among others.
It’s unclear if the legislation will include formal recognition of Canada’s First Nations communities, for the purpose of (among other things) enabling cross-border tribal banking with financial institutions in the United States, both for Reserve governments and entrepreneurs.
Deb Haaland, Biden’s nominee to become Secretary of the Interior, will be the first Native American woman to serve in the Cabinet in American history and is expected to be the administration’s point person on the bill. The Department of the Interior is responsible for processing applications for tribal recognition — an application process that takes decades and often costs indigenous communities millions of dollars for lawyers, lobbyists, anthropologists, geneticists, and historians in order to prove their indigeneity.
But Congress, having plenary powers over Indian affairs, could bypass that decades-long process.
It’s unclear whether an ‘Omnibus Indian Recognition Act’ would include other policy items that are important to indigenous communities. Several policy sections are being considered for the legislation, which has not yet been formally drafted, including:
The Oneida Fix.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lamented before she passed that the decision she most regrets while on the Court was her 8-1 majority opinion in Oneida Nation v Sherill County (2005), in which she employs one of the most racist cannons of legal construction in American history against the tribe. The tribe had been purchasing dozens of parcels amounting to thousands of acres of lands that it was defrauded of generations ago, and hoped that they could hold ownership of those lands themselves — but Ginsburg, on her own volition, insisted that the Tribe would have transfer ownership of the lands to the Department of the Interior in order to utilize as tribal lands. In order to avoid paying local municipal property taxes on their landholdings, she demanded that the Tribe should be forced to turn over ownership to the federal government. Indian Country resoundingly rejected the decision, which explicitly relied on the Doctrine of Christian Discovery with regard to extinguishing the Tribe’s inherent sovereignty over its land. Tribal leaders have been pushing to include a policy rider on the Indian recognition act — being called ‘the Oneida Fix’ — that would enable Tribes to repurchase lands for their full use and enjoyment, without having to transfer the lands’ ownership to the Department of the Interior in order to do so.
Office of Indian Trade.
Many Native American businessmen want to restore the long-defunct Office of Indian Trade, tasked with negotiating nation-to-nation trade agreements directly with Tribal governments. They want the office led by a new cabinet-level position: the United States Ambassador for Indian Trade, similarly situated to the United States Trade Ambassador. The new Office would be intended to manage Tribes’ inclusion in recurring six-year renewal talks under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the successor treaty to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Former Seneca Nation President Robert Odawi Porter and Oneida Nation Representative Ray Halbritter are both thought to be in contention to lead that office.
Cabinet-level status for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
For decades, Tribes have been asking American Presidents to make the Bureau of Indian Affairs either a stand-alone cabinet department or a division of the State Department. Tribal leaders want to be treated like sovereigns, not like Fish and Wildlife. Elevating the Bureau would respect the nation-to-nation relationship that Tribes have with the federal government. Several names have been floated for the post of Secretary of Indian Affairs, including Navajo President Jonathan Nez and W. Ron Allen, the Chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe in Washington State.
Tribal leaders hope that the ‘Indian Recognition Act’ will pass both houses of Congress and be signed into law during the Biden administration’s first 100 days. Indian Country has its hopes set on securing an Indian Bank Regulatory Act, in order to ensure that Tribes have the tools to exercise their own civil regulatory jurisdiction over their own sovereign financial markets. The legislation is seen as the ‘holy grail’ of economic development for Indian Country, which would give Tribes and tribal entrepreneurs unprecedented access to the global capital markets.
Although some hope that legislation will pass in the next legislative session, others predict that it will take into early 2022 to cultivate sufficient congressional support for it.
** Photo caption accompanying map
The Haudenosaunee people (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk) have lived at Buffalo Creek long before the genocidal military campaign ordered against them by General George Washington. But the population grew quickly following the Clinton-Sullivan campaign, which burned more than 180 Haudenosaunee villages across the Finger Lakes and Northern Pennsylvania to the ground during the American Revolution. The Haudenosaunee fled first to Buffalo Creek and then to Grand River. When the Buffalo Creek Reservation, secured under the terms of the Treaty of Canandaigua, was defrauded from the Haudenosaunee in 1842, a third of those living there moved to the Grand River Territory in Ontario, a third moved to the Cattaraugus Territory, and a third remained at Buffalo Creek. Many Haudenosaunee activists are now calling on Congress to federally recognize a tribal government entity that will give that distinct, confederated, cross-border diaspora the ability to self-govern in convergence at Buffalo Creek.
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https://www.kitv.com/story/43207592/some-are-renewing-a-push-for-federal-recognition-of-native-hawaiians-under-biden-administration
KITV (Honolulu TV station), January 21, 2021
Some are renewing a push for federal recognition of Native Hawaiians under Biden administration
The new administration is opening the door for federal recognition for Native Hawaiians, allowing greater self-determination and control similar to other Native American tribes.
For Kumu Hina Wong it's a reminder that a changing of the guard does not change history.
"And I personally have never given up the understanding of political independence for our people," Wong said.
The new administration is opening the door for federal recognition for Native Hawaiians, allowing greater self-determination and control similar to other Native American tribes.
"We have a historic opportunity to be able to walk through that portal," Esther Kia'aina said.
Before winning a seat on the Honolulu City Council, Esther Kia'aina worked in D.C. for decades. She says the tide turned after the U.S. government issued a formal apology for the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom.
President Biden recently appointed Deb Haaland as the first Native American Interior Secretary, if Native Hawaiians want recognition, Kia'aina says no is the time to stand up.
"Again it's only an option, if Native Hawaiians collectively determine that that is not the route that they would like it take, it's not gonna happen," Kia'aina said.
It's a question that's divided the community for decades, some people are adamantly against it, arguing Hawaiians should settle for nothing less than full independence.
"It's highly inappropriate to consider that the violator simply be able to pay somebody off or brush them off or have the violated turn their back and turn their eye and hold hands with their violator," Wong said.
As the debate continues there's also a new Native Hawaiian voice at the Capitol who is listening.
"I do feel that it's important to hear from our Native Hawaiian community so they can have input on whatever future that holds as far as governance but as a Native Hawaiian and one who represents Hawaii in Congress I look forward to bringing that Native Hawaiian perspective," Hawaii U.S. Congressman Kai Kahele said.
Now with federal recognition still being debated, Hawaii U.S. Congressman Kahele says he has some priorities for the community in the meantime. He wants to see more federal funding for Native Hawaiian housing and land programs.
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/01/ke-aupuni-update-january-2021-keeping_22.html
Free Hawaii blog January 23, 2021
KE AUPUNI UPDATE - JANUARY 2021
Keeping in touch and updated on activities regarding the restoration of Ke Aupuni o Hawai`i, the Hawaiian Kingdom. Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka `Aina I Ka Pono.
The 2021 Version of the Kūʻē Petition... a Stunning Message to the State of Hawaii... and the World!
On January 20, the opening day of the State Legislature, aloha ʻāina Kiaʻi placed 10,000 Hae Hawaiʻi covering the entire lawn around the State Capitol building (the future capitol of the Hawaiian Kingdom). They also had 10,000 Huli Kalo (taro starter plants) to give away to passers by. The message was dramatic... we want our country back so we can restore Hawaiʻi nei to pono... a peaceful, productive, sustainable nation in harmony with everything.
Kudos and hulos for this dramatic, prophetic act signifying another Huli coming... the turning of Hawaiian Kingdom and pono. Mahalo nui to Daniel Anthony and all Aloha ʻĀina Kiaʻi who made this amazing event happen... Eō
Ironically, on the same day, January 20, 2021 America inaugurated a new president...
President Biden… Be A Hero and Do the Right Thing
In December of 1893, U.S. President Grover Cleveland, in an address to the U.S. Congress, admitted that the United States’ actions in backing insurgents with military and diplomatic aid to take over the Hawaiian Kingdom was patently illegal, constituting an unjustified, unprovoked act of aggression against a friendly nation. Cleveland admitted the U.S. committed several egregious violations of international law and sought to correct it.
Queen Liliuokalani, had wisely and skillfully used international law and diplomacy to safeguard the sovereign status of her kingdom and her people. As heads of their respective countries and in good faith, President Cleveland and Queen Liliuokalani negotiated an Executive Agreement in which the U.S. pledged to assist with the restoration of the lawful government of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
That agreement has yet to be fulfilled by the U.S.
The responsibility and authority to execute the Executive Agreement rests squarely on the shoulders of the new President of the United States, Joe Biden. Even though Cleveland and 21 succeeding presidents failed to execute the agreement, it is still incumbent upon the sitting president to follow through. All President Joe Biden has to do is issue an executive order and ʻwith the stroke of his pen,ʻ the president can actually FREE HAWAII!
It’s time to hele mua...
This is the opportune time to move forward to initiate The Huli... to flip the tables and restore our Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands. If we can muster the political will, we can do this! International mechanisms (like de-occupation) are available to help us restore our nation to reflect values and priorities rooted in aloha ʻāina, mālama pono, kapu aloha...
The more we stand as a nation and assert the Hawaiian Kingdom is alive and kicking, the more obvious the U.S. false claim becomes and the sooner we will be a Free Hawaii.
Please join the ku’e action to rename McKinley High School and to remove the offensive statue by signing this online petition.
https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/restore-original-name
Ua Ola ke Ea – Sovereignty Lives
A Year to Celebrate the Hawaiian Kingdom – Past, Present and Future
Still in the process of ramping up…
If you are (or if you know of someone who is) interested in helping facilitate any aspect of “Ua Ola ke Ea,” please contact:
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
The campaign to Free Hawaii continues to gain momentum ...
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort...
To contribute, go to:
https://GoFundMe.com/FreeHawaii
To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, clerical help, etc...) email us at
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
Also... Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase HERE
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/Support_Human_Rights.html
All proceeds go to help the cause. Mahalo Nui Loa!
Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
** Ken Conklin's note: Conklin has created a large open letter to the McKinley High School students, alumni, faculty, and community urging them to keep the school's name and statue; explaining that the campaign to remove the name and statue is being waged by Hawaiian race-nationalist secessionists who want to make it look like there's community support for secession; and providing proof that there is a Treaty of Annexation which was legitimately offered by Hawaii and accepted by the U.S., and that President McKinley was not a racist. This important webpage is at
https://www.angelfire.com/big11a/McKinleyHSNameStatue.html
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https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/01/biden-raises-hopes-for-native-hawaiians-seeking-federal-recognition/
Honolulu Civil Beat Tuesday January 26, 2021
Biden Raises Hopes For Native Hawaiians Seeking Federal Recognition
But the idea is controversial as many don’t think that establishing a nation within a nation is the best option.
By Anita Hofschneider
Democratic control of the White House and Congress may breathe new life into efforts to establish a Native Hawaiian government that is recognized by the United States.
Honolulu City Councilwoman Esther Kia’aina, who spent decades working in Washington, D.C., including at the Department of the Interior, describes President Joe Biden’s administration as empathetic and understanding regarding Indigenous self-determination.
If Native Hawaiians want to pursue what’s commonly referred to as “federal recognition,” she said, now would be a good time.
“I don’t know of a better opportunity where you have the right people in the right places,” she said Monday in a telephone interview. “There’s no guarantee that there will be a Democratic administration in four years.”
Progress on establishing a government-to-government relationship with the U.S. has been in limbo since former President Barack Obama left office. In 2016, the Obama administration created a pathway for Hawaiians to be recognized as a government, similar to Native American tribal nations. Prior to that, federal acknowledgement of Indigenous peoples was limited to the continental U.S., excluding Pacific peoples.
The issue also is highly divisive within the community as many don’t think establishing a government-to-government relationship within the existing federal framework is the right choice.
Hawaii’s sovereignty movement was spurred by the Hawaiian cultural renaissance that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s. Scholars and activists saved the Hawaiian language from the edge of extinction, pushing for Hawaiian language schools and promoting pride in the language. Hawaiians reclaimed knowledge of traditional navigation from a Micronesian master navigator and created the Polynesian Voyaging Society in 1973.
Throughout the 1970s, many Hawaiians participated in protests against evictions and new developments, including successfully opposing the Navy’s use of Kahoolawe as a bombing range.
Today, supporters of a sovereign Hawaiian entity within U.S. borders say the possibility is within Hawaiians’ grasp, if they choose it.
Kia’aina thinks it’s a good sign that Biden nominated Rep. Debra Haaland to lead the Interior Department, which would make her the country’s first-ever Native American Cabinet secretary. A spokeswoman for the Interior Department declined an interview request for this article, and the White House didn’t reply to a request for comment as of Monday’s deadline.
Although the establishment of a Native Hawaiian government doesn’t require congressional action, Hawaii’s delegation has supported the idea. Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono praised Obama’s initiative, and Rep. Ed Case told Civil Beat last year the lack of a sovereign entity could mean Hawaiians miss out on federal funds for COVID-19 efforts.
Hawaii’s new Rep. Kai Kahele told Civil Beat in November that he’s not sure what political path is best for Hawaiians but that he wants to ensure they’re part of the conversation. Kahele is only the second Native Hawaiian to serve in Congress.
Opponents fear creating a sovereign government within the U.S. would constitute an acceptance of the ongoing U.S. occupation of the archipelago while failing to restore the land and resources that were stolen.
“Get out of our house!” several testifiers told federal officials during Interior Department hearings in 2014, part of a groundswell of vocal opposition during the hearings. “Go home!”
Kia’aina believes a Native Hawaiian government would protect institutions like the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands from being struck down by an increasingly conservative U.S. Supreme Court. She also said it would enable Hawaiians to vote on their own leaders without the participation of non-Hawaiians, in contrast to current OHA elections that are open to all state voters.
But she noted regardless of the Biden administration’s openness to a Native Hawaiian government, Hawaiians must be united in choosing their path. That would involve approving a governing document like a constitution and submitting it to the Interior Department.
“The question is how to get there,” Kia’aina said. “That is the No. 1 question facing our community.”
