By Dick Rowland

As now written, if the Akaka bill passed in the US Senate this state would be, by law, divided into two human
groups:

Hawaiians= Those with some or all Hawaiian blood unless they opted out.

Non-Hawaiians=Those without such blood unless they opted in by refusing to join the group above.

The “Hawaiians” would form a separate tribal nation which would have “rights” that the non-Hawaiians would not. But a “right” is useless unless it is enforced, which requires an equivalent obligation to assure compliance. Primarily, the US nation and the non-Hawaiians, otherwise known as the State of Hawaii, would be so obligated. Why? Because the Hawaiians are designated a special tribe, in perpetuity, unless the plenary power, the US Congress, says otherwise.

Some Hawaiians will surely say no to join an “Akaka Tribe” since they can readily see that mainland tribal members are largely treated like serfs. If they do that they will be non Hawaiian Hawaiians with no special privileges. In fact, they will remain totally assimilated in society as regular, everyday non-Hawaiian citizens of the State of Hawaii. Confused? Read on.

Speaking of American Indian Tribes; there are about 564 of them. They contain only 20% of all the Indians in the USA. In other words, 80% have left the reservations to become regular folks. But wait a minute: When the Queen lost her throne in 1893, most of Hawaii’s people were not native Hawaiians. Many, if not most, of the legislature and the Queens Cabinet were non-native Hawaiians. Many of those subjects fought for their Queen. Below is a quote from Michael Lilly, former Attorney General of the State of Hawaii, who has no native blood:

“ My great-grandfather was killed by the revolutionaries defending the Monarchy which was non-racist. Neither he nor the Queen would have countenanced a Hawaiian that did not recognize all nationalities as full citizens”

So how can it be that Michael Lilly is not to be a part of the tribe? Well first, there was never any Hawaii tribe but if there had been, he would surely have been among the first in line. Second, the bill before the Senate is exclusive, not inclusive. It is a law that plainly excludes all races but one in a most discriminatory way (a person that is 51% Polish, 30% Chinese, 10% Japanese and 9% native Hawaiian is native Hawaiian, not Polish). Plainly, Mr Lilly lacks the right kind of ancestors to satisfy our federal government’s desire.

They can’t be serious, you say? Of course they can. The only ones who have read the bill are those who oppose it. If some how we could get a few more Senators to read the proposed bill and think carefully about the consequences as well as their oath of office, there would be no way to get it passed. But they don’t. They instead listen to Senator Inouye when he tells them to vote for it.

So, there you have it; all that is necessary for sanity to prevail is for a few more Senators to gain some knowledge and practice integrity.

Instead we find them tied to apartheid.