Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 10, 1 October 2002 — Land ownership [ARTICLE]

Land ownership

The Fedaral Government and the

State of Hawaici have engaged in and continue a racist land ownership policy. Only Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians cannot and have not been able to corr,'ert their homestead lands to fee-simple ownership. Every other state in the union provides for convemion to fee simple ownership after meeting certain minimum conditions, except Hawaiian homestead lands. Now, why is that? Further, the United States of America continues to hold on to the private crown lands of the Kamehameha family, and the State of Hawai'i still pretends to have some control over the same lands thr ough out H awa i ' i . In America and the civilized western world, one cannot take another's personal property or land without compeusation. In Hawai'i, government seems to be beyond the law of private property, as it relates to Hawaiians and Hawaiian Crown Lands. Alan Montague Rarotonga