Protesters say new rule ignores illegal overthrow

Dozens of people converged at Iolani Palace on Friday to protest the U.S. Department of Interior’s establishment of an administrative process for any future Native Hawaiian government to establish a formal government-to-government relationship with the United States.

“Today, President Obama and the Democratic Party’s Hawaii delegation in D.C. announced that they now have a process. But all they are really doing is covering up the crime of the illegal U.S. overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s government in 1893 — something they admitted to in 1993 with the Apology Resolution and Public Law 103-150,” said Healani Sonoda-Pale, founding member of the group, Protest Na‘i Aupuni.

Congress in 1993 enacted an apology resolution to Native Hawaiians, signed by President Bill Clinton, expressing regret for the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian government. Efforts to establish a Native Hawaiian government and debate over what form it should take have evolved over decades.

Native Hawaiian sovereignty leaders were among more than 50 people gathered at a news conference in front of Iolani Palace to condemn the Interior Department’s final rule formally announced Friday.

Hawaiian activist Walter Ritte said the U.S. is trying to drive a sovereign nation under the America system. “We want to be in a system that is based on who we are.

“We are an independent sovereign nation,” he said. “We are not going to lie back and accept being further under the America system. We are not going to allow that.”

Not everyone agreed with the protesters.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs applauded the Obama administration, saying the new rule brings Native Hawaiians closer to having equality with other indigenous groups.

“Native Hawaiians have been the only major indigenous group in the 50 states without a process for establishing a government-to-government relationship with the federal government,” OHA said in a statement. “This rule finally remedies this injustice. OHA will spend the next few days closely examining the rule to better understand how the Native Hawaiian people can – if they choose – pursue a government-to-government relationship.”

The rule established by the Interior Department states it “does not attempt to reorganize a Native Hawaiian government or draft its constitution, nor does it dictate the form or structure of that government. Rather, the rule establishes an administrative procedure and criteria that the Secretary would use if the Native Hawaiian community forms a unified government that then seeks a formal government-to-government relationship with the United States.”

The Interior Department said the decision to reorganize a Native Hawaiian government is one for the Native Hawaiian community — not the federal government.

“Today is a major step forward in the reconciliation process between Native Hawaiians and the United States that began over 20 years ago. We are proud to announce this final rule that respects and supports self-governance for Native Hawaiians, one of our nation’s largest indigenous communities,” U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said in a statement.

“For decades, many in the Native Hawaiian community have fought for the same rights and treatment as indigenous groups across the United States, like Native American tribes and Alaska Natives,” U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said in a statement. “The Department of Interior announcement today simply places the decision-making authority solely within the hands of Native Hawaiians to determine what, if any, government-to-government relationship they choose to have with the U.S. federal government.”

A Native Hawaiian convention, Na‘i Aupuni, was convened in February, resulting in adoption of a constitution that calls for a government representing only descendants of indigenous people who lived on the islands before Western contact. A ratification vote on the constitution is slated to be held in 2017.

The group Protest Na‘i Aupuni asserts the convention and resulting constitution were part of an effort to meet the requirements of the Department of Interior.

“We need to be really clear with the United States. They not only do not have the right to tell us what kind of government we should have,” Jonathan Osorio, professor of Hawaiian studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said. “The United States has no right whatsoever to the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiians Islands are the property of the Hawaiian kingdom and the Hawaiian kingdom government and there is no getting around that substantial fact.”

To review the final rule, visit doi.gov/hawaiian.