Comments on the Akaka Bill?

[pzarquon]

Re: Comments on the Akaka Bill?

Well, then I'm for it!

Not-so-seriously, though, the fact that the Akaka Bill has made strange bedfellows of long-time independence activists and the Richard Rowland/Bruce Fein crowd... and the fact that it doesn't satisfy either side... is a vote in its favor.

I support it. Pass it, already, and let's move on.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Comments on the Akaka Bill?

What about all of us non-Hawaiians who've lived here over 30 years? The houses and land we've bought (legally, under US and State law)? Etc., etc.

If the Akaka Bill goes through as the White House wants, nothing will change. If by some miracle it actually gives native Hawaiians more control over the land, then who knows. 30 years? Hey brah, try a hundred for my family. But we didn't get here until after the 1893 overthrow, so we wouldn't even qualify as descendants of the subjects of the old Kingdom, if that were a qualifying criterion.

Do you know how much it pains me to be on the same side as that woman?

Heh heh. I usually agree with her and her guy Stannard, and it pains me to admit it because they're such abrasive characters.

[Miulang]

Re: Comments on the Akaka Bill?

Crimineys! They postponed debate on the Akaka Bill today because of "procedural maneuvering", and discussion was moved tomorrow at the earliest. Maybe OHA got wise and said "no go" to the 4 conditions the Justice Dept. put on the Bill. I guess we'll find out what happened tomorrow.

Miulang

[U'ilani]

Re: Comments on the Akaka Bill?

Check out John Fund's article at WSJ:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110006981

Also, if you live in Seattle, "The Conversation" on KUOW public radio will be discussing the bill tomorrow at 1 p.m.

[mapen]

Re: Comments on the Akaka Bill?

haha, Trask is one of the angriest racists in the State. It doesn't surprise me at all that she's againt the bill -- I doubt she would settle for anything less than the complete eradication of all non-Hawaiians from the islands. There is no compromise with her.

I think she considers my non-Hawaiian self living in here in these Islands the same as Rape.

[shaveice]

Re: Comments on the Akaka Bill?

did you read this? pretty interesting:

Things have gone from bad to worse for Hawaii leaders in the nation's capital. Concerns by a half dozen GOP leaders will prevent the Akaka bill from being heard this week and raises doubts that something can be done before the Senate recesses in August......

....Akaka says he was told some members of Congress thought the bill was bad for Hawaiians, that they would end up with problems like those of the Native American Indians.

"I resented that," Akaka said. "I take it that that feeling is there because they really don't know the Hawaiians as I do or we do."

jeez. can you imagine what kimo would say if he were there and were given a microphone?!?!?!?

[Miulang]

Re: Comments on the Akaka Bill?

This is all about politics. There was at least one secret "hold" put on the Bill by an unnamed Senator. I can't remember if it was Akaka or Inouye who said if the holds that are currently on the bill aren't removed in time for the Bill to be discussed in August, then he was going to put a hold on some of the other bills up for discussion in the Senate (presumably the ones that were being sponsored by the Senators who put the holds on the Akaka Bill). THIS is what our politicians do when they can't get their way...use Robert's Rules of Order to pout.

Miulang

[shaveice]

Re: Comments on the Akaka Bill?

in case anyone's interested:

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/bo...hp?forumid=177

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/current/ln/akakabill

[Miulang]

Re: Comments on the Akaka Bill?

On July 22 of this year, an amazing thing happened that was virtually ignored by the 2 major dailies in Hawai'i.

On that day, the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations Pacific Caucus issued the following declaration rejecting the Akaka Bill.

Geneva, Switzerland, 22 July 2005 - UN Working Group declaration against federal recognition

UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP) Pacific Caucus has issued the following declaration against extension of U.S. federal Indian policy over Kanaka Maoli (aka federal recognition). Here's the text of the declaration. The signed hard copy has signatures of all the Pacific peoples at the recent WGIP: New Caledonia, Aborigines, Maori, Malukas (under occupation by Indonesia), Hawaii, as well as supporters from other nations.

Declaration of the Pacific Caucus

Opposing Extension of United States Federal Indian Policy Over Kanaka Maoli, Hawaii

We, the undersigned, are the Pacific Caucus and other participants of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations. We are nations united in solidarity with the people of Hawaii who continue to assert their fundamental human right of self-determination. The United States has maintained an illegal occupation of Hawaii since 1893 and has actively prevented the full expression of Kanaka Maoli self-determination. Therefore, in recognition of the recommendations of the 1993 Peoples International Tribunal Hawaii, and in support of the Hui Pu Declaration Rejecting and Condemning the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, we hereby declare that the United States Federal Indian Policy should not be unilaterally applied to Hawaii through federal recognition. All nations should be afforded the full exercise of self-determination as provided under international law and prevailing human rights standards.

- Geneva, Switzerland, 22 July 2005"

All indigenous people of the world are uniting with the kanaka maoli. It is in their victory or suppression that other oppressed natives are also seeing their own survival or extinction.

Miulang

[kimo55]

Re: Comments on the Akaka Bill?

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007117


ok, have at it!

[Miulang]

Re: Comments on the Akaka Bill?

Certain provisions that the JOD wanted included in the Akaka Bill have now been agreed to by the State delegation.