A group of Hawaiians drafted a constitution back in the Obama era but no vote has been organized.
Strong Opposition
Uahikea Maile, assistant professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Toronto, worries federal recognition would cede U.S. control over Hawaiian lands while providing only symbolic autonomy.
Maile believes Hawaiians are already enacting an alternative to federal recognition by asserting sovereignty through actions such as opposing the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea, a mountain many Hawaiians consider sacred.
To Maile, U.S. acknowledgment of a Hawaiian government within its borders would be analogous to a thief returning to the scene of the crime, asking for forgiveness but refusing to return what they stole.
“This is the cover-up,” he said. “Federal recognition is the promise of symbolic self-governance as a way of covering up the original crime, which is the taking away of the government.”
Jonathan Osorio, who leads the Hawaiian Studies department at the University of Hawaii, is worried that establishing a Hawaiian government through the federal process would stymie efforts to achieve actual political separation from America.
The establishment of a nation-within-a-nation may protect current funding streams, Osorio says, but Hawaiians deserve more.
“I think the practical path forward is to continue nation-building work here that includes all of the residents of this place and to gradually convince them that we would be better off separated from the U.S. as our own country,” he said, citing climate change and American social divisions as key reasons to exit the union.
Hawaiians have for years fought to overcome messages like “you’re too small, you’re too insignificant, the U.S. is too powerful, take what you can get, don’t be foolish,” Osorio said. He sees the sovereignty movement growing over time, and thinks secession could happen within the next century.
“The actual sovereignty movement has been persistent and stubborn and has become more and more informed and productive over time and not less,” he said.
Up To Hawaiians
Kuhio Lewis believes achieving sovereignty requires leveraging the existing system.
“It’s not by constantly fighting for every little thing. It’s about using the American system to elevate our voices,” said Lewis, executive director of the nonprofit Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.
Lewis says that Biden’s election has generated a lot of excitement among pro-federal recognition advocates like himself.
Lewis noted that OHA is the 13th largest landowner in Hawaii. A new Hawaiian government could receive those assets and manage them free from the limitations imposed by state laws that have helped embroil OHA in scandal over the past few years.
Instead of the state Hawaiian Homes Commission discussing casino gaming or State Historic Preservation Office making decisions about Hawaiian burials, Lewis believes those conversations would occur between Native Hawaiians and federal officials.
But a major challenge with organizing a vote in 2021 is the ongoing pandemic.
“A lot of our efforts and energy are focused on keeping people in their houses,” he said.
Regardless of the pandemic, strong disagreements within the Indigenous community about the best path forward remain.
“The fire for the restoration of our government of our homeland, I think it’s there,” Osorio said. “And I think that’s what’s ultimately what going to stand between Hawaii and federal recognition.”
Click here to read the 2016 federal rule that establishes a pathway for a Native Hawaiian government.
https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/final_rule_43_cfr_part_50_pathway_for_reestablishing_a_formal_government_to_government_relationship_with_the_native_hawaiian_community.pdf
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Ken Conklin's online comment [limit 1200 characters]
There has never been a unified government of all Hawaiian islands where Hawaiian blood was a requirement for full-fledged citizenship, voting rights, or land ownership.
After centuries Kamehameha unified Hawaii only because of British weapons and expertise. He made John Young Governor of his home Hawaii Island, gave him land and house next to Pu'ukohola heiau, and daughter as wife. He made Isaac Davis Governor of O'ahu. As decades went by the natives got a thriving economy only because of capital investment and cultural appropriation from U.S. (written language, legal system, Christianity), and huge numbers of Japanese and Chinese laborers and merchants, many of whom became full-fledged Kingdom subjects.
Non-natives became a majority of department heads and perhaps 1/4 of elected and appointed legislators in the Kingdom, welcomed by natives. No Indian tribe ever had more than a few non-Indian members, and they were never chiefs.
This is not to praise the generosity of native Hawaiians; it is to prove that non-natives have always had an essential role in building and sustaining a unified Hawaii. We cannot now rightfully be excluded from land or governance. No tribe here.
=========
Senator Schatz is now the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Uh-oh! Get ready for a revival of the Akaka bill. Remember, both Inouye and Akaka were on that committee throughout their Senate careers, and each of them served as Chairman for a few years -- even though there are no(t yet) Indian tribes in Hawaii.
See my now-very-important webpage "Rebuttal to maiden speech by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D,HI) on June 11, 2013 pleading for federal recognition for a phony Akaka tribe"
https://www.angelfire.com/big09/AkakaSchatzMaiden061113.html
Schatz speaks in support of increased COVID-19 relief and additional funding for Indian nations, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians on February 3, 2021.
** 7-minute video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKq91qaBA_E&feature=emb_logo
--------------------
https://www.indianz.com/News/2021/02/04/our-shared-federal-trust-and-treaty-obligations-demand-nothing-less-sen-brian-schatz-d-hawaii/
Indianz.com news blog, Thursday February 4, 2021
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) speaks in support of increased COVID-19 relief and additional funding for Indian nations, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians on February 3, 2021.
** 7-minute video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKq91qaBA_E&feature=emb_logo
‘Our shared federal trust and treaty obligations demand nothing less’: Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) speaks in support of increased COVID-19 relief and additional funding for Indian nations, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians on February 3, 2021.
“From Hawaiian homelands to villages, pueblos, rancherias, and other Native communities, our fellow Americans who live on or near these lands need immediate relief. Not half measures, and not more delays,” said Schatz, who is the new chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
“We all need to work together and support Native families and communities across the country. Our shared federal trust and treaty obligations demand nothing less,” said Schatz, who has served on the committee since 2013.
This week, the U.S. Senate will be taking up a resolution to help implement President Joe Biden’s so-called American Rescue Plan. Schatz said it contains more than $28 billion in investments for health care, education, housing and other programs for Indian Country and Native communities.
“As the new chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for this resolution and delivering critical relief to all Native Americans — Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives and American Indians,” said Schatz.
Prior to his first floor speech as chairman of the committee, Schatz was among a group of key Senate Democrats who met with Biden at the White House on Wednesday. All committee leaders in the chamber, along with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York), the Senate Majority Leader, took part in the meeting.
“I had a productive meeting with President Biden today,” Schatz said after the meeting. “One thing is clear — this administration understands the real challenges facing Hawaii and Native communities across the country, and is committed to ending the pandemic and rebuilding our economy.”
“We talked about how we can work together to provide more relief to Hawaii and to Native families who have been among the hardest hit by the pandemic,” he said. “We discussed how to safely reopen our economy, create new jobs, and support small businesses. The president also spoke to me about his commitment to providing robust funding for Native communities.”
“I look forward to continuing to work with the president to give the American people the immediate help they need,” Schatz concluded.
-----
https://www.kitv.com/story/43288263/schatz-biden-discuss-covid19-relief-for-native-communities-in-hawaii
KITV news, February 3, 2021
Schatz, Biden discuss COVID-19 relief for Native communities in Hawai'i
Sen. Schatz says they spoke about how to provide more relief to Hawai‘i and to Native families who have been hit the hardest by the pandemic.
U.S. Senator Brian Schatz met with President Joe Biden at the White House Wednesday to discuss COVID-19 relief for Native communities in Hawai‘i and nationwide.
Just one day prior, Senator Schatz was promoted to Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and nine other Senate committee chairs joined the meeting.
Sen. Schatz released the following statement afterward:
“I had a productive meeting with President Biden today. One thing is clear — this administration understands the real challenges facing Hawai‘i and Native communities across the country, and is committed to ending the pandemic and rebuilding our economy.
“We talked about how we can work together to provide more relief to Hawai‘i and to Native families who have been among the hardest hit by the pandemic. We discussed how to safely reopen our economy, create new jobs, and support small businesses. The president also spoke to me about his commitment to providing robust funding for Native communities.
“I look forward to continuing to work with the president to give the American people the immediate help they need.”
--------
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2021/02/04/schatz-advocates-native-communities-meeting-with-president-biden/
Hawaii News Now [3 TV stations], February 3, 2021
HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - US Sen. Brian Schatz met with President Joe Biden on Wednesday to discuss COVID-19 relief for native communities in Hawaii and across the country.
Joined by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Committee Chairs, Schatz said he discussed plans on how to safely reopen Hawaii’s economy, create new jobs and support business.
Schatz, the new chairman of Indian Affairs, said the meeting with the president was productive.
“One thing is clear — this administration understands the real challenges facing Hawaii and Native communities across the country, and is committed to ending the pandemic and rebuilding our economy,” he said.
Schatz also said that Biden is committed to providing robust funding for native communities.
“I look forward to continuing to work with the president to give the American people the immediate help they need,” said Schatz.
---------------------
http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/02/ke-aupuni-update-february-2021-keeping.html
Free Hawaii blog Saturday February 6, 2021
KE AUPUNI UPDATE - FEBRUARY 2021
Keeping in touch and updated on activities regarding the restoration of Ke Aupuni o Hawai`i, the Hawaiian Kingdom. Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka `Aina I Ka Pono.
DHHL Casino Appears Stalled
The Legislature of the fake State of Hawai`i is in full swing, ready to once again demonstrate its gross incompetence and malfeasance.
Fortunately, the Department of Hawaiian Homes Lands bill for building a casino in Kapolei appears to have stalled. But it does once again demonstrate the state’s habit of exploiting what little resources Hawaiians have (saying these money-making schemes are for the benefit of Hawaiians) … when the record clearly shows the state’s broken trust obligations to the Hawaiian people’s assets (OHA, DHHL, DLNR, etc.); the ongoing land grabs; continuing denial of Hawaiian nationality; continuing persecution of Hawaiian nationals, and so forth… continues unabated.
Beware of new Fed Rec threat…
Remember the Akaka Bill and Kanaʻiolowalu? Well, get ready… the Biden Administration and Congress are preparing a new bill for Federal Recognition of Native American Tribes. It’s like an Akaka Bill-Kanaʻiolowalu group plan. Their scheme is to sneak Native Hawaiians into a bill bundled with several Native American tribes that are actually seeking Federal Recognition. As a bundle, the prospects of passage by Congress are much stronger.
Thus, our job is to prevent from being bundled into being subjugated as a tribal nation. We need to refuse to be placed in that bundle before the bill is submitted, or extricate ourselves if we are already in that package.
We can do this. We fought the Akaka Bill for 12 years and won. After that, we fought off the Kanaʻiolowalu-DOI Fed Rec threat for 6 years. This time, we can use this opportunity to take the US national platform to draw attention to the United Statesʻ illegal occupation of the Hawaiian Islands, and hold them accountable to its legal and moral obligation to Free Hawaii…
It’s time to hele mua...
This is the opportune time to move forward to initiate The Huli... to flip the tables and restore our Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands. If we can muster the political will, we can do this! International mechanisms (like de-occupation) are available to help us restore our nation to reflect values and priorities rooted in aloha ʻāina, mālama pono, kapu aloha...
The more we stand as a nation and assert the Hawaiian Kingdom is alive and kicking, the more obvious the U.S. false claim becomes and the sooner we will be a Free Hawaii.
Please join the ku’e action to rename McKinley High School and to remove the offensive statue by signing this online petition.
http://tinyurl.com/alohaoemckinley
Ua Ola ke Ea – Sovereignty Lives
A Year to Celebrate the Hawaiian Kingdom – Past, Present and Future
Still in the process of ramping up…
If you are (or if you know of someone who is) interested in helping facilitate any aspect of “Ua Ola ke Ea,” please contact:
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
The campaign to Free Hawaii continues to gain momentum ...
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort...
To contribute, go to:
https://GoFundMe.com/FreeHawaii
To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, clerical help, etc...) email us at
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
Also... Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase HERE
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/Support_Human_Rights.html
All proceeds go to help the cause. Mahalo Nui Loa!
Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
** Ken Conklin's note: Conklin has created a large open letter to the McKinley High School students, alumni, faculty, and community urging them to keep the school's name and statue; explaining that the campaign to remove the name and statue is being waged by Hawaiian race-nationalist secessionists who want to make it look like there's community support for secession; and providing proof that there is a Treaty of Annexation which was legitimately offered by Hawaii and accepted by the U.S., and that President McKinley was not a racist. This important webpage is at
https://www.angelfire.com/big11a/McKinleyHSNameStatue.html
----------------
https://www.civilbeat.org/beat/hawaii-sen-brian-schatz-snags-another-senate-chairmanship/
onolulu Civil Beat, Monday February 15, 2021
Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz Snags Another Senate Chairmanship
The Aloha State’s senior senator is in a good position to divert more federal funds to the islands and address Native Hawaiian issues.
By Nick Grube
WASHINGTON — Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz’s office announced Monday that he will be the head of an appropriations subcommittee focused on transportation, housing and urban development.
The news highlights what it means for the Aloha State when Democrats are in power in Washington.
Schatz will now have even more influence over how federal dollars are spent when it comes to addressing homelessness and public transit, both of which are major issues in the islands.
“We need to rethink the way we invest in our communities,” Schatz said in a statement. “I’m committed to making sure we are putting money where people need it most. That means more support for affordable housing, climate resiliency, and safer and more efficient transportation systems.”
Schatz has been a member of the Appropriations Committee for several years, which has helped him steer billions of dollars in federal funding to Hawaii.
With Democrats retaking the majority in the Senate, he will also serve as the chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, which means he should be able to better address issues related to Native Hawaiians, whether health care and education or housing.
Schatz is also the chairman of the Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis, which last year issued a lengthy report to reduce carbon emissions, bolster economic growth in renewable energy and take on the special interests that for years have worked to undermine those efforts.
--------------------
http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/02/ke-aupuni-update-february-2021-keeping_20.html
Free Hawaii blog
Ke Aupuni Update Saturday February 20, 2021
Keeping in touch and updated on activities regarding the restoration of Ke Aupuni o Hawai`i, the Hawaiian Kingdom. Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka `Aina I Ka Pono.
