United States Hawaii Islands (Hilo: installation, rated, parks)

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by WaikikiBoy

If this were to be enacted and "government to government" relations established under the same laws developed for Native American relations, I suspect we would quickly see Native Hawaiian groups form tribes, buy land, petition for "reservation status" and self rule on that land, quickly followed by the construction of Gambling Casinos on those self governed lands.

Buy land? Buy it? I really don't think they intend to buy anything.
On the Office of Hawaiian Affairs website it's specified that one of the components of their "nation building" is to seek redress:

* Redress might include seeking claims for specific lands, monetary damages, or renewed
status as an independent nation.

http://www.oha.org/nationbuilding/do...n-Building.pdf

Anyways, there is already a significant group of orgs in existence, both state and private, dedicated to the health and welfare of the descendents of the native Hawaiians, so there's really no need to create any new ones in order to implement such a change. For example, the DHHL...

In 1921 200,000 acres of former "Crown Land" was dedicated by Congress to the exclusive use of native Hawaiians for agriculture and homesteading under a law that is still in effect. They're referred to as the Hawaiian Home Lands. Managed by a Federal agency from 1921 to 1960, it is now managed by a state agency, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL), which was created by the state Constitutional Convention in 1959. This agency has programs that allow people with at least 50% native Hawaiian ancestry to obtain long term leaseholds at minimal cost for building homes and conducting ranching and agriculture. The intention is that "these lands will always be held in trust for continued use by native Hawaiians in perpetuity."

Heres what DHHL says about their mission:

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is governed by the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, enacted by the U.S. Congress to protect and improve the lives of native Hawaiians. The act created a Hawaiian Homes Commission to administer certain public lands, called Hawaiian home lands, for homesteads. Native Hawaiians are defined as individuals having at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood.

It is this last provision that seemed harmless, even beneficial when first drafted, but that creates a problem today, as race-based laws and regulations have increasingly been overruled as unconstitutional. One notable exception... at least so far... is the body of laws that grant sovereignty and benefits to Native American tribes on their "reserved lands." Joining this system of "Indian" reservations appears to be the best hope for native Hawaiians to gain a measure of self-determination

The Act was incorporated as a provision in the State Constitution in 1959 when Hawai‘i was granted statehood. Responsibility for the Commission and the Hawaiian home lands was transferred to the State at that time. Except for provisions that increase benefits to lessees or relate to administration of the Act, the law can be amended only with the consent of Congress.

Note that last provision carefully.

The primary responsibilities of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands are to serve its beneficiaries and to manage its extensive land trust. The land trust consists of over 200,000 acres on the islands of Hawai‘i, Maui, Moloka‘i, Lāna‘i, O‘ahu, and Kaua‘i.

DHHL provides direct benefits to native Hawaiians in many ways. Beneficiaries may receive 99-year homestead leases at $1 per year for residential, agricultural, or pastoral purposes. These leases may be extended for an aggregate term not to exceed 199 years. Beneficiaries may receive financial assistance through direct loans, insured loans, or loan guarantees for home purchase, construction, home replacement, or repair.

Clearly these are significant recognitions of the kanaka maoli heritage.

In addition to administering the homesteading program, DHHL leases trust lands not in homestead use at market value and issues revocable permits, licenses, and rights-of-entry. The income from these enterprises is used to supplement DHHL’s programs, including continued homestead development.

Department of Hawaiian Home Lands | About

There has been controversy about some of the actions of the DHHL, from some land swaps and sales that some were opposed to, and some downright funky transactions by trustees that appeared to be of personal benefit, but the designated Hawaiian Homelands do seem to represent a solid, tangible basis for forming an "Indian" reservation for native Hawaiians, if only they would agree to it.

One last note... the Akaka Bill, which has been kicking around Congress for more than a decade, is designed to do exactly this... minus the gambling. If enacted, it does not allow for casinos on native Hawaiian lands.

[McFrostyJ]

I hear the word Native thrown around a lot and started wondering if it was the correct term to use.

Native |ˈnātiv|
noun
A person born in a specified place or associated with a place by birth.

The original people came to Hawaii from some place else. So they were not Native Hawaiians and in fact weren't Hawaiians at all! However, their children were then born in Hawaii and so they were Native Hawaiians. Therefore, wouldn't anyone who was ever born in Hawaii then be a Native Hawaiian no matter what the color of their skin is?

To be honest, the whole "Native" thing seems kind of silly to me. It seems to be just another way to try and drive a wedge between people. In my opinion we are all Natives of the real big island called, Earth.

[eastside14]

If you want to own property in Hawaii in the 21st century consider that a good education, hard work and the willingness to take risks is most likely the best path to obtaining those things. Why invest so much time and energy into creating a story that makes you the victim and smothers any ambition to get the things you want. Everyone needs to paddle the canoe and pull their own weight. What is that saying? Pupukahi i holomua? You say your mixed ancestry trumps other mixed ancestries in HI. So you are entitled to exactly what beyond an equal access to opportunity?

[hawaiian by heart]

@OpenD

Your quotes: Buy land? Buy it? I really don't think they intend to do that, In 1921 200,000 acres of former "Crown Land" was dedicated by Congress to the exclusive use of native Hawaiians for agriculture and homesteading under a law that is still in effect. end quote:

What isn't being told is the cedded hawaiian kingdom land was 1.8 million acres (7,300*km²). Further if i remember history correct? U.S Goverment often always took the best lands and left the land that had no value for planting, farming etc, they gave to the natives? Wonder if that still holds true? And what happened to the other 1.6 million acres held in trust? Sold to rich investors? If the lands were held in trust to the native hawaiian people, then it belongs to them right?