"...The revisions are an attempt to satisfy issues raised by the U.S. Department of Justice in July, and would clarify that the bill would not sanction gambling, interfere with the military, create any new claims against the United States or exempt Native Hawaiians from criminal or other laws...."

Unfortunately, if these provisions are what cause the Akaka Bill to pass, the kanaka maoli will be in an even lesser class than the Native Americans, who have parlayed gambling into a major source of wealth for their people and who have the right to tell the federales to keep off their land.

Either give the kanaka maoli full parity with the Native Americans, or grant them independence.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Comments on the Akaka Bill?

Opening comments from Keala Kelly addressing the first Akaka Bill Forum (taped and aired on Olelo--check your TV schedule for the next airing) last Tuesday. Pretty powerful stuff...makes you think.

"...This legislation is primarily about money--- it’s about using American laws to control the land and resources of Hawai’i and the political and cultural destiny of Kanaka Maoli who are the rightful heirs to the 1.8 million acres of Crown and Government lands. We are told that it will protect 70 million federal dollars per year and millions of dollars in trust assets, but there’s no guarantee for any of that in the bill--- and truth is that if we controlled our own land and collected rent and taxes on that land we wouldn’t need any federal money and would be well on our way to self determination....

"...I have found that Hawaiians who oppose this bill have nothing in common with anyone involved with legal attacks on Hawaiian trusts or state agencies that serve Hawaiians.

Those groups and individuals compare Hawaiian empowerment with Apartheid---- that analogy is offensive to all people of color, especially those who have suffered at the hands of white supremacists the world over....

"...If we look at America through the eyes of our kupuna, what we see is the same country that helped overthrow the Kingdom. We see the same country whose political, economic and legal system has displaced the Kanaka Maoli and used our homeland as a playground and a military outpost while developing what is now the largest arsenal in the world. We see a country that admitted and apologized in 1993 for its role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and yet refuses to return the stolen property they received for their efforts. We see a system that does not respect our ways as Hawaiians and therefore cannot provide us any real justice, only a poor imitation of justice that first and foremost satisfies the US...."

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Comments on the Akaka Bill?

Both sides of the Akaka Bill debate are gearing up for action immediately after the Labor Day holiday. I find it amusing that the anti-Akaka Bill faction includes both pro-sovereignty and anti-apartheid advocates who don't like the Akaka Bill, but for different and very diametrically opposed reasons.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Comments on the Akaka Bill?

Sen. Akaka took his Akaka Bill dog and pony show to a meeting of Rotarians yesterday. Unfortunately for him, Bumpy Kanahele was in the audience.

"...Hawaiian activist Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele, leader of a group called the Independent and Sovereign Nation State of Hawai'i (Nation of Hawai'i), said Akaka sought to "buy" Rotary Club members with his warning about the potential for lost federal dollars.

Kanahele, who belongs to a segment of the Native Hawaiian community opposed to the bill, said he doesn't trust the U.S. Department of Interior, which would play a key role in the establishment of a Native Hawaiian entity. The bill overall represents "another Band-Aid to the real atrocities" of the past, he said...."

Miulang

[Miulang]

Letter from a kupuna

I had wa'i maka when I read the following Letter to the Editor in today's Maui News. It's voices like those of this kupuna that need to be heard by the politicians.

"...Native Hawaiians have been trampled for many generations and still we rise. In my childhood, I remember people warning me, "Don’t tell anyone you’re Hawaiian because you’ll be seen as lazy, stupid and ugly inside." Imagine a child going to bed with that kind of warning. Where I got any kind of self-esteem in those days is beyond me.

I can imagine the pain and anguish that prompted dear Bernice Pauahi Bishop to tell her husband, Charles, "I have to do something for the children of my Hawaiian people . . . let’s set up a trust to protect them and educate them so they can thrive through these times and into the future centuries." Charles helped her. The missionary schools were terrible. I’ve seen documented evidence that Amos Cooke beat the royal children daily to make sure they "knew their place in society."

We Native Hawaiians are a resilient people. We get kicked for decades and still live aloha. But we have been very deeply hurt. So I ask people to please have patience with us as we rise from the ashes once again. Many decades of anger, fear and isolation don’t dissipate easily or quickly.

I can remember as a hula dancer working in Waikiki hotels when I was 19 we were treated like hookers by the tourists. Desi Arnaz approached my girlfriend with some money and told her to meet him in his hotel room for sex. She came to me in shock, sobbing "hula is sacred and an expression of the gods through us, Verna. Why would a respectable haole man approach me in such a dirty way like that?" I had a hard time comforting her before we had to go on stage with smiling faces. Those things happened daily to us girls, who were virgins in our very proper society. Our hearts were deeply hurt each time.

I was 6 when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The war brought 18,000 soldiers to our peaceful beach front village of Waimanalo on Oahu. They lived in quickly constructed Army camps behind our homes.

On the beach, I was asked, "Hi, little girl, do you know where some 16-year-old girls live?" I was puzzled but answered that I was the oldest in my family. Teenage girls in our village were repeatedly raped by the soldiers throughout the length of the war. It was overlooked by the Army commanders as "comfort" to the soldiers...."

Onipa'a.

Miulang