Testimony opposing RIN 1090–AB05
by Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D.
November 26, 2015, Thanksgiving Day
Giving thanks there is no Hawaiian tribe

Website: “Hawaiian Sovereignty”
http://tinyurl.com/6gkzk
Book: “Hawaiian Apartheid”
http://tinyurl.com/2a9fqa

Full text of testimony in attached file,
and at http://tinyurl.com/o58qdhs

Summary

1. Aloha from Ken Conklin, civil rights activist supporting unity and equality

2. Why quorum in NPRM for credible participation in election and ratification is too low

3. Don’t abandon question 8 from ANPRM “What should constitute adequate evidence or verification that a person has a significant cultural, social, or civic connection to the Native Hawaiian community?”

4. A unique rule for recognizing a Hawaiian tribe should acknowledge the uniquely high percentage of Native Hawaiians as 22% of the total population of Hawaii, making it uniquely traumatic to partition the State along racial lines. Therefore, a unique Hawaiian rule should require a vote by all Hawaii’s people to approve federal recognition.

5. Promises or predictions made in the NPRM that the rights of people will be protected cannot be delivered. Whatever requirements the DOI imposes upon a tribe’s initial governing document in order to grant recognition can later be changed by the tribe unilaterally — according to a Final Rule in Federal Register October 19. Any tribe can amend its governing document without DOI approval.

Because of #5:

6. There is no protection for special rights of HHCA-eligible native Hawaiians (50% blood quantum);
7. Hawaiian tribe can ignore DOI prohibition on gambling casinos in Hawaii or mainland;
8. Hawaiian tribe cannot be prohibited from participating automatically in all the benefit programs intended for the mainland tribes;
9. Hawaiian tribe would threaten sovereign immunity of federal and State lands, and also threaten private land titles, due to Indian Non-Intercourse Act;
10. Hawaiian tribe has jurisdiction over citizens with no native blood, and also over ethnic Hawaiians who choose not to join the tribe — Indian Child Welfare Act; Violence Against Women Act.

11. Remove the terms “reestablishing a government-to-government relationship with the Native Hawaiian community” or “reorganizing a Native Hawaiian government” because there was never a Native Hawaiian government. All governments of a unified Hawaii had massive Caucasian participation in executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

12. The “special political and trust relationship” that Congress has allegedly established with Native Hawaiians does not exist — asserting it has been a political football punted between Republicans and Democrats.

13. Authoritative sources since 2001 warn that creating a race-based government for ethnic Hawaiians would be both unconstitutional and bad public policy: U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution; U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and others.

14. Authoritative sources confirm the Hawaiian revolution of 1893 was legitimate and the U.S. owes nothing to ethnic Hawaiians beyond what is owed to all the citizens of the United States: 808-page report of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs (1894); Native Hawaiians Study Commission report (jointly authorized by Senate and House, 1983); more

15. Evidence that “Native Hawaiians” and also the general citizenry of Hawaii do not want federal recognition of a Hawaiian tribe. Zogby survey; two Grassroot Institute surveys; newspaper and OHA scientific surveys show ethnic Hawaiians and the general population place “nationbuilding” at bottom of priorities; more.

16. People of all races jointly own Hawaii as full partners. President Obama himself opposes tribalism and erecting walls between natives and immigrants. History of Black civil rights movement is instructive — Martin Luther King’s model of full integration won the hearts and minds of African Americans and of all Americans, defeating the racial separatism of the “Nation of Islam.”

17. Administrative rule-making should not be used to enact legislation explicitly rejected by Congress during 13 years when megabucks were spent pushing it. The executive branch can only implement laws Congress passed, not create laws Congress rejected. Two federal courts have now overruled Obama’s rule-making that tried to enact immigration laws rejected by Congress.

18. Federal recognition for a Hawaiian tribe would herd into demographic and geographic racial ghettos people and lands that have long been fully assimilated, widely scattered, and governed by a multiracial society. Map shows public lands likely to be demanded by a Hawaiian tribe; Census 2010 table shows number of Native Hawaiians in every state; Census 2010 table showing number of Native Hawaiians in every census tract in Hawaii.

19. Six cartoons by Daryl Cagle illustrating the social divisiveness of racial entitlement programs, as seen in Midweek newspaper, Honolulu, probably late 1990s to mid 2000s.

Tags: Department of Interior, Federal recognition, Hawaiian sovereignty, racial separatism, Sovereignty