[Jonah K]

Originally Posted by OpenD

Also, a recent Federal court decision seems to eliminate, on constitutional grounds, any possibility of holding a public election which is limited to members of a particular race or ancestry. The decision was made regarding a strikingly similar situation in The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a US territory.

Nearly a decade ago, looking back at OHA's twenty-five years of existence John Waiheʻe (former State of Hawaiʻi Governor), had this to say:

I don’t know that they ever used the term race-based. I’m sure there were people that thought it was racist, but it was not a common perspective. Affirmative action was still a popular thing back then; it hadn’t been twisted around like it is now.

The people that are making the race-based argument are using such a clever strategy – taking the best principle of the United States, equality, and turning it against Native Hawaiians and other people. They take the imagery of this little black girl trying to walk into a school hall in Little Rock, Arkansas, and getting denied, and that imagery is twisted so that it is applied to a non-Hawaiian child trying to enter the schoolhouse at Kamehameha. The difference is the girl was trying to get what was rightfully hers; she had a right to a free public education, and it was race-based to deny her that. But the situation with Hawaiian kids is that they were given a gift of private property, a legacy equivalent to what a parent would put aside to send their child to college. In the first case, the girl is trying to get what’s hers; in the second, they’re trying to get what’s yours.

So what’s race-based is the clever use of the imagery. It’s the very same thing that happened when the settlers went into the new territory and said to the Indians,“ you ought to become American, so give me your land so we all can share it. That’s very clever perversion of some of our nation’s highest ideals.
Former Gov. Waihee ponders OHA's 25 years

Unfortunately, Waiheʻe attempted to obfuscate the "race issue" by comparing the publicly-funded Office of Hawaiian Affairs with the privately-funded Kamehameha Schools, and threw in "affirmative action" for good measure. If Waiheʻe had carefully read the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop that established the Kamehameha Schools, he'd realize that "orphans and others in indigent circumstances" from all backgrounds have a greater right to be at the Kamehameha Schools than folks of Hawaiian ancestry that aren't "orphans" or in "indigent circumstances." Over the years, the Kamehameha School trustees have distorted Pauahi's original intent to such an extent that "orphans and others in indigent circumstances" that don't have Hawaiian ancestry are virtually excluded. As for Waiheʻe's understanding of American history, he seems to have forgotten that there was little hesitation on the part of "settlers" to try to kill American Indians who did not wish to "share" their lands.

[McFrostyJ]

Originally Posted by Jonah K

As for Waiheʻe's understanding of American history, he seems to have forgotten that there was little hesitation on the part of "settlers" to try to kill American Indians who did not wish to "share" their lands.

This was also the case between different American Indian tribes as well as many different peoples around the world through out history. Earth has an extremely sad history filled with greed and murder.

[hawaiian by heart]

Further the ideal of any monarchy type government is frowned upon by modern times. But what opponents of returning Hawaii back to the native hawaiian people use the monarchy as an ecuse. What i question is the ones who oppose uss yell about constitutional rights and being fair, are obviously supporting the same people who wrote the "Bayonet Constitution." The king, according to his sister Liliuokalani, signed the constitution "under absolute compulsion."

The new constitution gave Europeans and Americans full voting rights without need of Hawaiian citizenship. It restricted* voting to those who made at least $600 annually (a substantial sum in the 1880s) or those who owned at least $3,000 worth of property. The new constitution in effect deprived native Hawaiians and immigrant Asians from voting. Only those persons selected by the whites would be able to serve in Hawaii's influential House of Nobles. This was just before annexation of Hawaii.

Continued on next post

[hawaiian by heart]

Continued from my last post

We need to look at who constructted the bayonet constitution? It was rich american industries owners. The first govenor of the new annexed Hawai'ian territories was Sanford B. Dole one of the members of the group who wrote the bayonet constitution. So in essence today we are supporting these misdeeds.

[Jonah K]

Originally Posted by McFrostyJ

I hear the word Native thrown around a lot and started wondering if it was the correct term to use.

Native |ˈnātiv|
noun
A person born in a specified place or associated with a place by birth.

The original people came to Hawaii from some place else. So they were not Native Hawaiians and in fact weren't Hawaiians at all! However, their children were then born in Hawaii and so they were Native Hawaiians. Therefore, wouldn't anyone who was ever born in Hawaii then be a Native Hawaiian no matter what the color of their skin is?

To be honest, the whole "Native" thing seems kind of silly to me. It seems to be just another way to try and drive a wedge between people. In my opinion we are all Natives of the real big island called, Earth.

Unfortunately, all countries in the world don't subscribe to the principle of jus soli or "nationality by birth." Countries that subscribe to the principle of jus sanguinis or "nationality by blood" believe that the citizenship of the parents confers citizenship upon the offspring, regardless of place of birth. For instance, if a child is born to American parents in Japan, that child is not considered to be "Japanese."

[Jonah K]

Originally Posted by McFrostyJ

This was also the case between different American Indian tribes as well as many different peoples around the world through out history. Earth has an extremely sad history filled with greed and murder.

That was also the case with Hawaiians until the first couple of decades of the 19th Century.