We Are a NATION! We Are Not a TRIBE!
Maka`ala! Watch out! Here it comes again! Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz is the new chair of the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Sources say there will soon be yet another attempt to corral “Native Hawaiians” into an American tribal nation. It’s like: “Trust us, we know whatʻs best for you.”
Yes, itʻs hana hou “Akaka Bill” and “Fed Rec” (“fed wreck”), only sneakier and more dangerous. Bundling Native Hawaiians into a bill with real American Indian tribes that want Federal Recognition, practically guarantees passage. That means, Hawaiians would get swept along in a fed Rec group plan.
Fed Rec gives American Indian tribes some degree of autonomy and access to U.S. government programs. But for Hawaiians it would mean further encroachment on our lands and other rights trampled under the heel of the US Government… On top of that, it would be administered by the infamously dysfunctional Bureau of Indian Affairs!
Everybody in Hawaii nei should oppose Fed Rec for the scam that it is. Even better, we should grab this opportunity to expose to Congress and the world that this is another example of international criminal acts by the United States in their ongoing unlawful occupation of our country. Not only are we not American Indians, we are not even Americans! This is an opportunity to tell them the Hawaiian Islands is a sovereign, independent country, not a fake state of the United States!
The only legitimate action that the U.S. can take is to Free Hawaii.
Please note we are neutral regarding Federal Recognition for actual Native American tribes. That is their business and their choice to make. Just leave Hawaiians out of it.
It’s time to hele mua...
This is the opportune time to move forward to initiate The Huli... to flip the tables and restore our Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands. If we can muster the political will, we can do this! International mechanisms (like de-occupation) are available to help us restore our nation to reflect values and priorities rooted in aloha ʻāina, mālama pono, kapu aloha...
The more we stand as a nation and assert the Hawaiian Kingdom is alive and kicking, the more obvious the U.S. false claim becomes and the sooner we will be a Free Hawaii.
Please join the ku’e action to rename McKinley High School and to remove the offensive statue by signing this online petition.
http://tinyurl.com/alohaoemckinley
Ua Ola ke Ea – Sovereignty Lives
A Year to Celebrate the Hawaiian Kingdom – Past, Present and Future
Still in the process of ramping up…
If you are (or if you know of someone who is) interested in helping facilitate any aspect of “Ua Ola ke Ea,” please contact: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
The campaign to Free Hawaii continues to gain momentum ...
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort...
To contribute, go to: https://GoFundMe.com/FreeHawaii
To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, clerical help, etc...) email us at info@HawaiianKingdom.net
Also... Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase HERE
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/Support_Human_Rights.html
All proceeds go to help the cause. Mahalo Nui Loa!
Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
---------------------
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/02/21/editorial/on-politics/now-on-powerful-panels-u-s-sen-schatz-shares-hopes-for-rail-reality-hawaiians-dems/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser, February 21, 2021
On Politics: Now on powerful panels, U.S. Sen. Schatz shares hopes for rail reality, Hawaiians, Dems
by Richard Borreca [weekly editorial commentator]
Hawaii’s senior U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz can appreciate the benefits of being on the winning side. It may be a microscopic majority with Vice President Kamala Harris available to break ties in favor of the Democrats, but it counts that good things are going to faithful up-and-comers like Schatz.
In the last two months, the 48-year-old Makiki Democrat has become chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee, and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Schatz was also named to the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
There is not a living U.S. senator who does not look in a mirror and see the reflection of a really big deal, but chairing a Senate committee plus an influential subcommittee means Schatz has a place at the table with a placard saying that is where he belongs.
It is the kind of clout that means Schatz can and has discussed Honolulu rail woes with the new U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Schatz tactfully offers some advice to local rail officials.
The interim chief of Honolulu’s rail project, Lori Kahikina, is doing well, Schatz said.
“Lori is saying the right things about no longer engaging in magical thinking and just wishing away HART’s problems. I am giving them time to sharpen their pencils. And then I can help,” Schatz said in an interview last week, cautioning that help does not mean “there’s an extra $2 billion floating around.”
Schatz did say that in talks with Buttigieg, it was clear that “we have to regain our credibility and start telling the truth about the project.”
That same sort of reality- based politics was also emphasized by Schatz when he discussed his position leading the Indian Affairs Committee, a role that has been held by both Hawaii’s late senators, Daniel K. Inouye and Daniel Akaka.
This is not the time, Schatz said, for another version of a Native Hawaiian sovereignty bill as envisioned by Akaka. Instead, the new chairman said he wants to work to “enhance the trust relationship that already exists with the federal government and Native Hawaiians and enhance revenue streams with education, health, housing and broadband.”
Other parts of the Native Hawaiian equation are still to be resolved, Schatz said.
“Under (former President Barack) Obama, there was the beginning of the self-determination process.
“My thought is to help that along, but self-determination means self-determination. That means a consensus has to be developed among Hawaiians about the relationship they want or don’t want between a Native Hawaiian governing entity and the federal government.
“It is not ripe yet,” said Schatz.
Turning to the fractured national political scene facing America now, Schatz urged an optimistic view. Under the former president, “real harm was done to the nation’s most vulnerable.”
“He emboldened and strengthened an anti-democratic authoritarianism, even if it never got to be a governing majority,” Schatz said.
Can Republicans build on Donald Trump’s strength to take back the congressional majorities in 2022? Schatz said the task for Democrats is to sell and deliver a better plan.
“The best way to move on is to improve people’s lives. We were put in charge to deliver COVID relief and we have to keep our eyes on that prize.”
The political reality is that the party in control usually loses votes in the first midterm election. So Democrats, Schatz said, need to make a new reality for 2022.
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https://www.oha.org/news/oha-board-chair-testifies-before-senate-committee-on-indian-affairs/
OHA Trustees Press Release, 24 February 2021
OHA board chair testifies before Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
HONOLULU (Feb. 24, 2021) – OHA Board Chair Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey testified this morning at the first hearing of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs chaired by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaiʻi), urging senators to help address the needs of Native Hawaiians.
“This committee has a long history of bipartisanship and collegiality among its members,” Chair Lindsey said in her testimony today. “That spirit is critical to elevating the voices of Native leaders and fulfilling the federal government’s trust responsibility owed to all Native people of the United States. Your work here empowers the Native community to continue exercising true self-determination – our right to chart our own course and maintain our distinct traditions, cultures, and Native ways.”
Chair Lindsey further testified that the federal government must honor its trust responsibility to the Native Hawaiian people; support federal programs for Native Hawaiians in the areas of health care, housing, economic development and education; and ensure parity in the treatment of all Native Americans, including American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians.
Entitled “A call to action: Native communities’ priorities in focus for the 117th Congress,” today’s oversight hearing marked the start of a new era for the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Sen. Schatz was named chair of the committee earlier this month. He became the third Hawaiʻi senator to chair the committee, and the first to do so in nearly a decade.
Sen. Schatz opened today’s hearing by stating that one of his goals as chairman is to bring Native Hawaiian issues and priorities to the forefront.
“I want to be clear that today’s hearing isn’t a check the box exercise,” he said “It’s a real opportunity for members of the Committee to chart a path forward by listening to and learning from Native leaders for the next two years and beyond.”
He continued:
“Now more than ever, Congress must be tuned in and listening. Native communities are experiencing disproportionate impacts from multiple crises—COVID-19, economic insecurity, racial injustice, and climate change. So as the strongest voice for Native priorities in the Congress, this Committee will act to address these challenges by working together in its bipartisan tradition and to uphold the federal treaty and trust responsibilities to tribes and Native communities across the country—from Hawai‘i to Alaska and to the continental United States.”
Chair Lindsey was one of four witnesses invited to testify before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on the priorities facing their respective Native communities. The other witnesses at today’s hearing were:
Honorable Fawn Sharp, President, National Congress of American Indians, Washington, DC
Honorable Leonard Forsman, President, Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, Portland, OR
Julie Kitka, President, Alaska Federation of Natives, Anchorage, AK
After the hearing, Chair Lindsey said she was honored for opportunity to testify.
“I extend my aloha and congratulations to Chairman Brian Schatz and Vice Chairman Lisa Murkowski on their new leadership positions on the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs,” she said. “Mahalo for today’s opportunity to elevate the issues of our Native communities, and we look forward to continuing this dialogue with your committee on how Congress can continue to support the needs of Hawaiʻi’s Indigenous people.”
The hearing was entitled “A call to action: Native communities’ priorities in focus for the 117th Congress.”
View OHA Board Chair Carmen Hulu Lindsey’s written testimony here.
https://19of32x2yl33s8o4xza0gf14-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/Written-Testimony-OHA-Chair-Carmen-Hulu-Lindsey_SCIA-hrg-02.24.21.pdf
View the livestream video of Chair Lindsey’s testimony before the Senate Committee on the OHA Vimeo channel.
https://vimeo.com/516393695
------------------
http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/02/no-to-fed-wreck-free-hawaii-over-pat-20.html
Free Hawaii blog, Saturday February 27, 2021
NO TO FED WRECK - FREE HAWAI`I
Over the pat 20 years, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs squandered at least $30 million of beneficiaries' money trying to get "Federal Recognition" — to make Native Hawaiians into American Indian tribe.
They failed miserably because we said NO!
But a couple of days ago, Trustee Hulu Lindsey, chair of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, addressed the US Senate Indian Affairs Committee (chaired by Sen. Brian Schatz) indicating that OHA is again hoping to pursue Fed Rec.
This is disappointing!
You'd think that after 20 years, she'd realize Hawaiians don't want Fed Rec.
For 12 years we fought (and beat) the Akaka Bill in Congress; then we battled Kanai'iolowalu, Na'i Aupuni and the Dept. of Interior schemes to a standstill.
Let's send a message to OHA: A'ole Fed Rec... We don't want to be, an American Indian Tribe... We want our country back...
FREE HAWAII !
-------------------
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/04/us-government-native-hawaiians-raw-deal
The Guardian [U.S. Edition], March 4, 2021
[Formerly The Manchester Guardian of England; see history at
https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-archive/2002/jun/06/1 ]
The US government has always given Native Hawaiians a raw deal. It still does.
The Biden administration is set to officially recognize a Native Hawaiian government. That may sound positive, but it isn’t
by Uahikea Maile
Since the state of Hawaii reopened to visitors in October 2020, more than 650,000 people have flown to the islands. After arriving, some tourists are receiving vaccines before local residents, even though Pacific Islanders are disproportionately affected by Covid-19. Despite the influx, visitor numbers are still lower than usual, leaving the state’s economy – which is overly dependent on tourism and military dollars – in shambles.
It’s the kind of colonial treatment that Native Hawaiians have endured since the Hawaiian Kingdom’s government was illegally overthrown in 1893 and the Hawaiian islands were unlawfully annexed by the United States in 1898.
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. Re-establishing a government-to-government relationship with the US has been praised as a way of protecting entitlements, programs and services for Native Hawaiians.
At first glance, that may sound like a positive step. But federal recognition could be a final nail in the coffin for Hawaiian sovereignty. For that reason, it is steadfastly opposed by most Native Hawaiians and has earned the moniker “Fed Wreck”.
There’s history here. In 2014, the Department of the Interior proposed a rule to re-establish a government-to-government relationship with Native Hawaiians. Twenty public meetings followed in Hawai‘i and across Indian country to solicit feedback. According to one study, an overwhelming majority of Native Hawaiians – more than 95% – objected to the prospect of the US government recognizing a new Native Hawaiian government.
As Ka‘iulani Lovell testified in Kapa‘a, Kaua‘i: “We don’t need to be recognized by you. We know who we are.”
In Kahului, Maui, Tisha-Marie Kekumu-Beattie declared: “You cannot give me back something I never gave up … take your thing you wanna give us, throw ’em in the trash. We don’t want it. We sovereign.”
Even under the administration of President Barack Obama, who was born in Hawai‘i, the US government didn’t seem especially interested in hearing the community. Two years later, the Department of the Interior issued a rule to amend federal regulations so a Native Hawaiian entity could apply to be acknowledged as self-governing.
It would be a symbolic form of self-governance that could cover up the original crime, which is the taking away of the government and land.
A new Native Hawaiian government would not receive a land-base, territorial jurisdiction, nor be eligible for land to be taken into trust. The only possible land back is the island Kaho‘olawe, bombed for 50 years by the US navy and with unexploded ordinance still stuck in the ground.
In fact, federal recognition would have the effect of officially ceding authority to the US, for the first time ever, of over approximately 2m acres of national land stolen from the Hawaiian Kingdom and Native Hawaiians.
There is some good news: Joe Biden’s historic nomination of Deb Haaland – a tribal citizen of the Laguna Pueblo and US representative from New Mexico – as secretary of the interior. If confirmed, she will be, astoundingly, the first Indigenous woman appointed to an executive cabinet position. She will also be the first Indigenous person to head the Department of the Interior, which manages public lands, national forests and the US government’s relationships with federally recognized tribal nations, Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiians.
Native Hawaiians are cautiously optimistic that Deb Haaland, unlike her predecessors, will listen to the Native Hawaiian community, not just elected officials from the state of Hawaii.
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.
Uahikea Maile is assistant professor of Indigenous politics in the department of political science at the University of Toronto
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/03/hawaiian-kingdom-worldwide-support-on.html
Free Hawaii blog, SUNDAY, MARCH 14, 2021
"Hawaiian Kingdom Worldwide Support - A Visit With Leon Siu"
Thereʻs been some amazing Hawaiian Kingdom progress lately at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva. So we spent an afternoon with Leon Siu to learn all about it. What we found most fascinating is hearing that UN member nations are starting to ask one simple question regarding Hawaiian Kingdom government restoration - “How can we help?” Donʻt miss our visit with Leon because we think youʻll be as excited as we were as we began to see the bigger picture and what it means for the future of Hawai`i - Watch It Here [28 minutes on YouTube]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CJ0zpwzUbs&t=2s
==================
On Thursday March 18, 2021 the House Committee on Education held a hearing that ran from 2-5 PM regarding 11 bills and resolutions. The resolution to remove the name and statue of McKinley from the school was scheduled last because it was expected to be controversial and there would be lots of testifiers. At the end, after hearing testimony and after a recess for private discussion, the committee decided to "defer" the resolution -- a polite way of saying it is dead even though there was no official vote to defeat it. Following are links to the legislature's webpage providing the hearing notice, text of resolution, files of testimony, and results; an activist blog entry and two news reports the day before the hearing, two lengthy files of written testimony, a video of the hearing, a news report after the hearing, and an activist blog entry the day afterward.
