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Federal Recognition
Opinion: GOP policy rejects Native Hawaiians


"In 2005, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, is pressing for a future where his "grandchildren and great-grandchildren" may be allowed to establish a nation, born out of what was once Hawaii -- entirely race-based. Though the senator says he himself is not a proponent of independence itself, the trajectory he'd put his home state on may end there.

Unlikely as it seems now, your grandchildren may one day need a passport to sunbathe in Maui. And the starter pistol that set the 50th state on the road to a wholly un-American independence day would have been fired by our own U.S. Congress.

As a paper from the Republican Policy Committee in the Senate puts it: "Federal Indian law should not be manipulated into a racial spoils system. If Congress can create a government based on blood alone, then the Constitution's commitment to equality under the law means very little. Rather than putting that constitutional question to the Supreme Court, Congress should answer the question itself and defeat this legislation.""

Get the Story:
Backsliding: Hawaii's race-based nation (The Pryor Daily Times 8/26)

Senate Republican Policy Paper:
Why Congress Must Reject Race-Based Government for Native Hawaiians (June 2005)

School Admission Policy Decision:
Doe v. Kamehameha Schools (August 2, 2005)

Rice v. Cayetano Election Rights Decision:
Syllabus | Opinion | Concurrence Dissent (Stevens) | Dissent (Ginsburg)

Native Hawaiian Recognition Bill:
Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005 (S.147)

Relevant Links:
Kamehameha Schools - http://www.ksbe.edu
Native Hawaiian Sovereignty Site - http://www.hawaii-nation.org
Native Hawaiian Federal Recognition Site - http://www.nativehawaiians.com

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