Hawaii is a separated land and not just because it consists of over 130 scattered points of land stretching 1,600 miles.
Within the state a large battle still rages over 100 years after Hawaii’s annexation and nearly 50 years after gaining statehood. The battle is over the status of native Hawaiians. The Native Hawaiian Recognition Act (the Akaka Bill) would give native Hawaiians the same federal recognition as Native Americans and Native Alaskans.
A win for this bill in Congress would be a huge boost to Kamehameha Schools and their pending lawsuit. Kamehameha Schools admits applicants of any background, as long as they have at least one Hawaiian ancestor. The school’s website says “The admissions policy does not exclude an individual of any particular racial or ethnic group as long as the Hawaiian ancestry requirement is met.”
The admission policy is at risk in a case heading for the U.S. Supreme Court. Along the way, it is hearing ways to remain in operation in compliance with federal law. But still their biggest hope is the Akaka bill.
“This is just a kooky bill, just wacky,” said Bill Burgess, a lobbyist opposing the Akaka bill. Just hours before appearing in front of Congress, Burgess and his wife Sandra Puanani Burgess spoke to 50 college students at the 13th Eagle Forum Collegians (EFC) Annual Leadership Summit.
The Burgesses wanted to get word out to EFC about the “kooky bill.” As part of Akaka bill, portions of Hawaii would be handed over to a new Hawaiian Federation.
Sandra, who is of Chinese-Filipino and Hawaiian heritage, spoke to the students about her personal troubles. With her diverse ancestry, her family has become divided. She said a few drops of Hawaiian blood should not make her eligible for benefits and programs which her husband cannot receive. Contact with her brother broke off some time ago, because of their passionate opposing views. She said her brother feels he is special because of his Hawaiian ancestry, but to her a roll of nature’s dice is what the Akaka bill’s benefits hinge on. The dice just happen to come up showing jackpot for her, while her husband’s luck came up craps.
The Native Hawaiian Recognition Act, which did not make it to the Senate floor this year, sought to do several things for native Hawaiians:
• Enable Native Hawaiians to direct federal and state programs that benefit them — programs for education, health, housing, small-business development and other needs.
• Continue reconciliation between Hawaiians and the federal government, a process that has included the establishment of Hawaiian homesteading and other federal programs and revenue from the former kingdom and crown lands (“ceded lands”).
• Lay out a procedure for the organization of a Native Hawaiian government but not its form.
• Extend federal recognition of that government as a political entity.
• Provide at least a partial shield against court cases that charge that Native Hawaiians are merely a racial group whose entitlements are unconstitutional.
• Allow for a “nation within a nation” concept for Native Hawaiians, preserving their U.S. citizenship while according them a status akin to that of Native Americans and Native Alaskans.
Bill Burgess’s biggest problem focused on the last piece of the Akaka proposal. As a nation within a nation, the new Hawaiian government would absorb part of Hawaii’s land. However, the land would not be contiguous. Instead, the chart of Hawaii which Bill held up revealed chunks of each island highlighted in the dark blue symbolizing the new nation. With unregulated borders for the new nation, severe economic problems could occur. Bill gave the example to EFC of competing gas stations across the road from each other. Under different laws, the price war between the two could cripple one because of the higher taxes paid.
Currently the bill is dead for this session of Congress, but that doesn’t mean the issues go away. It will most likely reemerge, as it has done continuously since 1999.
Kamehameha’s policy is still under fire, and for now, it will have no help from the Akaka bill. But, Eric Grant, a Sacramento, Calif., attorney for a Caucasian student denied admission, was asked what would happen if Congress were to pass a law making Hawaiian a “political category” rather than a racial group.
“I do not know,” Grant said. “That would raise some troubling issues.”
Trevor Hayes is an intern with Accuracy in Media, Accuracy in Academia’s parent group. He can be contacted at trevor.hayes@aim.org.