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** Ken Conklin's summary of what's available:
Legislature's webpage for the House resolution
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HR&billnumber=148&year=2021
and Legislature's webpage for the House concurrent resolution
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HCR&billnumber=179&year=2021
In each case click on the bill number near the top to read the text of the resolution; and along the right-hand margin look for the file of all written testimony, and the hearing notice. The history is shown as "status text". The two versions of the resolution are identical except for technical language in case the resolution passes the House and is then sent to the Senate. The file of testimony on the ordinary House resolution is more than twice as long as for the concurrent resolution; but there are many testimonies duplicated in both files (including Conklin's ten pages).
In case you weren't aware of it, you can not only watch livestream of every committee hearing in real time, but you can also watch a YouTube video recording of each hearing after it has finished. Click a link on the hearing notice near the bottom. For this particular hearing, here is the link to the YouTube video of the 2+1/4 hour hearing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIyg_M_kZLA
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** Ken Conklin's note: The 3 minute video linked here is SO FUNNY! Remember the embarrassing news headline from 1948: Dewey Beats Truman. Well here's a sovereignty activist blog entry and video published the day BEFORE a legislature committee hearing on a resolution to change the name and remove the statue at McKinley Hish School. The activists were celebrating an expected victory, which in fact turned out to be a major defeat for them.
http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/03/free-hawaii-tv-free-hawaii-broadcasting_17.html
Free Hawaii blog, Wednesday March 17, 2021
"BREAKTHROUGH ON MCKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL NAME CHANGE"
Exciting Name Change & Statue Removal News At McKinley High School.
Two Resolutions Of Support Have Now Been Introduced In The Hawai`i Legislature.
But The State Board Of Education Has Still Not Come Aboard.
Watch This For The Full Story & To See What Happens Next.
Then Share This Video Today With Your Family & Everyone You Know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqo8sv3-9aE
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** Ken Conklin's note: The propaganda machine in the media was all cranked up nationwide on Wednesday, but then the resolution was killed at Thursday's hearing. Here's a local TV news report on Wednesday; and, to show a sample of nationwide media, a radio report from North Carolina.
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https://www.khon2.com/local-news/hsta-supports-renaming-mckinley-high-school-removing-statue/
KHON 2 News MARCH 16, 2021
HSTA supports renaming McKinley High School, removing statue
HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) is lending its support to rename President William McKinley High School and to remove his statue from the school grounds.
On March 12, HSTA listed different reasons why the school deserved a better name that honors its true spirit, community and legacy:
* The school’s name glorifies a man who illegally annexed a country against the will of her queen and people.
* The name reflects an indoctrination of Hawaiian students and a movement that obliterated Native Hawaiian identity in favor of American patriotism.
* The devastating loss of Native Hawaiian identity, culture, and language has yet to fully recover.
* It is our kuleana (responsibility) to restore pono (righteousness).
* Names have great significance to us. A school’s name should honor its greatness.
The article was written by HSTA’s Human and Civil Rights Committee and Laverne Moore, an HSTA lobbyist and a McKinley High School special education teacher.
“As a Native Hawaiian woman who grew up under colonization, I personally experienced what colonization does to a child at a very young age,” Moore said. “I was forbidden to speak my native tongue. I was forbidden to have a Hawaiian first name. I lost my language. I lost my cultural practices and beliefs. My values. Colonization made me feel like I had no rights. Growing up, I felt marginalized, and I didn’t understand why. I only learned to be proud of my Native Hawaiian identity as an adult, and I realized I had to fight for my rights.”
Moore said she started teaching special education at McKinley in 2001. Although she loved it, she always struggled with the school’s name because of what he did.
“We must change the school’s name for our indigenous people,” said Moore. “So many who endured this hardship before me have passed, and I fear once my generation is gone, the desire to regain what was stolen from us will slowly fade away.”
A resolution to change the school’s name back to Honolulu High School will be heard by the House Committee on Education on Thursday, March 18, at 2 p.m.
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https://www.wral.com/hawaii-lawmakers-consider-changing-mckinley-school-name/19580397/
WRAL March 17, 2021 [NBC radio station, Raleigh North Carolina]
Hawaii lawmakers consider changing McKinley school name
HONOLULU — Hawaii lawmakers will consider measures that would rename the state's oldest public high school to remove President William McKinley.
Two House resolutions seek to acknowledge McKinley’s role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom by changing McKinley High School’s name to Honolulu High School, Hawaii Public Radio reported Tuesday.
McKinley signed a resolution annexing Hawaii in 1898. Hawaii became a U.S. territory in 1900 and a state in 1959.
“Besides McKinley’s role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom we also learned about the indoctrination of students during that time and how students were forced to basically pledge allegiance to America,” said Jodi Kunimitsu, a math teacher at Maui High School and the state chair for the Human and Civil Rights Committee of the Hawaii State Teachers Association.
Kunimitsu also believes a McKinley statue on the school's grounds should be removed.
The Hawaii State Teachers Association supports the effort to rename the school, KHON2 reported Tuesday.
“As a Native Hawaiian woman who grew up under colonization, I personally experienced what colonization does to a child at a very young age,” said Laverne Moore, a Hawaii State Teachers Association lobbyist and McKinley High School special education teacher. “I was forbidden to speak my native tongue. I was forbidden to have a Hawaiian first name. I lost my language. I lost my cultural practices and beliefs.”
Moore started teaching McKinley in 2001, KHON2 reported. Although she loved it, she always struggled with the school’s name because of what he did.
“We must change the school’s name for our indigenous people,” said Moore. “So many who endured this hardship before me have passed, and I fear once my generation is gone, the desire to regain what was stolen from us will slowly fade away.”
A House hearing will be held on the measures Thursday.
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The resolution:
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2021/bills/HCR179_.htm
H.C.R. No. 179
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
URGING THE SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION TO REQUEST THE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO CHANGE THE NAME OF PRESIDENT WILLIAM MCKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL BACK TO THE SCHOOL'S PREVIOUS NAME OF HONOLULU HIGH SCHOOL AND TO REMOVE THE STATUE OF PRESIDENT MCKINLEY FROM THE SCHOOL PREMISES.
WHEREAS, what is currently named President William McKinley High School was previously named Honolulu High School, which was established in the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1865 and is one of the oldest secondary schools in the Hawaiian islands; and
WHEREAS, the name of Honolulu High School was changed to President William McKinley High School in 1907 as a key component of the political indoctrination strategy to deliberately convince the people living in the Hawaiian Islands that they are American; and
WHEREAS, when the statue of William McKinley was erected in 1911, several years after the renaming of the school, it was not to honor the President of the United States, but rather as a symbol to perpetuate the subjugation of Native Hawaiians and reinforce the lie that the Hawaiian islands belong to the United States of America; and
WHEREAS, the name of the school and the statue of William McKinley holding the fabricated "Annexation Treaty" perpetuates the allegation that people in the Hawaiian islands wanted to become Americans, even though eighty percent of the adult population signed the Kū‘e Petitions against annexation in 1897; and
WHEREAS, on July 6, 1898, President McKinley committed fraud to continue the occupation of the Hawaiian islands by the United States by signing a Joint Resolution of Congress, entitled the "Newlands Resolution" that purported the annexation of Hawai‘i; and
WHEREAS, the Newlands Resolution illegitimately claimed United States annexation of the Hawaiian islands, even though such a document does not have any power or legitimacy to annex an internationally recognized nation with official treaties in eighteen foreign states dating as far back as 1846; and
WHEREAS, the result of the illegal annexation turned Hawai‘i into an overseas colony completely dependent on the United States of America and displaced Native Hawaiians, robbing them of their birth right, cultural identity, nationality, language, and homes, while negatively impacting their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being; and
WHEREAS, following the enactment of the Newlands Resolution, Hawaii's public education system was pressed into service to indoctrinate, denationalize, "Americanize," and convert generations of Hawaii's children into patriotic United States citizens; and
WHEREAS, U.S. Public Law 103-150, informally known as the "Apology Resolution", a Joint Resolution of the United States Congress signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, acknowledges that "the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty over their national lands, either through a plebiscite or referendum"; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2021, the Senate concurring, that the Superintendent of Education is emphatically urged to request the Board of Education to replace the name of President William McKinley High School with the previous name of Honolulu High School and remove the statue of President William McKinley from the school premises; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the members of the Hawaii's Congressional delegation, Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Chairperson of the Board of Education, Superintendent of Education, Kaimuki‑McKinley‑Roosevelt Complex Area Superintendent, President of the McKinley High School Foundation, and each of the county mayors.
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** Ken Conklin's oral testimony in opposition, restricted to 2 minutes:
Aloha kakou. 'O Ken Conklin ko'u inoa.
I submitted detailed testimony regarding the Hawaiian revolution of 1893, the Republic, and the Treaty of Annexation; and hope you have studied it carefully.
Let me now put things in very direct terms.
This resolution is NOT about McKinley's name on the school, or his statue.
This resolution is an attempt by a gang of secessionists to recruit you as allies in ripping the 50th star off our flag by declaring Annexation was both illegal and immoral, with McKinley as the evildoer who made it happen.
In 1893 the Hawaiian revolution overthrew a corrupt and ineffective monarchy. In 1894 Emperors, Kings, Queens, and Presidents of at least 19 nations personally signed letters to President Dole recognizing the Republic as the rightful successor to the Kingdom; see photos. That's why the Republic had the authority to speak on behalf of Hawaii and offer a Treaty of Annexation. The U.S. as a sovereign nation had the right to agree to it by whatever method it might choose, and did so after months of debate in Congress.
The winners in a political struggle have the right to govern the losers whether they like it or not.
Hawaii's royalists lost in the revolution of 1893. They lost in the Annexation of 1898. Their successors lost in the Statehood vote of 1959. Their diehard deadenders remain sore losers trying to "cancel" President McKinley 123 years after he helped secure Annexation.
I'm proud to be an American, and hope you are also.
Please do NOT help these secessionists. Please vote NO on this resolution.
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** Ken Conklin's written testimony (on both the regular and concurrent resolutions)
There is only one reason why some activists want to abolish "McKinley" from the name of the school and remove his statue from the campus. The reason is, they want to rip the 50th star off the American flag and return Hawaii to its former status as an independent nation. And through this resolution they want to enlist you legislators as collaborators in their treasonous propaganda campaign.
The strongest evidence that this is their motive is easy to see in the "whereas" clauses of this resolution and in documents provided by the NEA and the HSTA which are filled with historical falsehoods trashing the alleged U.S. "invasion" and "occupation" of Hawaii; alleged suppression of Hawaiian language and culture; and civics curriculum in the early Territorial period. Portraying Native Hawaiians as victims of colonial oppression and/or belligerent military occupation is designed to bolster demands to "give Hawaii back to the Hawaiians", thereby producing a race-supremacist government and turning the other 80% of Hawaii's people into second-class citizens.
The leaders of America and also most of the leaders of the Republic of Hawaii were White men. So it's no surprise that today's secessionist efforts to reverse Annexation and establish ethnic Hawaiian racial supremacy are anti-White. But in recent years that racism has also become anti-Asian. The activists have produced a book and other materials saying that Hawaii citizens of Japanese and other Asian ancestries, even after several generations born and raised in Hawaii, are mere "settlers" or "guests" in a Hawaiian homeland where they have special rights as the "hosts." They say that unless Hawaii people of Asian ancestry line up to support Hawaiian secession under the leadership of ethnic Hawaiians, you are colonialists, just as guilty as the haoles, oppressing the "indigenous" people whose blood makes them children of the gods and brothers/sisters to the land (Kumulipo creation legend) in a way you never can be if you lack a drop of the magic blood. This is the same sort of "blood and soil" race-supremacist fascism that ruined Germany and Japan causing world war in the 1930s and 40s; and more recently it was revived by white nationalists in the U.S. You legislators have a responsibility to stop that fascism from getting established in Hawaii. See my detailed review of the book "Asian Settler Colonialism" published by UH Press in 2008, demanding that Asians subordinate themselves to ethnic Hawaiians:
https://www.angelfire.com/big09a/AsianSettlerColonialism.html
The activists hate President McKinley because he successfully persuaded Congress to pass the joint resolution in 1898 whereby the U.S. agreed to the Treaty of Annexation offered by the Republic of Hawaii in 1897. McKinley also signed the Organic Act in 1900 establishing basic laws for the Territory of Hawaii. McKinley also appointed Republic of Hawaii's President Sanford B. Dole to be the first Territorial Governor, thus ensuring stability and continuity of governance under the same head of state throughout the turbulent decade from 1893 (Revolutionary Provisional Government) to 1894 (Republic of Hawaii) to 1898 (Annexation) to 1900 (Organic Act) to 1903 (end of Dole's term as Governor).
The activists hope to enlist you legislators as allies in their campaign of secession. They know that if you agree to this resolution, they will have a propaganda victory allowing them to say to the rest of America "Let us outa here!" They will cite your approval of this resolution as evidence to our nation's enemies in the United Nations that "America is weak and falling apart." Communist China, now building a navy more powerful than ours, and seeing the Hawaiian secessionist movement being led by so many people whose ancestry is Chinese as well as Hawaiian, might decide Hawaii is low-hanging fruit for plucking, in much the same way that a German leader in the 1930s felt he had a right to take over part of Czechoslovakia and all of Austria to liberate his fellow ethnic Germans who were so numerous there. Certainly when the U.S. complains in the United Nations about China's internal suppression of ethnic minorities and oppression of Tibet and Hong Kong, China will answer by accusing the U.S. of doing the same thing in Hawaii as evidenced by the resolution passed by Hawaii's own legislature bitterly crying out to be liberated.
