Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 12, 1 December 2005 — Hawaiian is Hawaiian, regardless of blood quantum [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiian is Hawaiian, regardless of blood quantum

Aloha nō. Another month has passed and the Amkaki case in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals received some good news with the denial of the plaintiffs' attempt to rehear the appeal on the issues they lost. The case will likely be headed back to Hawai'i now for further hearings and trial while our attorneys and the attorney general pursue legal steps to help us establish our status as an indigenous people. The Doe case has received no news, whieh is good news for Kamehameha Schools for now from the 9th Circuit. The latest lawsuit against the OHA trustees by Hawaiians who want only 50 percent blood quantum or more to receive any benefits from OHA will hopefully be defeated. Should the Akaka Bill pass, a convention to create the government and voter base will onee and for all resolve the problem. With a diminishing 50 percent population, the likelihood is that the new nation will not be limited to those 50 percent and above. And so we continue to battle in the courts with any and all who would threaten the continued existence of the Hawaiian people as a people, culture, nation and with a birthright that allows them to eall themselves Hawaiians. The recent decision by the Associated Press that "Hawaiians" refers to the native people of Hawai'i and not just anyone who lives in Hawai'i is a weleome recognition of our existence. I grew up calling myself "Hawaiian" and not Native Hawaiian with a big "N" or native Hawaiian with a small "n," trying to be politically correct or distinguishing myself as more or less than 50 percent Hawaiian. State laws have imposed these distinctions and that reverts back

to the 1920s when the Hawaiian Homes Act identified those who qualified for Hawaiian Home Lands as 50 percent or more blood quantum, figuring in no time there would be none left. Well, though they're decreasing rapidly, half Hawaiians are still around, just eheek the lawsuits against OHA. I would say eheek the Hawaiian Homes residents too but it appears to me that a large percentage of homesteaders are less than 50 percent Hawaiian having passed their homes on to their posterity of less than 50 percent. In any event, as a large "N" Native Hawaiian just shy by l/16th from being called a small "n" native Hawaiian, I ean say that my wife and seven children all are small "n" native Hawaiians. And does someone really care about that? Apparently a few small "n" native Hawaiians who have a penchant for lawsuits do. But the point I make here is that to me, Hawaiian is Hawaiian and if the AP ean recognize this why can't we? Political correctness ean create a false sense of security, whieh in time ean erase an entire way of life. How many remember calling the mainland "the mainland" as opposed to the "continent" a term my esteemed Unele Roy Benham and others demand being used in our daily lives. Well, I like the way I was brought up and so excuse me if I don't change just to be culturally and politically correct with the modern day Hawaiians. Bottom line, if we don't pass the Akaka Bill, it won't matter one bit - big "N" and small "n" native Hawaiians will no longer be there to confuse the law books, and "Hawaiian" will refer to all residents of Hawai'i and the AP will have to again change its definition of "Hawaiian" to include all residents of Hawai'i. S

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