Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 7, 1 July 2012 — Federal recognition for Hawaiians [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Federal recognition for Hawaiians

This is tliefirst oftwo parts.

It's been 114 years since the flag of the Hawaiian Kingdom was lowered at 'Iolani Palaee. In the Hawaiian struggle to restore our cultural dignity, honor, wealth, relevance, health and wholeness, we have heeome a divided people. We have spent most of our time looking backward at our painlul and tragic past and seeking justice from a democratic system of government for

whieh we've had httle tolerance and less akamai. And we have spent too little time looking forward and working toward a eommon vision of a Hawaiian future. There are more than a few Hawaiian voices that do not acknowledge the benefits of federal recognition, and who advocate a complete separation from the State of Hawai'i and the United States. These Hawaiian nationals adamantly reject that they are subject to these governments and insist that OHA, as a creature of the state, works against "the people" by seeking federal recognition and therefore is conrplicit in denying a full nreasure of justice for Hawaiians. Whatever your opinion of Hawaiian nationals, they do have a point that seeking federal recognition is an illogical appeal to a state and national govemnrent that perpetuated the very poMeal and cultural genocide fronr whieh we seek recovery in the first plaee. So what do they propose? Sonre eall on the United Nations to declare the overthrow of 1893 illegal and denrand that the U.S . cease and desist fronr exercising their sovereign jurisdiction over Hawai'i, retum our lands and set us free as an independent nation in sonre restorative rejuvenation of the kingdonr nrodel. Sound crazy? Maybe, but it is a nristake to disnriss thenr or to be offended by their passion, zeal and activ-

isnr no nratter how vociferous. While sonre poke fun at these separatist ideas, I find sonre tmth in their elaim that federal recognition cannot possibly eome

close to any truly nreaningful nreasure of sovereignty and will nrost likely result in a brokered redefinition of our relationship with the federal government, one in whieh our ambition for polhieal sovereignty will yield a eondition of being under house arrest but free to rearrange the fumiture. An example of this is the red flag provision of the Akaka hill that would prohibit Hawaiians fronr estabhshing casinos.

Whatever your opinion is of casinos, the point is that our sovereignty is dirrrinished by such a prohibition. I'nr convinced that there will be nrore "you can't do this -you can't do that" realities of federal recognition. But while I respect nrany aspects of the case for separatisnr, I am a die-hard pessiirrist about their United Nations strategy yielding even a nrodicum of success. It is naive to think that the United Nations - a global body politic that allows the nrassacres occurring in the Middle East, the nrassive genocidal operations of fanatic nrilitarists of the AMean continent, the destruction of the rain forests, the tolerance of starving children by the nrillions - will be inchned to tell the nrost powerM nation in the world that they are bad guys if they don't "free" the Hawaiians and walk away fronr the country 's strategically nrost important geographic possession that is the very foundation of the nation's forward thrust into the Pacific-Asian theater that includes China, lapan, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Korea and the rest of the world. To hope for a U.N. fix is a fantasy. I wish it were not so, but it is. Stay tuned. ■ T 0 eommenl 011 this or any other issue ofconcern,feelfree to contactme on twitter @PeterApo, Facebook/Peter Apo orPeterAOHA@gmail.com.

Peīep Apū

Vice Chair, Trustee, O'ahu