In November 2020, seeing how aggressive the activists were becoming in their drive to purge "McKinley" from the school, I created a webpage documenting their intentions and opposing them. Please see my "Open letter to students, alumni, teachers, administrators, staff, community, and Board of Education explaining why the school's name and statue deserve to remain in place, and why a Hawaiian secessionist demand to remove them should be strongly rejected" at
tinyurl.com/hmepjz7k
A friend of mine, the late Thurston Twigg-Smith, wrote a book entitled "Hawaiian Sovereignty: Do the Facts Matter?" which he graciously allowed me to post on my website where you can download it for free:
http://tinyurl.com/6osxwp
Yes, the facts do matter. There are numerous falsehoods about Hawaii's history in the "whereas" clauses of this resolution, and in two articles authored by Keanu Sai in the NEA newspaper, and in the lengthy HSTA essay:
https://www.hsta.org/news/recent-stories/mckinley-high-school- deserves-a-name-that-honors-its-true-spirit-community-legacy/
Shame on Hawaii's teachers for propagating such falsehoods, and especially for filling the minds of our children with them. Below are just a few of those falsehoods, with brief corrections and links to evidence proving falsehood. I know you don't have time to study these issues now, but hopefully when the legislative session is over you might take the time to learn about some of them.
By the way, an item in the HSTA essay says "According to the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, 168 Confederate symbols, including 94 monuments, were removed across the United States in 2020, virtually all of them following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers."
I'm sure we all remember the outbreak of violence, arson, looting, and attacks on police that accompanied the "removal" of those statues and monuments in numerous cities.
Perhaps we should wonder whether the mention of those events in the HSTA essay is intended as a veiled threat that something similar might happen to McKinley High School and/or to the statue if we fail to comply with the activists' demands. That's all the more reason to stand up against such threats. Please do not knuckle under to them. It might be wise to ask each activist who testifies, to give a pledge that they will not engage in violence or vandalism, and that they will assist law enforcement in identifying, arresting, and prosecuting anyone who does. "Kapu aloha", right? Testimony from anyone who refuses to take such a pledge should be summarily rejected for the same reasons it is unwise to negotiate with terrorists.
Please vote "NAY" and consign this resolution to the trash.
Below are brief replies to specific falsehoods in the resolution (and to arguments often put forward to bolster them)
WAS THE MCKINLEY STATUE ERECTED TO HUMILIATE AND SUBJUGATE NATIVE HAWAIIANS?
Reso: "... when the statue of William McKinley was erected in 1911, several years after the renaming of the school, it was not to honor the President of the United States, but rather as a symbol to perpetuate the subjugation of Native Hawaiians and reinforce the lie that the Hawaiian islands belong to the United States of America"
Reply: There is not even any attempt to give evidence that was the motive; legislators should never endorse such bitter sentiments. And by the way, it is not a lie to say: the Hawaiian islands really do belong to the United States of America; don't you legislators agree? Didn't you take an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States" against all enemies, foreign and domestic? Meet some of those enemies; i.e., the suporters of this resolution.
WHAT PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE SIGNED ANTI-ANNEXATION PETITION?
Reso: "... eighty percent of the adult population signed the Kū‘e Petitions against annexation in 1897"
Reply: There were 21,269 signatures on the petition opposing annexation. Interpolation of Census data shows there were about 39,542 full or part Hawaiians in 1897, the year of the anti-annexation petition. Thus, the 21,269 signatures on the petition represented 54% of the native population. But wait! Everyone says there were non- natives among the 21,269 people who signed the petition, although we cannot be sure how many. Well, if there were non-natives signing, then shouldn't the percentage of signers be calculated using the whole number of people in the entire population? Apparently non-natives were welcome to sign the petition, but the overwhelming majority refused. The whole population in 1896 was 109,020; in 1900 it was 154,001; so interpolation yields 120,265 as the population in 1897, which means the 21,269 signatures represent only 18% of the population. Furthermore, at that time only men could vote, and there were other important voter eligibility restrictions; so there is no relationship between petition signatures and eligible voters. But there's more to the story. In addition to the anti-annexation petition with 21,269 signatures, there was allegedly another petition containing over 17,000 signatures collected by a different organization. The trouble is, that second petition had a different purpose -- it called for Lili'uokalani to be restored to the throne! Hawaiian sovereignty activists like to add the numbers on the two petitions, for a total of around 38,000 to 39,000 signatures, which would represent virtually every native and part-native man, woman, and baby. But of course that's silly. The two petitions are on different topics. And probably everyone who signed the smaller petition (restore the queen) would have also signed the larger petition (stop annexation). Indeed, the gap of 4,000 signatures could be interpreted to mean that there were 4,000 natives who opposed annexation but also opposed restoring the monarchy and wanted the Republic of Hawai'i to continue as an independent nation under the coalition of White and Hawaiian oligarchs!
DOES U.S. JOINT RESOLUTION HAVE POWER TO REACH OUT AND GRAB A FOREIGN NATION (I.E., HAWAII)?
Reso: "... the Newlands Resolution illegitimately claimed United States annexation of the Hawaiian islands, even though such a document does not have any power or legitimacy to annex an internationally recognized nation ..."
Sai, NEA, 10/01/18: "Many government officials and constitutional scholars could not explain how a joint resolution could have the extra-territorial force and effect of a treaty in annexing Hawai‘i, a foreign and sovereign state. ... In 1824, the United Supreme Court explained that, “the legislation of every country is territorial,” and that the “laws of no nation can justly extend beyond its own territory... for it would be “at variance with the independence and sovereignty of foreign nations.”
Reply: Annexation did not begin with the U.S. passing a resolution to reach out and grab Hawaii. Annexation began with the Republic of Hawaii offering a Treaty of Annexation to the U.S. Afterward, the U.S. Congress had heated debates about the Treaty in both the House and Senate for many months, and finally passed a joint resolution to accept it: Senate 42-21; House 209-91. Sovereignty means that a nation has the sole right to decide for itself what method it will use for agreeing to a treaty offered by another nation. In 1898 the U.S. used the method of joint resolution to accept the offer of the Treaty of Annexation from the independent nation Republic of Hawaii, just as in 1845 the U.S. used the method of joint resolution to accept the offer of the Treaty of Annexation from the independent nation Republic of Texas. See
"Treaty of Annexation between the Republic of Hawaii and the United States of America (1898). Full text of the treaty, and of the resolutions whereby the Republic of Hawaii legislature and the U.S. Congress ratified it. The politics surrounding the treaty, then and now" at
https://www.angelfire.com/big09a/TreatyOfAnnexationHawaiiUS.html
Further reply: The secessionists also say that the Republic of Hawaii was not a legitimate government and therefore had no right to offer a Treaty of Annexation. But in fact the Republic was the successor government of a still-independent nation of Hawaii, following the revolution of 1893 which overthrew the monarchy. The Republic got its legitimacy under international law in the same way as the Kingdom had done: by receiving formal diplomatic recognition from the heads-of-state of numerous foreign governments. After holding a Constitutional Convention and producing a Constitution, President Dole requested formal recognition. During Fall 1894 letters were received in 11 languages that were personally signed by Emperors, Kings, Queens, and Presidents of at least 19 foreign nations on 4 continents formally recognizing the Republic as the rightful, lawful government of Hawaii. One of those letters was from Queen Victoria of Britain, who had close relationships with Queen Emma and Queen Lili'uokalani. Other letters were from the Tsar of Russia, the King and Queen of Spain, the Presidents of France and Switzerland, two Crown Princes of China under authority of the Emperor while a war with Japan was raging; etc. Even ex-queen Lili'uokalani personally signed a letter of abdication and oath of loyalty to the Republic, witnessed by her personal attorney and former cabinet ministers. Photos of all these documents, along with supporting letters from diplomatic representatives, were taken in the Archives of Hawaii and are available online at
https://historymystery.kenconklin.org/recognition-of-the-republic-of-hawaii/
U.S. APOLOGY RESOLUTION
Reso: "the "Apology Resolution" ...acknowledges that "the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty ... either through a plebiscite or referendum""
Reply: Must the inhabitants of a territory be consulted, prior to being annexed? In the annexations of the Louisiana Territory and the Territory of Alaska, the inhabitants were not consulted by France or Russia (who sold those territories to the U.S.) nor by the U.S. There were only two times when annexations of land to the United States included consulting the inhabitants of the annexed areas: Texas and Hawaii. The reason why the inhabitants were consulted in these two cases was that these were independent nations prior to annexation. In the case of Texas, there was a plebiscite in which the vote was limited to white males who had sworn loyalty to the Republic of Texas. In the case of Hawaii, the elected legislature of the Republic of Hawai'i made the commitment. When a government makes a decision, it is binding on everyone in that nation regardless of the fact that some people -- perhaps many people -- don't like it. Native Hawaiians made up only 40% of the population at the time of the overthrow in 1893, 26% at the time of annexation in 1900, and perhaps 20% today. Source: Robert C. Schmitt. Demographic Statistics of Hawaii: 1778-1965. (Honolulu, 1968) The first U.S. Census was in 1900 and it showed a total population of154,001 of whom 29,779 were Hawaiian, 7,857 were part-Hawaiian, 28,819 Caucasian, 25,767 Chinese, 61,111
Japanese. I did not vote for President Biden, nor for either of my Senators, nor for my House Representative. But they have authority to make decisions affecting me whether I like it or not.
Reso: "the "Apology Resolution" ... acknowledges that "the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their ... national lands ...""
Reply: The national lands of Hawaii belonged to the multiracial nation, not to any particular ethnic group. The government lands of the Kingdom belonged to the government on behalf of all the people, not to ethnic Hawaiians in particular. The crown lands became owned by the government in 1865 when the legislature passed a law -- eagerly signed by the King -- to issue government bonds to pay off the mortgage on the crown lands that had been made by Lota Kamehameha V and was in danger of being foreclosed, in return for the King surrendering ownership to the government.
Further reply: The apology resolution is filled with falsehoods, has produced bad consequences, and should be repealed. For details see
https://www.angelfire.com/big09/ApologyReso20thAnniv.html
FOLLOWING ANNEXATION, WERE HAWAII PUBLIC SCHOOLS USED TO STRIP NATIVE CHILDREN OF THEIR NATIONAL IDENTITY AND BRAINWASH THEM INTO PATRIOTISM TOWARD AMERICA?
Reso: "... following the enactment of the Newlands Resolution, Hawaii's public education system was pressed into service to indoctrinate, denationalize, "Americanize," and convert generations of Hawaii's children into patriotic United States citizens"
HSTA document citing Sai 10/13/18: "To enforce the annexation, the government implemented a “methodical plan of Americanization” that “sought to obliterate the national consciousness of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the minds of the school children throughout the islands. It was developed by the Territory of Hawai‘i’s Department of Public Instruction and called ‘Programme for Patriotic Exercises in the Public Schools.’”
Reply: Of course the local government of the Territory of Hawaii, and its Department of Education, felt it important to implement a civics education program to help school children understand their rights and responsibilities as U.S. citizens during the first decade following Annexation; just as the DOE today feels it important to mandate 4 years of "Social Studies" courses required for high school graduation. Even Kamehameha School required male students to take ROTC courses until the U.S. military withdrew its cooperation from that program in 2002 due to racially exclusionary admissions policy.
DID THE REPUBLIC OF HAWAII, OR THE TERRITORY, MAKE HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE ILLEGAL?
RESO: "... the result of the illegal annexation ... displaced Native Hawaiians, robbing them of their ... language ..."
HSTA DOCUMENT: "The government made it illegal for anyone to have a Native Hawaiian first name, or even speak the Hawaiian language in public"
REPLY: I have thoroughly researched and disproved the often-repeated assertion that Hawaiian language was suppressed or made illegal, including a detailed rebuttal to a webpage making those assertions published by the Office of Hawaiian Education within the DOE; but DOE refuses to correct it despite overwhelming proof of falsity. For facts see "Was Hawaiian Language Illegal? Did the Evil Haoles Suppress Hawaiian Language As A Way of Oppressing Kanaka Maoli and Destroying Their Culture?" at
http://tinyurl.com/6zrka
and
"Holding the State of Hawaii Department of Education accountable for propagating the lie that Hawaiian language was banned" at
https://tinyurl.com/y6phnzeh
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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/03/19/hawaii-news/proposal-to-rename-mckinley-high-school-and-remove-statue-stalls-at-hawaii-legislature
Honolulu Star-Advertiser, March 19, 2021
Proposal to rename McKinley High School and remove statue stalls at Hawaii Legislature
By Susan Essoyan
A push to change the name of McKinley High School and remove its towering bronze statue of President William McKinley ran aground Thursday at the Legislature after passionate testimony on both sides.
“With a very heavy and sad heart, we have to defer this measure today,” said Rep. Jeanne Kapela, vice chairwoman of the House Education Committee and one of the sponsors of the resolution.
“While I do understand the reluctance of McKinley alumni to change the name of their alma mater, this issue is at its heart about advancing racial equity,” Kapela said. “Over the last few years, we have watched our nation engage in a reckoning with its troubled racial history, and Hawaii is no different.”
HR 148 would not have had the force of law, but would have “emphatically urged” the Board of Education and superintendent to take action, but it was deferred without a public vote.
Advocates of changing the name decried the former president for his role in the annexation of Hawaii to the United States in 1898, following the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy by U.S.-backed forces in 1893.
The proposal had the strong support of the Hawaii State Teachers Association’s board of directors, and written testimony from numerous individuals ran predominantly in favor of the measure.
