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July 12, 2005
Da Kine Lolo Idea
Spahk, da kine Daniel Akaka want Hawaiians run eriding. Da kine buggah wants foa pass junk bill making Hawaii brahs like kine Indian tribes. Boddah you? I have moa bettah idea. Nuff already wit da like kine identity politics.
Okay, back to English now. It's been awhile since I had any opportunity to use pidgin, thankfully. What I said above is that Senator Daniel Akaka wants to pass a bill in Congress that would give native Hawaiians the same legal recognition and autonomy as is given Native Americans.
The bill would allow native Hawaiians - defined, in part, as anyone with indigenous ancestors living in the islands before the kingdom fell - to elect a governing body that would negotiate with the federal government over land and other natural resources and assets. There is a lot of money and property at stake, including nearly two million acres of "ceded lands," once owned by the monarchy; hundreds of thousands of acres set aside long ago for Hawaiian homesteaders; and hundreds of millions of dollars in entitlement programs.The New York Times writer calls the bill 'a chance to heal,' and says it is needed because of the growing unrest among younger Hawaiians.Much of what is now the responsibility of two state agencies, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, would become the purview of the new government.
As he sees it, Hawaii's cultural renaissance has exposed the unhealed wound in the native psyche. He has witnessed it in young people, more radical than their elders, as they adopt a tone of uncharacteristic hostility and resentment in sovereignty marches. He has noted a wariness that is at odds with the conciliatory mood struck in 1993, when President Bill Clinton signed a resolution apologizing for the kingdom's overthrow.You'd be hostile as well, if your parents, grandparents and schools had done nothing but feed you a steady stream of anti-statehood propaganda. I lived in Hawaii for three years, from 1987 to 1990, and saw first hand the 'hostility and resentment' of the youth who are likely now the ones leading the charge on this bill, which I think is a first step toward trying to achieve Hawaiian sovereignty. Right after squeezing millions out of the federal government in 'reparations,' that is.
Some of those who are angriest like to point out the indignities of how they were taken over by the United States. Judging by some of the quotes on the "Hawaii Nation" website, the move toward sovereignty has grown to include elected officials in that state. When I lived there, some of the island locals would tell me they didn't consider themselves Americans, and that America had taken over the islands using force and had no moral authority to govern.
Of course, they ignore the fact that the beloved King Kamehameha did the same thing back in 1810. Heck, at least when the United States took over, we didn't throw their armies off a cliff.
The sovereignty movement may succeed, if Akaka's bill is allowed to pass. Part of me says geev 'um. Let the island try to survive as a nation with few natural resources and no economic base but tourism. But I think there is a greater principle here, once that was settled in 1865 and communicated by a former president.
It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence within any State or States against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.This bill, I believe, will do anything but 'heal' the wounds of Hawaii. That will only be done when those who are stewing in their grievances give up their anger about the past and start focusing on how they can live and thrive in the country of which their island is a part.
Posted by slublog at July 12, 2005 01:29 PM
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