Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 9, 1 September 2007 — Civil unrest [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Civil unrest

Hawai'i's controversial new advisory committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights holds rushed hearings on the Akaka Bill that have many critics questioning the committee's process itself

By Crystal Kua Directur uf Communications Those for and against passage of the Akaka Bill packed the state Capitol auditorium last month to testify before a newly constituted Hawai'i advisory panel to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. But mueh of the attention surrounding the meeting of the Hawai'i State Advisory Coimnittee wasn't necessarily on the testimony, but rather on the eonmiihee itself. In a highly unconventional move, the Civil Rights Commission's staff director in Washington recently appointed no fewer than 14 new members to the 17-member Hawai'i Advisory Coimnittee, including a nmnber of opponents to the hill, fonnally known as the Native Hawaiian Reorganization Act of 2007. That led to criticism that the committee was being "stacked" against passage of the bill.

Critics, including some members of the eonnnihee, charged that the USCCR's Washingtonbased staff was manipulating the process to rush through a recommendation against the Akaka Bill, whieh seeks federal recognition of Native Hawaiians as an indigenous people with the right of selfgovernance. "We do not understand why this process is being rushed," wrote conunittee members Robbie Alm and Amy Agbayani in a letter to conunittee Chairman Miehael Lilly. "Is there a coimnitment for specific action or result of whieh we have not been told? We certainly hope not." Hawai'i's congressional delegation, including the hill' s namesake and sponsor, Sen. Daniel Akaka, also signed a letter objecting to the way the committee was proceeding. "It would almost appear that the Coimnission has its own agenda and its own timetable," the four-

member congressional team wrote in a letter to the USCCR. Others, like Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees Chair Haunani Apoliona, accused the Washington, D.C., based eommission staff of manipulating the loeal advisory coimnittee. "I am appalled," Apoliona told the conunittee. "I want to register my complaint that the (coimnission and staff) appear to be misusing Coimnission powers, duties and responsibilities by conspiring to prevent enactment of the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act." At the Aug. 20 meeting, Committee Chainnan Miehael Lilly responded to the criticism, assuring people in the audience that Washington is not dictating the path that will be taken by the coimnittee. "This coimnittee has taken control of this agenda," Lilly said during the hearing. The ehainnan of the U.S. Com-

mission on Civil Rights, who attended the Honolulu meeting, also took exception to the criticism that the coimnission was stacking the deck against the Akaka Bill. "The conunission has no business directing any (state advisory eommittee) to do anything. We ean have conversations. We ean make recoimnendations. But we cannot dictate anything," Gerald Reynolds told The Honolulu Advertiser. Meetings are scheduled to eontinue this month, but it's not clear what will happen onee the briefings are completed. The new members recently added to the panel include attorney H. William Burgess, an Akaka Bill opponent who unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit seeking to do away with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Also appointed were Iames Kuroiwa, Jr., who was a plaintiff in the Burgess lawsuit that challenged state funding of Hawaiian programs, and Paul Sullivan and Thomas MaeDonald, both of whom have written against the bill. At its Honolulu meeting, the

panel heard first from state Attorney General Mark Bennett, who made the case for why the Akaka Bill should be passed and why the measure is not race-based, as some opponents charge. "The elaim that the Akaka Bill creates some sort of unique race-based government at odds with our constitutional and congressional heritage contradicts Congress's longstanding recognition of other native peoples," Bennett testified. In response, Roger Clegg, president and general counsel of the Virginia-based Center for Equal Opportunity, said the bill is race-based and unconstitutional. "It is divisive, unfair and discriminatory," Clegg said. Representatives of several Hawaiian organizations testified in favor the bill, and a busload of students from Kula Kaiāpuni 'O Ānuenue attended the hearing to show their support for native selfdetennination. Those who testified against the bill also included representatives of Hawaiian organizations seeking independence from the United States. S

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