“There are a couple of problems with the naming of Honolulu High School as McKinley High School,” said Rep. Amy Perruso, a high school history teacher and lead sponsor of the resolution. “The first is that it heroifies a figure who was really instrumental in making sure the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was solidified.”
“Second, the statue of McKinley on that campus — he’s holding a ‘treaty of annexation,’” she said. “There is no such treaty of annexation, so essentially it’s propaganda meant to make people think there was a legitimate annexation under law when in fact there wasn’t.”
But many people weighed in against the move, including McKinley’s principal, some current and former staff members, and alumni. Former Gov. George Ariyoshi, 95, penned a handwritten letter opposing the change, while McKinley’s student government officers were split on the issue.
“History is the most powerful teacher, and to erase our past is doing a disservice to our country,” Principal Ron Okamura testified. “My question is, When does this end? If we change one, we need to change all places that are named after people to not offend anyone or hurt their feelings. It’s ridiculous. … My students will learn all sides of history.”
In its testimony, the Department of Education pledged to follow up by researching the issue and “ensure all input is received and all facts are analyzed.”
The high school, previously named Honolulu High School, was renamed in 1907 in honor of McKinley, who was president from 1897 until 1901, when he was assassinated.
Laverne Moore, a teacher at McKinley who is also an HSTA teacher lobbyist, advocated for change.
“I started teaching special education at McKinley High School in 2001, and I absolutely love it,” Moore wrote. “But I will always struggle with the name McKinley because I know what he did, how he illegally took away my government and my freedom as a Native Hawaiian. It still hurts. It will always hurt.”
But other teachers opposed the move and criticized the union’s board of directors for taking a public stand without consulting the broader membership — or even staff at the school.
An online petition to change McKinley High School’s name, started in 2015 by Aoloa Patao, was recently reactivated and had 3,675 signatures as of late Thursday. Patao, a member of the Right Our History Hawaii group, said the move is needed because “many, especially Native Hawaiians, find the name McKinley offensive.”
After failing to get Congress to ratify a treaty of annexation, which required a two-thirds majority, McKinley instead pushed a joint resolution that required just a majority vote.
“The name of the school and the statue of William McKinley holding the fabricated ‘annexation treaty’ perpetuates the allegation that people in the Hawaiian islands wanted to become Americans, even though 80% of the adult population signed the Ku‘e Petitions against annexation in 1897,” the proposed HR 149 read.
“On July 6, 1898, President McKinley committed fraud by signing a Joint Resolution of Congress, entitled the ‘Newlands Resolution’ that purported the annexation of Hawaii … even though such a document does not have any power or legitimacy to annex an internationally recognized nation with official treaties in 18 foreign states dating back as far as 1846,” it said.
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/03/five-reasons-for-changing-name-of.html
Free Hawai`i
Posted: 19 Mar 2021
FIVE REASONS FOR CHANGING THE NAME OF MCKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL
By Leon Siu
Right Our History Hawaii (ROHH), a group of thoughtful and concerned citizens living in Hawaii, is urging the Hawaii State Board of Education to change the name of McKinley High School. ROHH says that having a prominent Hawaii school named for the U.S. President who, as it turns out, was responsible for the illegal annexation and the resulting 123-year prolonged foreign occupation of the Hawaiian Islands, is reprehensible and offensive to the Hawaian people and to the integrity of Hawaii’s education system.
1. William McKinley was a model of White Supremacy and Racism The U.S. press at the time was full of fake news and bigotry. They said the primary reason for overthrowing and annexing the Hawaiian Kingdom government was because Hawaiians were primitive and incapable of governing themselves… Thus, superior white leaders needed to take over for the sake of civilization and progress. This masked the real motive — sheer greed — more money, for the local white business elites… and power and domination for the U.S. and its military. It is greed, coupled with white superiority complex, that motivated the taking of the Hawaiian Islands.
President William McKinley said, “We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more, than we did California. It is Manifest Destiny.”
Manifest Destiny is the idea that the United States is destined by God, to expand its dominion beyond its continental borders. Thus, McKinley sought to extend America’s Manifest Destiny across the Pacific Ocean, even if it meant trampling the identity, language, culture, health, lands and everything else that belonged to the Hawaiian people.
2. McKinley Pushed for Annexation Even Though Hawaiians Strongly Opposed It No vote for Annexation was ever conducted in Hawaii. In fact, just the opposite happened. In 1897, when Hawaiians learned that the U.S. Senate was set to ratify a “treaty of annexation,” 39,000 Hawaiian nationals signed petitions categorically opposing annexation. This represented the will of over 80% of the adult population of the Hawaiian Islands. The petition was delivered to Congress and it stopped the treaty ratification in its tracks. But President McKinley and his cohorts in Congress simply devised a way to skirt the law.
3. McKinley Faked Hawaii’s Annexation (1898) After two failed attempts (1893 and 1897) to annex Hawaii by treaty, McKinley took a different (illegal) approach. On July 6,1898, McKinley signed a Joint Resolution of Congress (the Newlands Resolution) to annex Hawaii, knowing that a joint resolution did not have any power to annex a foreign country. Thus, white McKinley and white Congress deliberately collaborated with the white oligarchy in Hawaii to commit fraud to usurp the Hawaiian Islands, but calling it an “annexation” to make it appear legitimate.
The result of the usurpation/annexation displaced Hawaiians and robbed them of their identity, their homes and their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. It turned the Hawaiian Islands into an overseas colony, completely dependent on the U.S. for everything.
4. Schools Turned into Centers for American Indoctrination In order for the widely despised and obviously illegal annexation to succeed, Hawaiian children (whose parents a few years before had signed the anti-annexation petitions) had to be re-programmed into thinking of themselves as Americans, not Hawaiians. School curricula were tailored to brainwash and indoctrinate children that Hawaii had become a part of the United States; and to reject being Hawaiians and embrace being Americans. The American indoctrination program has been in Hawaii’s schools for over six generations. It was so pervasive that until about 20 years ago, no student emerging from Hawaii’s schools had an inkling of the illegal overthrow, the illegal annexation and the illegal statehood. Today, 123 years after the U.S. takeover, the false, pro-America narrative is still being taught in most of Hawaii’s schools.
5. Honolulu High School renamed President William McKinley High School (1907) A key component of the political indoctrination strategy was to change the name of the flagship, Honolulu High School, to President William McKinley High School. This was done to cast the one most responsible for the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States as a hero, not the criminal that he actually was. Being named for the icon of American fraud stands today as a shameful contradiction to the noteworthy accomplishments of the school and its generations of illustrious students. To continue honoring the McKinley name overlooks and condones the travesties he committed against the people and nation of Hawaii. For these reasons and more, the name of President William McKinley High School should be changed.
NOTE: Hawaii is not an isolated case of McKinley’s White Supremacy and Manifest Destiny policies. In fact, what happened in Hawaii was mild compared to the atrocities he unleashed against the American Indians and the Filipinos… Just ask them… or Google.
Posted: 18 Mar 2021 06:38 PM PDT
HAWAIIAN KINGDOM IN ACTION - THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL IN GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
A Virtual Panel Event -
DEMILITARIZING THE PACIFIC
Demilitarizing the Pacific - Ryukyu (Okinawa), Guam / Northern Mariana, Hawai`i. For generations the Indigenous peoples of the island nations have been under U.S. military occupation, which is harming our environment and putting us in danger. Now, Native Ryukyuans (Okinawans / Uchinanchu), Chamorro, and Hawaiians have come together to assist each other in our shared goals of demilitarization and self-determination.
This event is under the auspices of Incomindios, a Non-Governmental Organization in consultative status with the Economic and Security Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations.
It is also co-sponsored by the Koani Foundation and the Peace For Okinawa Coalition.
Additional thanks to Our Common Wealth 670 and the Ryukyu Independence Action Network for their assistance.
MODERATOR – Mr. Robert Kajiwara
PANELISTS • Mme Routh Bolomet – The Hawaiian Kingdom - Professor Hoshin Nakamura – Ryukyu/Okinawa - Rep. Sheila Babauta – Northern Marianas Islands - H.E. Leon Kaulahao Siu – The Hawaiian Kingdom
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/03/free-hawaii-tv-free-hawaii-broadcasting_31.html
Free Hawaii blog March 31, 2021
"ROBIN DANNERʻS SNEAKY FED WRECK MOVE"
Watch Out, Because Robin Dannerʻs Back At It Again.
In A Stunning Letter To The US Dept. Of Interior, She Claims That Hawaiians Are The Same As American Indian Tribes.
Worse & Without Even Asking, Sheʻs Also Claiming To Speak For You.
Watch This To Discover Robinʻs Sneaky Plan To Inch Hawaiians Closer To Fed Wreck.
Then Share This Video Today With Your Family & Everyone You Know.
[3-minute video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km2rIup4EB0&feature=emb_imp_woyt
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/04/blog-post.html
Free Hawaii blog April 1, 2021
A CLEVER MISREPRESENTATION - ROBIN DANNERʻS "TREAT HAWAIIANS LIKE INDIANS" LETTER TO THE DOI - SEEN YESTERDAY ON FREE HAWAI`I TV
** 4-page letter on letterhead of the [wishfully named] so-called Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA). Each page was a separate pdf file.
** Text of letter:
March 25, 2021
Madam Secretary, Deb Haaland
Re: Office of Native Hawaiian Relations at the Department of Interior – 3 Priorities of SCHHA
The Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations, (SCHHA) governing council extends its well wishes to you during these uncertain times caused by the COVID 19 pandemic, and we congratulate you on your historic appointment by President Biden. Mahalo Ke Akua.
SCHHA is the oldest and largest national organization of elected leaders within the construct of our federal land trust, the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 (HHCA). We represent the interests of 10,000 lessees or allotees and 28,000 on the waitlist for a homestead land award for residential, farming or ranching purposes. We are federally defined and registered under 43 CFR as a homestead association with a statewide territory. We also unite other homestead associations and their elected leaders, operating in smaller trust land territories by island. SCHHA is most similar to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), to bring solutions, the self-determination and self-governance of our people on trust lands, forward with the federal government.
In Indian Country, self-governing organizations are tribes, pueblos and the like, whether federally recognized, state recognized or not recognized by any other sovereign. For our Hawaiian Home Lands, we are organized into trust land areas called “homesteads” and our self-governing entities are called “homestead associations” where we elect our respective leadership by trust land region. The vocabulary is different, the solutions the same – the exercise of our self-determination and self-governance by our native people to advance the best solutions in our day-to-day lives on Hawaiian Home Lands.
The HHCA was enacted by Congress under the Plenary Power articulated in the U.S. Constitution to address the condition of “Indian People”, essentially, the indigenous peoples of the now, 50 states. We are in effect, the youngest siblings of American Indians and Alaska Natives, having experienced “contact” last of the three indigenous groups.
Our HHCA mirrors other Indian allotment acts of that policy era and is one of the fundamental federal laws addressing the condition of our indigenous people. The U.S. Department of Education (DoE), Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), administer federal laws in areas addressing the condition of our people as well. And the Department of Interior (DoI) was specifically named by Congress in 1995 to address the statutory rights and responsibilities under our HHCA land trust law, housed in the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations (ONHR), quite similar, to the Indian Affairs divisions at DoI.
Madam Secretary, due to the distance of Hawaii to Washington DC in 1920 when our land trust was enacted similar to other allotment acts, the federal government extended administration of our land trust first through the Territory of Hawaii, and then in 1959, as a condition of Statehood, through the new State government itself. Rather than establish a federal Superintendent of Indian Affairs office 5,000 miles away from DC, as was done in other States, our land trust has been administered by a State agency, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) for 62 years now.
** Footer at the bottom of every page of official stationery:
Founded in 1987, the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA) is the oldest and largest governing homestead association registered with the Department of Interior, exercising sovereignty on the trust lands established under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920.
The leadership and governing board of this state agency is appointed by the State of Hawaii Governors, which has posed difficulties and challenges you might imagine if American Indians and Alaska Natives had State governments administering trust lands. The best solution to mitigate difficulties is indeed improved oversight by the DoI, to fulfill the federal trust duty to the indigenous people of Hawaii. We believe there are better and more respectful options for the United States and DoI to administer and oversee this trust duty to our indigenous peoples and our trust lands.
Thus, we request your consideration of three (3) actions that are priorities of the SCHHA:
1. ONHR/DoI. Move our Office of Native Hawaiian Relations (ONHR) within DoI, from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management and Budget (PMB) to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs (IA).
Since 1995, our trust land issues have been under the purview of PMB, the area of DoI dedicated to the management of department budgeting, technology and other powerfully important functions of the DoI. Under the Clinton Administration, the AS of PMB coordinated with the Department of Justice to produce an extraordinary document, Mauka to Makai. Under the Bush Administration, the AS of PMB opened the ONHR office with minimal staff. Under the Obama Administration, the AS of PMB completed the DoI Reference Guide to the HHCA, updated during the Trump Administration.
President Obama and Vice President Biden perhaps, directed one of the most significant advancements based on homestead association engagement, the promulgation of the first ever federal regulations under 43 CFR on the HHCA.
A move of our ONHR office will create the following benefits:
a. Enable PMB to focus entirely on its departmental support function mission – while we applaud the work of former PMB AS John Berry, PMB AS Rhea Suh and others at PMB over the decades, we believe the DoI, and our land trust is better served under the AS of IA with a more appropriate understanding and engagement with self-governing indigenous peoples rights in all states.
b. Enable ONHR to fully benefit from the talent, knowledge and best practices of IA leadership, colleagues and expertise that address the federal obligation of self-determination on trust lands and positions DoI to engage its obligations more fully under the HHCA. Isolated, ONHR is ineffective and less knowledgeable of successful trends in the unique trust responsibility duty for which it is charged.
c. Enable our Homestead Association elected leaders, similar to those in Indian Country, to benefit from the centuries of knowledge and best practices of American Indian and Alaska Native leaders in serving their members and citizens on their trust lands, to learn and implement ever stronger frameworks of self-determination, economic prosperity and engagement with our federal government.
