Federal Recognition for Native Hawaiians Could Come Via Interior Dept

[ellisonz]

By Chad Blair 01/09/2012

Frustrated with a 10-year congressional fight to obtain federal recognition and form a nation-within-a-nation government, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has decided to follow a path that has led several American Indian tribes to success.

OHA is not giving up on the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, known as the Akaka bill.

But faced with the reality that U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, for whom the bill is named, is retiring after this year and that the political environment in Washington, D.C., is as polarized as it has ever been, OHA and Hawaii's delegation having been exploring other routes.

One of those would bypass Congress altogether and seek recognition from the U.S. Department of the Interior, a process used by Native American tribes.

http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2012/01/09/14361-federal-recognition-for-native-hawaiians-could-come-via-interior-dept/

About time...

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Being recognized as a tribe has its serious detractors among the supporters of the Hawaiian

people. Its a very complex issue, and the author (Blair) is doing a serious disservice to the Hawaii by not discussing some of the objections.

[ellisonz]

2. Well in absence of any realist prospect for passing the Akaka Bill...

...what do you propose? What are these objections?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. You live there and are not aware of the objections?

They have been the source of considerable real life/online debates for upwards of 20 years..

The Akaka bill was never going to pass and neither was any enabling legislation to allow Hawaiians to be considered under laws applicable to Indian tribes.

The article is nothing more than wishful thinking in the face of black letter law and really belonged on the Op-Ed page. A more serious and thought piece or series is called for, and some were done by both the Star Bulletin and Advertiser over the years.

[ellisonz]

4. I'm of course aware of some of the more outlying objections...

...from from the Hawaiian Kingdom groups, but I'm not aware of practical objections to taking this particular action.

I'd like to see something get done.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. Hawaii is a unique case and I doubt a sovereignty based solution possible at this point

What happened in Hawaii was not the same as how Native Americans were treated in CONUS, but there are clearly some similarities on a macro level. OHA is questionably managed and raced based solutions are always somewhat questionable in a progressive society. Maybe they should restore the monarchy (Princess Abigail) and be done with it.

Seriously, it a major mess, and I really do not see a practical way forward.