Federal hearings that began this week about a future relationship with a potential Native Hawaiian government have tapped deep emotions — spurring anger and fury among hundreds who have testified. But the first four sessions have also raised concern that not all Native Hawaiian views are being reflected in the process.
Many of the same speakers have attended each hearing, frequently going well past the two minutes they’re allotted to talk, leading some to wonder how well the views of Native Hawaiians are being represented during the three-hour hearings that are being broadcast live.
"You’re getting the people who are really upset," said Williamson Chang, a professor at the University of Hawaii’s law school who teaches the legal history of Hawaii and who testified at the first session Monday at the state Capitol. "The people who are comfortable with the status quo and want to protect their programs are not showing up. Like most of these types of hearings, you’re getting those who are most riled up and most emotional."
Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee Oswald Stender was more blunt.
"It’s a little embarrassing that our Hawaiian people are acting this way," Stender said. "It’s not the Hawaiian way. The people that don’t say anything are the ones that are more middle of the road, a little more respectful."
There will be 15 sessions held around the islands over the next two weeks.
A 60-day period began June 19 to submit written comments on whether the U.S. Department of Interior should start a process that could lead to a government-to-government relationship with a future Native Hawaiian government.
And OHA plans a campaign to generate comments in favor, said Stender, who is drafting his own comments to submit.
"A lot of people who call me and watch the television want to say things and I tell them, ‘You have to.’ But they don’t want to be shouted down and yelled at, so they don’t want to come. But I’m hopeful they will send letters in."
By Wednesday, the Department of Interior had already posted more than 60 comments it has received, including some in support.
David Heaukulani of Hilo wrote, "The native Hawaiian community is at odds with itself regarding an approach towards forming its own government. Therefore, I hope the federal government can step in and help us come together in this matter of utmost importance."
George Tsuchida called the possibility of re-establishing a government-to-government relationship "long overdue to address years of injustice, since the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893, and is a very positive first step towards Native Hawaiian self-determination."
OHA Chairwoman Colette Machado was one of the few Monday morning to testify publicly in support of the idea.
But Machado quickly got into a shouting match with people in the Capitol audience who booed her. She admonished them to "follow the process."
"Culturally," said Pono Shim, CEO of Enterprise Honolulu, the Oahu Economic Development Board, "this is not how you have a conversation. Most people of Hawaiian ancestry would not show up for a process like this. It’s unfortunate that this is the only way that people have to be engaged to have a voice."
Shim continues to watch the sessions on television and plans to submit his own testimony.
He’s still formulating his comments, but is focusing on the idea that "wherever the United States has been asked to leave and they have left, it’s been devastating for the community that asks them to leave. In this conversation, we have to be very, very careful how we discuss that and how we talk about these relationships."
As the sessions moved to Waimanalo and then to Waianae, Chang, the professor, saw emotions run even hotter, and expects even more anger when the hearings move to the neighbor islands.
The hearings provide an imperfect forum to express 121 years of anger that began with the U.S. government’s overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom, Chang said.
So the hearings themselves are helping to fuel some of the anger, he said.
"These are televised and it’s having a snowball effect," Chang said. "People are seeing how little time they have and it feels like sort of a half-baked process that the federal government is rushing into. Unlike the Capitol, when you start going to the rural areas where Hawaiians live, you’re really going to get a lot of frustration about how hard it is to live in Hawaii, about homeless Hawaiians, about Hawaiians being overrepresented in jail."
Whatever results from two weeks of hearings, Chang said all of the talk about a potentially new relationship with a new Native Hawaiian government already has had an effect.
"It’s definitely woken up Hawaiians," he said.