Over the years, the relationships and mentoring of our homestead associations with our counterparts in Indian Country has forged incredible connections and sharing of solutions that we have been able to implement on the ground back home in Hawaii.
d. A move of ONHR from PMB to IA has no budgetary impact to DOI, however, SCHHA commits to work with the Congress, and in particular, our Hawaii Delegation to improve funding for ONHR within DOI/IA. We believe the mission and purpose of this redesignated office would advance our journey to empowering homestead association leaders to address the needs of our indigenous people, island by island, homestead by homestead.
2. ONHR Staff Position. Relocate the ONHR Senior Program Director staff position from Hawaii back to Washington DC. This is one of three FTE located within the ONHR.
In 2016/2017, the staff position that was located within the DOI Secretary Office in Washington DC to advise the Secretary on Hawaiian issues, was eliminated to create a civil service position located in ONHR and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii. SCHHA leaders consulted with homestead associations and native Hawaiians defined under the HHCA, which resulted in a report to DOI that a position was not needed, nor wanted in Hawaii, but rather, very much needed in our nation’s capitol.
For the last 4 years, without the high-level DC position, it has been near impossible to advance effective and responsible policy for our people and trust lands within the DOI agency. A move of this position back to DC will:
a. Strengthen and provide a platform for clarity of our voices and rights in Washington DC where vital policy decisions in the executive branch are made, without budgetary impact.
b. Strengthen the ONHR agency under IA with an existing position in DC to advance meaningful solutions, without budgetary impact, including our 3rd priority described below.
We humbly request that the position return to DC under your administration at DoI.
3. Continue the Promulgation of Federal Regulations. After enactment of the HHCA in 1920, our principal congressional delegate and champion, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole passed away in 1922, leaving the HHCA without federal guidance through any federal regulations over the Territory or State government. Until 2013, when President Obama heard the request of SCHHA leaders and began the process of the first federal regulations for the HHCA after 93 years. It is important to the SCHHA that we mahalo Indian Country for their support and mentorship in the federal rule-making process, as it was the very first time, we had an opportunity as elected homestead leaders to engage this process.
One of the incredible results of the 43 CFR Part 47 and 48 regulatory process, is the clear definition of Homestead Associations as self-governing with a registration process with the Office of the DoI Secretary, and the federal clarification that the successful implementation of the HHCA requires three parties. First, the federal government represented by DoI, second the state of Hawaii government represented by DHHL and third, native Hawaiians that now have a federal definition and clarity of authority for our Homestead Associations.
We ask that a priority of your administration be the continuation of federal rule making, to ensure the tenets of the HHCA are implemented, and improvements of federal oversight are achieved.
Madam Secretary, we request your support of these priorities, so that as self-governing homestead associations that are experts on our land trust, we can better implement our kuleana (responsibility) to our people on homesteads and the waitlist. We know a federal agency reorganization is not a silver bullet, and that we too, must do our work to advance the dreams of our people, and the intent of the U.S. Congress in 1920. We express our mahalo to Congressman Case and Congressman Kahele for working with SCHHA leaders on these priorities.
In closing, the SCHHA and all of our elected homestead association leaders from across the State invite you to come to our home lands here in Hawaii. The last time a Secretary of DoI came to Hawaii, was our invitation to Secretary Jewell in the Obama Administration in 2013 to meet with us about the federal rule making process, resulting in successful federal regulations on the HHCA.
Madam Secretary, we formally invite you and members of your leadership team to a roundtable with the SCHHA in Hawaii nei.
Mahalo for your consideration of these humble requests.
Robin Puanani Danner
SCHHA Chairwoman Mokupuni Kauai
Ron Kodani
SCHHA Councilman Mokupuni Hawaii Island
Kipukai Kualii
SCHHA Policy Committee Chair
Sybil Lopez
SCHHA Vice Chairwoman Mokupuni Molokai
Kekoa Enomoto
SCHHA Councilwoman Mokupuni Maui/Lanai
Mike Kahikina
SCHHA Waitlist Committee Chair
Richard Soo
SCHHA Councilman Mokupuni Oahu
cc:
Honorable Senator Schatz & Honorable Senator Hirono
Honorable Congressman Case & Honorable Congressman Kahele
Rachel Taylor, Assistant Secretary, Interior Policy Management Budget
Brian Newland, Acting Assistant Secretary, Interior Indian Affairs
Bob Anderson, Deputy Solicitor General, Interior Office of Solicitor General
Fawn Sharp, President, National Congress of American Indians
Julie Kitka, President, Alaska Federation of Natives
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https://indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/native-hawaiians-to-deb-haaland-were-not-native-americans
Indian Country Today Monday April 12, 2021
Native Hawaiians to Deb Haaland: 'We're not Native Americans'
As Native Hawaiian people, 'We are the navigators'
ANNE KEALA KELLY
“Aloha Secretary Haaland, and congratulations on your historic, groundbreaking position at the Department of Interior as the first Native American to hold a cabinet seat. Now that we have dispensed with the pleasantries, allow me to introduce myself. I am Kanaka Maoli, and I’m writing to remind you that the United States of America has been holding the Hawaiian Nation hostage for over a century. So, please don’t explore ways to further the cover-up by paying us off or racializing us into becoming a tribe. We want to exercise our rights through self-determination, not American pre-determination.”
Okay, that isn’t how Hawaiian activist, Kealoha Pisciotta, actually worded her letter to the new head of the Department of Interior. But that might be how it came across when Haaland finished reading it.
My irreverent humor aside, Pisciotta’s letter is an important communication for Haaland to receive for some really good reasons, one being that it advocates for Hawaiian rights, something that has been denied us since the U.S. takeover. Another is that it came from a Hawaiian leader who is not employed by the state or federal government. There is a line between Natives who work for the government and those who do not.
Haaland is on the other side of that line, and boy does she have her work cut out for her.
She now runs an agency that is one-part protection, and three parts exploitation and destruction. The DOI has been the delivery system for some really nasty laws and policies that have been anti-Native and anti-Mother Earth.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (previously known as Office of Indian Affairs, that was originally part of the War Department), the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and nine other land and resource-related bureaus are DOI’s responsibility. Most federal leasing of land and water for extraction by the energy industry is through the DOI. And now that Americans are ravenous for green-renewable energy, lithium is the new gold and mining is a priority. Elon Musk and other billionaires are enormously grateful, but I digress.
Many Natives, myself included, hope that Haaland, being a Native woman, can take some of the edge off that bloody blade white people have been carving up Turtle Island with since the Mayflower docked.
But Hawaiians, as a people, need to keep expectations real. Deb Haaland is eighth in line to the oval. She is a key player in the American business of government, not the Hawaiian struggle for self-determination, which is the focus of Pisciotta’s letter.
Sent to Haaland on behalf of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, the Mauna Kea Hui and the Mauna Kea ‘Aelike/Consensus Building Ohana, three groups composed of cultural practitioners and activists, Pisciotta also cc’d some heavies in the letter. At the top of that list are President Biden and the UN’s Secretary-General. Talk about putting it out there.
The letter highlights some often-cited historical wrongs committed by the U.S. against Hawaiians, starting with the U.S. military coup of 1893 that ousted Queen Liliuokalani.
Then it winds its way to, “You may recall the mass protests that have taken place in recent years.” And don’t forget the 2014 DOI hearings when “thousands of Hawaiians testified in person and were opposed to becoming a tribe, like our kupuna who signed the 1897 [Ku‘e] petitions were opposed to becoming American.”
To further emphasize what the U.S. pretends not to know, Pisciotta added a truth-bomb cherry to that sundae, with “We, the Hawaiian people, have never consented to the U.S. occupation of our beloved country.”
But Pisciotta’s motivation for presenting Haaland with the skinny version of “Hawaiian Sovereignty 101” is as important as the letter’s content. She wrote it because Congressman Kai Kahele, who was sworn into office with his hand on Senator Akaka’s bible, said that he and Congressman Ed Case will push for reparations.
One can only speculate how absurd the dollar amount will be when geniuses in DC calculate “fair” compensation for the theft of our nation-state, our land, our rights and our dignity. And any deal would reanimate the Akaka Bill or manufacture something else like it, resulting in pseudo federal recognition of Hawaiians, and more false justification for keeping the Hawaiian nation in chains.
Although reparations aren’t the same as a lawsuit, the idea of paying off Hawaiians brings to mind the pitiful settlement from Eloise Cobell’s monumental case against the DOI.
When it comes to Indigenous peoples, the American tradition has been to withhold as much justice as possible, and then lie about it. With regard to Hawaiians, the goal of the U.S. hasn’t changed one iota since the first criminal act it perpetrated in 1893. And it is not likely to change now because a new Hawaiian is in congress or a Laguna-Pueblo is running the DOI.
Pisciotta and others are standing at the frontline in advance of another attempt by the U.S. to extend generations of injustice into an eternity of injustice.
Collectively, as a force of one, those Hawaiians are proof that we don’t have to wait for, and then react to, the American agenda.
We can assess the threat and acknowledge the urgency without waiting for validation from the state or the media. We can practice self-determination now, use the wisdom of our experience and take evasive action before the axe is swung.
Hawaiians have been on the receiving end of nearly 130 years of American aggression. There have been some very dark times, and there will likely be more. But we have the mana of ancestral memory to draw from. We can look at the horizon with eyes and minds that hold generations of knowledge about the winds and the currents. Our people used to navigate by the stars from the deck of a canoe in the middle of the largest ocean on earth with no canned food or electronic gadgetry. And the darker the night the better they could see their way.
That’s us guys. We determine our own fate. We are the navigators.
Anne Keala Kelly is a filmmaker, journalist and writer. Her articles and op-eds have appeared in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, The Nation, Honolulu Weekly, Honolulu Civil Beat, Hana Hou! Magazine, Big Island Journal, and Indian Country Today. Her broadcast journalism has aired on Free Speech Radio News, Independent Native News, Al Jazeera English, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Democracy Now!, The Environment Report, and more. And her film, "Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai'i" has received international film festival awards. (annekealakelly.com)
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https://maunakeaanainahou.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/press-release-final-draft-mar-16.pdf
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021
News Release from Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, April 16, 2021
Hawaiian cultural practitioners, community leaders and activists who speak for Hawaiian rights and the protection of Mauna Kea, send letter to Secretary of Interior, Deb Haaland, in advance of a congressional proposal for Hawaiian reparations.
Media Contact: Jazzmin Cabanilla Telephone: (808) 854-7279
Email: kekaiolena@gmail.com
In a letter to Secretary Haaland, Kealoha Pisciotta, a cultural practitioner who, for more than two decades, has led efforts to stop new construction of telescopes on Mauna Kea, congratulated Haaland for her historic role at the Department of Interior. The letter also addressed Hawaiian trepidations over federal legislation to be proposed regarding the Hawaiian people. Issues raised stem from reports in the press that Congressman Kai Kahele, along with Congressman Ed Case, plan to seek reparations for Native Hawaiians. Many, including Pisciotta, view this move as another way to enact legislation similar to the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, known as the Akaka Bill.
Written on behalf of several Hawaiian rights groups, Mauna Kea Moku Nui 'Aelike/Consensus Building 'Ohana, Mauna Kea Anainahou, and the Mauna Kea Hui, the 6-page long letter calls upon Haaland to take a deeper look at the Hawaiian people’s history.
It states, “The theft of our land and sovereignty has been ceaseless since 1893,” and includes a list of historical events that have been detrimental to the health and wellbeing of the Hawaiian people, starting with the U.S. backed overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. The list also includes the 1959 “statehood” vote and the 1993 Apology Resolution, and mentions the Obama Administration’s 2014 DOI hearings in Hawai‘i, when “thousands of Hawaiians testified in person and were opposed to becoming a tribe, like our kupuna who signed the 1897 petitions were opposed to becoming American.” The Kūʻē Petitions were signed by more than 90% of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s citizenry, and successfully helped Hawaiian advocates in Washington, DC stop the second attempt to pass a Treaty of Annexation through the U.S. congress.
Ku Ching, a Hawaiian kupuna, lawyer, and longtime activist, who is also a member of the Mauna Kea Moku Nui ‘Aelike/ Consensus Building Ohana, was asked why the petitions matter. He said, “Hawaiians never agreed to be part of the United States or become American citizens. The Hawaiian Kingdom was an internationally
recognized nation on par with the U.S. Although the U.S. took control of our country in 1898, they did that against the will of the people. Those petitions are proof of that. There never was a Treaty of Annexation, and under international law, that means Hawai‘i remains an independent nation that is illegally occupied by a foreign power.”
Hawaiian challenges to U.S. claims of jurisdiction over Hawai‘i date back to when the U.S. took control, but have been taken to the United Nations and The Hague in recent decades. And the question of whether or not Hawai‘i is an occupied State or part of the U.S. has been a main component of the sovereignty movement during the 21st century. It is a serious issue for Native Hawaiians, who face federal and state attempts to erode their rights and find themselves embroiled in political and legal battles over the Crown and Government lands of the kingdom. Many of the sacred sites that people, like Pisciotta, spend their lives protecting, such as Mauna Kea, are part of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s Crown and Government lands.
When Pisciotta was asked why she thought sending a letter to Haaland now, instead of after Kahele and others propose legislation, she answered, “If it were only that simple. But it is anything but [simple] because Hawaiians are inundated with state and federal attacks on our sovereign rights as a Native people, and as a nation, with every successive administration. And Kai [Kahele] isn’t in Washington, DC, to represent the lahui (Hawaiian Nation). He is there as an American who is of Hawaiian ancestry, not as a Hawaiian national. Our rights to self-determination are directly related to our rights to be our own nation. We are Indigenous, yes, but we are also descendants of kingdom citizens. Congressman Kahele swore an oath to the U.S. constitution, not the Hawaiian Kingdom. But more than that, so many generations of Hawaiians have spent their lives fighting, whether to protect our sacred sites or to stop the American government from enacting legislation aimed at dissolving our aboriginal title to our land base. So, the groups I am speaking for thought it best to be proactive rather than reactive. We know what is coming because Congressmen Case and Kahele said as much in the press.”
