LIHUE — This week’s public meetings on Kauai to discuss whether the federal government should pursue federal recognition of Native Hawaiians were dominated by emotional and often angry testimony from dozens of community members. Some went as far as to
LIHUE — This week’s public meetings on Kauai to discuss whether the federal government should pursue federal recognition of Native Hawaiians were dominated by emotional and often angry testimony from dozens of community members.
Some went as far as to accuse the U.S. Department of the Interior of contributing to war crimes, citing international law.
Donovan Cabebe said the meetings are a “mockery,” the result of “criminals with criminal intent” to rob Hawaiian nationals and kanaka maoli of their rights, identity and history — “effectively committing ethnocide.”
“The reason they are here,” he said of the DOI, “is because the claims of the kanaka maoli are legitimate. And the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom still is relevant and alive.”
DOI Press Secretary Jessica Kershaw said more than 300 people attended the two Kauai forums, held Monday and Tuesday in Waimea and Kapaa. Nearly 120 signed up to testify, she said.
If one thing was made clear over the two days, it is that many Hawaiians have not forgotten about — or forgiven — the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Several cried, others screamed during their testimony.
“It’s been 121 years folks, and we have been trying,” said local resident Puanani Rogers. “Stick with it.”
Community members weren’t the only ones who shared feelings of injustice. DIO Assistant Secretary Esther Kiaaina, one of four on the panel, said the overthrow continues to be “very personal” for her family, and that she has spent her life channeling her anger and pain toward helping the Hawaiian people.
The meetings, she said, are an opportunity to “capture for the first time in modern times” whether the Hawaiian community is for or against the reestablishment of a government-to-government relationship.
The Kauai meetings followed several hostile meetings on Oahu, Lanai and Molokai.
“While turnout has been impressive, each meeting is unique, though a lot of similar passions and emotions are expressed on both sides of the issue no matter where public meetings are held,” Kershaw wrote in an email.
Kapaa resident Adam Asquith said he found the DOI’s interest in Hawaii “condescending and farcical.”
“In fact, this almost must be some kind of a sick joke that you schedule these meetings at a time that corresponds with the celebration of your independence,” he said, drawing a roar from the crowd gathered Tuesday at Kapaa Elementary School.
Asquith said he feels the only thing being offered by the United States is money. During his testimony, he recited a verse from “Kaulana Nā Pua” (Famous are the flowers), a Hawaiian song written in 1893 in protest of the overthrow.
The verse’s lyrics translate to, “We do not value the government’s hills of money. We are satisfied with the rocks, the wondrous food of the land.”
“Basically what the kupuna were saying is, “Take that big hill of government money and stuff it. We will eat this land rock by rock, rather than have it given away or taken away,’” Asquith said. “I’m with the kupuna on this one. I would rather eat rocks than have the birthrights of my children taken or given away.”
Others disagreed, saying federal recognition was the only reasonable course of action — one that would allow Hawaiians to preserve and protect their rights and culture.
There are 566 federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States. Unlike all of them, Native Hawaiians currently don’t have a government-to-government relationship with America. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel is considering changing that.
The series of 15 public forums across the state continues this week with meetings on the Big Island and Maui, followed by tribal consultations in Indian Country in late July and early August.
Kershaw stressed there is no set timetable for a decision on how to move forward.
“Our federal delegation has been encouraging people to take time with the documents, discuss the issue with their family and their community and submit written comments as well,” she wrote.
A 60-day public comment period on the department’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking ends Aug. 19. If DOI ultimately decides to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, it says there would be another formal comment period and second round of consultation with the Native Hawaiian community and federally recognized tribes in the continental U.S. to allow for further input.
A final rule could be published within 18 to 24 months after publication of the ANPRM.
The department says that in recent years it has “increasingly heard from Native Hawaiians who assert that their community’s opportunities to thrive would be significantly bolstered by reorganizing a sovereign Native Hawaiian government that could engage the United States in a government-to-government relationship, exercise inherent sovereign powers of self-governance and self-determination, and enhance the implementation of programs and services that Congress has created specifically to benefit the Native Hawaiian community.”
In addition to public meetings, comments can be submitted online at www.Regulations.gov.
