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Why Akaka bill is being fought
- "Potential breakup of Hawaii as a state sought
July 28, 2004 Thurston Twigg-Smith
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@honoluluadvertiser.com Reservation Report, a monthly national media letter regarding American Indian policies, has weighed in on the Akaka bill. While Reservation Report is admittedly biased against the growing political power of Indian tribes, its clear and simple analysis of the Akaka bill should give pause to Hawai'i residents who don't understand the full impact of the proposed bill. The following appeared in its July 2004 issue: "POTENTIAL BREAKUP OF HAWAI'I AS A STATE SOUGHT: ... A sharply divided, intensely partisan U.S. Senate has been threatening to jeopardize Hawaiian statehood by granting citizens of Native Hawaiian descent separate tribal status and special tax-funded privileges -- independent of all others in Hawai'i's population. "Hawai'i would thus become 'a house divided' under terms of what is presently identified as Senate Bill 746, sponsored by Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, and supported by fellow Sen. Daniel Inouye and that state's (Republican) governor, Linda Lingle. "Akaka's bill was offered as a 'rider' to a Bush administration measure to reform class-action lawsuits, but a band of Senate Republican conservatives opposed the Akaka proposal as a non-germane amendment to the litigation reform legislation. The class-action lawsuit measure itself was derailed in an early July vote but may reappear as a 'rider' for special consideration later. "Akaka and Inouye ... are also principal sponsors of a long-contested plan (S. 578) to grant the more than 560 Native American Indian tribes a reservation status that would be equivalent to statehood. "That proposal enjoys the ardent support of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., whose prospects for re-election this year largely depend on vote help from South Dakota's large Sioux reservation Indian population. "Both the Hawaiian and Indian separation measures have been opposed and stalled by Republican leaders in the Senate, most especially by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and his colleagues, Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho. "Activist support for the Akaka bill (comes) from militant Hawaiian descendants who contend they wish to run their own affairs and enjoy greater benefits from the state and federal treasuries through a divorce from all other Americans in the state. This is an attempt to nullify the multicultural melting pot concept, fundamental to the American Constitution and essential to the 'democratic' governance of the U.S. republic. "Specifically, Akaka's plan is to create a Native Hawaiian governing council, providing for a direct legal relationship between the federal government and the described native governing body. "It would authorize the federal government and the Hawaiian governing entity to engage in negotiations for the transfer of lands, which are presently considered to be part of the state of Hawai'i, to full administrative control by the Native Hawaiian council. Akaka also provides in his legislation for the native governing council to take full control of all natural resources as well as civil and criminal jurisdiction over all lands finally approved for exclusive native administration, independent of the state government. "In another day and age, some might have called Akaka's plan 'secession.' If ever it wins enactment, it would forever change the character of the American nation." Reservation Report is published by New Century Communications, P.O. Box 277, Reedville, VA 22539. E-Mail: nccomm@crosslink.net http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Jul/28/op/op04a.html |