Pisciotta’s sense of urgency echoes an attitude that is prevalent among many Hawaiian activists. After years of protests and court battles to stop the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) from being built on Mauna Kea, Hawaiians are weary of the government’s refusal to acknowledge their rights. Citing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Pisciotta said, “The United States is a signatory on the UNDRIP. The U.S. also knows that it has no provable legal jurisdiction over Hawai‘i or the Hawaiian people, because if that country did have jurisdiction it would provide us with a copy of documentation proving it. Now is the time for Hawaiian rights to be acknowledged and respected, not covered up with more federal and state so-called legal machinations, like the fake annexation. Hawaiians cannot afford to wait and see what the United States is going to do. We need to decide what is best for us. It is our deepest, most humble hope that because Deb Haaland is a Native woman, she is willing to hear the truth about what has happened to Hawai‘i and the Hawaiian people.”
For more information go to: Mauna Kea Anaina Hou:
https://maunakeaanainahou.org/
'Aelike/Consensus Building Ohana:
https://www.facebook.com/protectmaunakea/posts/d41d8cd9/3284922808243476/
Mauna Kea Hui:
http://kahea.org/blog/mk-vignette-kealoha-pisciotta
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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2021/04/ke-aupuni-update-april-2021-keeping-in_24.html
Free Hawaii blog Saturday April 24, 2021
KE AUPUNI UPDATE - APRIL 2021
Keeping in touch and updated on activities regarding the restoration of Ke Aupuni o Hawai`i, the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka `Aina I Ka Pono.
Do Hawaiian Lives Matter?
The United States is in absolute turmoil over white-supremacy, systemic racism and hate-crimes. Many in Hawaii have stood in solidarity by protesting these injustices with demonstrations in support of movements like Black Lives Matter and recently, Asian Lives Matter and so forth.
But what about “Hawaiian Lives Matter”? If anyone has something to complain about, it is us Hawaiians. If anyoneʻs existence should be respected, it is Hawaiians.
First of all, a gang of haole (white-settlers), invited a foreign country (the U.S.) to annex the haole’s fake country, “The Republic of Hawaii.” But because it was still really the Hawaiian Kingdom (our civilized, sovereign, independent country), the so-called “annexation” was really an act of piracy. This pirate operation, “the U.S. Territory of Hawaii” stripped Hawaiians of our lands, our nationality and our economic foundations.
Second, under the “Territory of Hawaii” the schools were used to subject generations of Hawaii’s children to brainwashing and conversion into loyal Americans, forgetting our language, our culture, our history and identity.
Not only did we Hawaiians lose control of our country and become socially marginalized; in the 1950s, the haole cabal itself was supplanted by another immigrant cabal, the Asians, who pretty much carried on business as usual toward Hawaiians. It is this Asian-American cabal that dominates Hawaii today.
Here’s an interesting note. Not only was McKinley High School the key institution for covering up of the haole cabal’s hijacking of the Hawaiian Kingdom and promoting the American occupation agenda during the “Territorial days,” McKinley High School was the institution that produced the leaders for the Asian cabal’s take-over of the territorial government and the push for “Statehood.” They are primarily responsible for maintaining the American occupation of Hawaii today.
Except for paying Hawaiians lip-service and using our customs as window dressing for the tourist industry, the powers-that-be generally are dismissive and disrespectful of the first peoples of these islands. In fact, many of their policies blatantly discriminate against Hawaiians, especially Hawaiian nationals. We’ll talk more of that the next time.
So, to all the woke citizens of the State of Hawaii... to Governor Ige, legislators and other public officials... the Democrat Party, the Republican Party, the Business Roundtable, etc. How about showing us some respect? Hawaiian Lives Matter!
The U.S. presence in the Hawaiian Islands is neither legitimate or immutable.
The more we stand as a nation; the more we assert the Hawaiian Kingdom is alive and kicking; the more we expose U.S. claims as false; the sooner we will be a Free Hawaii.-
Please join the ku’e action to rename McKinley High School and to remove the offensive statue by signing this online petition.
http://tinyurl.com/alohaoemckinley
Ua Ola ke Ea – Sovereignty Lives
A Year to Celebrate the Hawaiian Kingdom – Past, Present and Future
Still in the process of ramping up…
If you are (or if you know of someone who is) interested in helping facilitate any aspect of “Ua Ola ke Ea,” please contact:
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
The campaign to Free Hawaii continues to gain momentum ...
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort...
To contribute, go to:
https://GoFundMe.com/FreeHawaii
To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, clerical help, etc...) email us at
info@HawaiianKingdom.net
Also... Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase HERE
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/Support_Human_Rights.html
All proceeds go to help the cause. Mahalo Nui Loa!
Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
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https://indiancountrytoday.com/the-press-pool/hawaiians-welcome-haaland-to-interior-invite-to-hawaiian-home-lands
Indian Country Today Tuesday April 27, 2021
Hawaiians welcome Haaland to Interior, invite to Hawaiian Home Lands
Federal agency has a direct duty of protection and oversight of all native Hawaiians defined under a 100-year-old federal law
News Release
Association of Hawaiians for Homestead Lands
The Association of Hawaiians for Homestead Lands (AHHL) join the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA) in congratulating the first Native American to lead the Department of the Interior (DOI), where the federal agency has a direct duty of protection and oversight of all native Hawaiians defined under a 100-year-old federal law. The trust relationship was established in 1920 when the U.S. Congress enacted the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (HHCA), similar to other allotment acts for American Indians and Alaska Natives in the same policy era.
“Together, our homestead associations represent the interests of nearly 10,000 native Hawaiians that have received a land award and 28,000 still waiting on a waitlist,” said Mike Kahikina, AHHL Waitlist Chairman. “We are the people defined under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, and it is our responsibility to engage with the federal government to work together to make sure the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act is implemented.”
Kahikina, a life-long advocate of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act is also a retired Air Force veteran, a former state legislator, a former Hawaiian Homes Commissioner, and an elder that has lived his entire life in one of the largest Hawaiian homestead regions in the state, Nanakuli/Waianae. In his retirement years, he has dedicated himself to leading the only waitlist association registered under the federal code of regulations where such organizations are specifically defined (43 CFR) representing the interest of 28,000 Hawaiians, like him, that are on a waiting list.
“I’m hopeful with President Biden’s Department of the Interior cabinet member at the Department of the Interior,” Kahikina said. “Because she knows the history and struggles for land of her Indian people, she will know ours too. We are dual citizens on homesteads – citizens of the United States and citizens of our long-standing homestead associations. We embrace the rights and responsibilities of both, we reject neither.”
Kahikina has been an activist for more than 6 decades. He says there are some that confuse the rights Hawaiian Homes Commission Act Hawaiians exercise as enrolled members under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act land trust, as Native Americans, with those that denounce the United States.
“That’s okay, I fought in a war to protect everyone’s right to speak their own minds,” Kahikina remarked. “Those that denounce being Native and being American, do not denounce mine, nor my responsibility to protect the 28,000 native Hawaiians on that waitlist. We speak for ourselves; we know who we are, we know our standing within our self-governing organizations called homestead associations, and we are experts on our land trust, more than any other – we’ve had to become experts. Yes of course we are Native Americans, defined under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, and under the U.S. Constitution, we will exercise every right we have, especially regarding our Hawaiian Homes Commission Act land trust law. Our beloved Queen called on us to do so.”
In March 2021, AHHL and SCHHA issued an invitation to Interior Secretary Haaland, to visit Hawaiian Home Lands, to speak to the elders and families and to hear directly from native Hawaiians defined under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, about their solutions and ideas to improve federal and state government administration. For example, currently, the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations at the Department of the Interior responsible for the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, reports to the Assistant Secretary overseeing back-office functions like accounting and technology at Department of the Interior.
“We are recommending that our office, very similar to the Indian Affairs division at Department of the Interior, benefit from the expertise and experience in Indian land trust management,” said elder Liberta Albao, an AHHL waitlist leader. “For us, with kuleana to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, we know this kind of improvement will serve the thousands on the waitlist like me, and not repeat the thousands that have already died waiting. I have waited 43 years and we know what the solutions are at Department of the Interior. I believe Secretary Haaland will know too; I pray for that.”
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https://www.indianz.com/News/2021/04/27/chair-of-senate-committee-on-indian-affairs-praises-actions-for-tribal-homelands/
Schatz: Interior Department Actions Honor Tribal Sovereignty, Protect Tribal Lands
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, released the following statement on the Department of the Interior’s announcement on steps it is taking to restore Tribal homelands, empower Tribal governments, and better manage Indian lands.
“Secretary Haaland’s actions to reduce undue burdens imposed by the prior administration and honor Tribal consultation in the land into trust process is a good start,” said Chairman Schatz.
“Rebuilding and consolidating Tribal homelands supports not only Native cultures, languages, and communities, but also Tribal businesses that help make economies for both Tribes and surrounding communities thrive,” said Chairman Schatz. “But Tribes need certainty, so I support legislative efforts to restore Tribal homelands and strengthen Tribal communities.”
Relevant Biden Administration Documents
M-37069: Withdrawal of M-37064 and Announcement of Consultation on the Department’s Interpretation of the Indian Reorganization Act and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in Connection with the Secretary’s Land into Trust Authority (April 27, 2021)
M-37070: Withdrawal of Certain Solicitor M-Opinions, Reinstatement of Sol. Op.
M-37029 The Meaning of ‘Under Federal Jurisdiction’ for Purposes of the Indian Reorganization Act, and Announcement Regarding Consultation on “Under Federal Jurisdiction” Determinations (April 27, 2021)
** Ken Conklin's note: If this really sticks, it would constitute a "Carcieri Fix" which has been attempted by Congress for many years but always failed. The issue is an attempt by Congress to overrule a Supreme Court ruling that the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 meant exactly what is said, that land can be taken into trust for a tribe (thereby getting freedom from state taxes and zoning regulations etc.) only if that tribe was under federal jurisdiction before 1934. "New" tribes recognized after 1934 want the benefits too! Congress has tried and failed to pass a Carcieri fix for many years; now Biden/Haaland want to do it by executive order, which would then be litigated and probably be found unconstitutional under separation of powers theory. Big issue for a Hawaiian tribe; hence Schatz involvement as Chair of Indian Affairs Committee.
Secretarial Order: Delegation of Authority for Non-Gaming Off-Reservation Fee-to-Trust Acquisitions (April 27, 2021)
Withdrawn Trump Administration Documents
M-37054: Interpreting the Second Definition of “Indian” in Section 19 of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (March 9, 2020)
M-37055: Withdrawal of Solicitor’s Opinion M-37029. “The Meaning of ‘Under Federal Jurisdiction’ for Purposes of the Indian Reorganization Act” (March 9, 2020)
M-37064: Permanent Withdrawal of Solicitor Opinion M-37043, “Authority to Acquire Land into Trust in Alaska” (January 19, 2021)
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https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDOI/bulletins/2d31bf0
US Department of the Interior News Release
Date: Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Contact: Interior_Press@ios.doi.gov
Interior Department Takes Steps to Restore Tribal Homelands, Empower Tribal Governments to Better Manage Indian Lands
WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior today took several steps to honor our nation-to-nation relationship with Tribes and uphold our trust and treaty responsibilities to them. Today’s actions reverse a series of steps taken in the previous administration that undermined the ability of Tribes to establish and consolidate their homelands.
Taking land into trust is one of the most important functions Interior undertakes on behalf of Tribes. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland issued Secretary’s Order 3400, which re-delegates the authority to review and approve applications to place land into trust to the Bureau of Indian Affairs regional directors. The Secretary’s Order will not apply to gaming applications. This action reverses steps taken in 2017 that unnecessarily elevated land-into-trust decisions to the Department’s headquarters staff, increasing the complexity of the decision-making process and causing delays.
“At Interior, we have an obligation to work with Tribes to protect their lands and ensure that each Tribe has a homeland where its citizens can live together and lead safe and fulfilling lives,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. “Our actions today will help us meet that obligation and will help empower Tribes to determine how their lands are used — from conservation to economic development projects.”
Federal policies dating back more than a century have eroded the land base of Indian Tribes across the United States. By placing lands into trust status through the Department of the Interior, Tribes are able to reacquire lands within or near their reservations, establish a land base for Tribal communities and clarify jurisdiction over their lands. Tribes have faced delays and increasing costs in efforts to develop housing projects, manage law enforcement agencies and develop local economies as a result of unnecessary hurdles in the land-into-trust process.
“The patchwork of landholdings within existing reservation boundaries can make it difficult to develop coherent law enforcement and regulatory policies on reservations, restricting the ability to sustain community and economic development,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Bryan Newland. “These important actions are a step in the right direction to restore homelands that will strengthen Tribal communities.”
In addition to the Secretary’s Order, the Solicitor’s Office withdrew three previous opinions that impeded the Department’s ability to take land into trust for Tribes and that were issued without adequate Tribal consultation. Going forward, the Department will engage in meaningful and robust consultation with Tribes to learn about the challenges they face in the fee-to-trust process and in managing their own lands.
The Solicitor issued M-37070 and withdrew M-37054 and M-37055, which created an unduly burdensome process for Tribes seeking to place land into trust under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934. In its place, the office reinstated a previous opinion (M-37029) that has been upheld by multiple federal courts and outlines a reasonable process for Tribal applications for land into trust.
The Solicitor also issued M-37069 and withdrew M-37064, which erroneously concluded that, despite the existence of a formal rule allowing such acquisitions, the Secretary of the Interior does not have discretionary authority to take land into trust for Tribes in Alaska. This action will eliminate uncertainty over the Secretary’s continuing authority under the IRA to take land in Alaska into trust for the benefit of Alaska Tribes.
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