Those with an interest in the Hawaiian self-determination movement should keep a close eye on a federal lawsuit involving Native American trust funds.
The case suggests that Hawaiians will have to be particularly careful as they proceed toward a new political relationship with the federal government.
The case involves what is estimated to be billions of dollars held in trust for Native Americans by the federal government. A Washington, D.C., appeals court has concluded that the U.S. government has seriously mismanaged the trust funds for over 100 years. As much as $10 billion could be at stake.
The money comes from timber and mineral royalties and other payments collected by the U.S. government over the past century. The trust fund was set up to compensate Indians for use of their lands and natural resources.
While some of the income from the trusts has reached Native American recipients, the three-judge appeals court said that record-keeping of the trusts is abysmal. No one knows for sure how many accounts actually exist or how much money is in them.
In 1994, Congress ordered the U.S. Interior and Treasury departments to sort out the trust tangle, but thus far little has been done.
All this raises two issues for Hawaiians:
The first is the ongoing effort to pass a federal "recognition" bill for Hawaiians, which would create a form of government-to-government relationship between Hawaiians and the United States. It would also create a new trust relationship between Hawaiians and Washington.
Those who back the recognition effort must insist that the rules governing any trust relationship be crystal-clear. It would be tragic if the result of this effort was further loss of Hawaiian assets or rights.
The second is the status of existing Hawaiian-federal trusts, the most prominent of which is the Hawaiian Homelands trust. While authority over the Hawaiian Homes program shifted to Hawai‘i upon statehood, it remains a federal law and, ultimately, a federal responsibility.
The last thing we need right now is another lawsuit against Hawaiian Homes and similar programs. They are already under legal assault from those who feel they are unconstitutional race-based programs.
The best way to head off trouble is to get ahead of the critics. Hawaiian Homes has made huge strides in recent years, both in developing homesteads and in accumulating and managing financial resources. But the Indian trust fund case signals that it remains vulnerable to attack from within as well as from the outside.
