Posted on: Wednesday, June 13, 2001

Island Voices
Akaka Bill must pass Congress

By Rowena Akana
Trustee-at-Large, Office of Hawaiian Affairs

No two words have so captured the attention of this archipelago's residents as "land" and "sovereignty."

The general goal of sovereignty advocates is the transfer of control of Hawaiian Home Lands and ceded lands directly to a native Hawaiian government. Currently, the state and federal governments hold in trust 1.8 million acres of land for the benefit of Hawaiians. Yet, the first people to these lands have seen very few benefits from them.

Hawaiian Home Lands are scattered tracts comprising 197,075 acres that Congress set aside in 1920 for native Hawaiian homesteaders. Ceded lands are the remains of an estimated 1.8 million acres of public, private and crown lands illegally annexed by resolution from a provisional government to the United States in 1898.

Housing prices, driven up by Mainland retirees and foreign speculators, are out of reach for many Hawaiians. Some 225,000 people claim some Hawaiian blood. Hawaiians remain the poorest, sickest, least educated, worst housed and most frequently imprisoned segment of Hawai'i's population.

At the urging of her people to protect the sovereignty of Hawai'i, Queen Lili'uokalani attempted to regain some of the monarchy's power. Despite the queen's steadfast belief that the U.S. government would honor its treaties and reject the provisional government, Hawai'i went from a sovereign nation to an American colony in five years. In 1898, under President William McKinley, Hawai'i was annexed to the United States.

President Grover Cleveland, who opposed the coup but failed to reverse it, wrote after leaving office, "Hawai'i is ours. But as I look back upon the first steps in this miserable business, and as I contemplate the means to complete this outrage, I am ashamed of the whole affair."

I cannot stress how important it is that the Akaka Bill pass in this 107th U.S. Congress and that we Hawaiians are recognized as an indigenous people, that we have a special relationship with the United States and that self-determination should be restored to us under federal law. Only then can we Hawaiians claim true sovereignty — the right to control our own destinies and the opportunity to be economically self-sufficient by managing a portion of our own ceded lands.

To support the Akaka legislation, write to the Committee on Indian Affairs, 838 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510.