comscore Native Hawaiian convention adopts constitution | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Top News

Native Hawaiian convention adopts constitution

Honolulu Star-Advertiser logo
Unlimited access to premium stories for as low as $12.95 /mo.
Get It Now
  • COURTESY AHA2016.COM

    Delegates at the Native Hawaii Governance Aha, are seen in this courtesy photo at the Royal Hawaiian Golf Course in Kailua on Oahu.

The Native Hawaiian constitutional convention this afternoon adopted a governing document that will go out to a vote for ratification.

The constitution, approved by an 88 to 30 vote with one abstention, apparently allows room for federal recognition by the U.S. government while holding out for the possibility of independence.

“We reaffirm the National Sovereignty of the Nation,” the preamble says. “We reserve all rights for Sovereignty and self-determination, including the pursuit of independence.”

Under the constitution, citizens of the nation are any descendents of the indigenous people who lived in Hawaii prior to 1778. It also says citizenship in the Native Hawaiian nation shall not affect one’s citizenship in the United States.

The government would be composed of an executive branch — led by a president and vice president and advised by an island council, plus a legislature with 43 members representing the islands and Native Hawaiians, as well as a judicial authority.

Opponents of the four-week-long convention, or aha, claim the event was predetermined to allow for federal recognition, or the nation within a nation model of government.

Native Hawaiian Nation Constitution

Comments (33)

By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have agreed to the Terms of Service. An insightful discussion of ideas and viewpoints is encouraged, but comments must be civil and in good taste, with no personal attacks. If your comments are inappropriate, you may be banned from posting. Report comments if you believe they do not follow our guidelines.

Having trouble with comments? Learn more here.

Leave a Reply

  • No progress can be seen until the Hawaiians on side A shakes hands with the Hawaiians on side B. Only then can we hear the record playing music in harmony.

  • They want it ALL – to the exclusion of anyone who happened to be born with different blood. They say that their citizenship in the Native Hawaiian nation will not affect their citizenship in the United States. How can they be so sure? I think that the U.S. of America may have something to say about that. Come on, Hawaiians, either be a citizen of the nation you’re trying to establish, or be a citizen of the U.S. (or a citizen of some other country). You want all the benefits of being an American, but you also want to be treated as special and be given added benefits, rights, land, etc. simply because you happened to be born in a certain blood line. That is incredibly lazy, discriminatory, greedy, and selfish. How about working, persevering, studying hard, and being entrepreneurial, industrious and productive?

    • btaim -give us all a break. The Native Americans and Native Alaska’s have this status. Now The Hawaiian will. Just be honest and say your jeolous that you not of Hawaiian ancestry. This will actually benefit the whole State, just ask your local Legislature.

      • Triumph of the Will – royalism, Chinese, royal land trusts, royal patents, monopoly land use by the ali’i descendants, taking native lands away from the homesteaders and placing it now more specifically under the control of the OHA style government. Who exactly cedes this authority to the same folks who control land now but do not have any of their own authority so have to work through local government. It sounds like a pipe dream. This is not like Indian natins at all. This is just another variation of the overthrown kingdom being reborn as, well, whatever this is? The only “authority” that could ok this would have to be state law and the state courts. The federal courts and congress are going to look at this with very different eyes on it. Seems like no one is ready yet to cede any of their self interests to actually have unity. Oh, well, here we go again.

        • A Friday late-afternoon document dump, right along with all those installments of the emails on Hillary Clinton’s server. I already noticed an item in the constitution which the Department of Interior already said it will not approve if the tribe wants fed wreck — the constitution does not require U.S. citizenship to join the tribe — so people anywhere in the world can join the tribe, so long as they have a drop of the magic blood. The preamble says “we join together to affirm a government of, by, and for Native Hawaiian people.” Of the race, by the race, and for the race. The section on citizenship emphasizes it’s racist by adopting the State of Hawaii definition — “A citizen of the Native Hawaiian Nation is any descendant of the aboriginal and indigenous people who, prior to 1778, occupied and exercised sovereignty in the Hawaiian Is-lands and is enrolled in the nation.”

        • Ken

          we actually had DC on two conference calls this week. They approved the final language. We not stupid, we learned the game from the white man;-)

        • Warrior — who is “we” you refer to in a conference call? Are you saying you were a member of the convention?

  • So will these Hawaiians take over the state and county governments? Will they lower our taxes? Will they fix the streets, cancel rail, make traffic better, reduce the cost of goods, and kick out all the condo developers?

  • Can these get-a-lifers and their revisionist, race-based fantasy of a history devote their time to more important pursuits – like picking up trash alongside highways?

  • These people are totally delusional. If Hawaii did not become a state some other country would have taken it over. The location is too important. Doubt whatever Hawaiian military would have been in place could defend the islands.

    • That’s what I say, and if that was the case, they could have been completely slaughtered, murdered, no Hawaiians at all to tell their story. #Kaaihue4Mayor

  • If they really want to return to Hawaii before European contact, they should drop all the trappings of Western culture which they now enjoy.

    Their document mentions equal protection under the law, voting rights, etc etc, none of which is culturally Hawaiian.

    Perhaps they should argue for the return to the ancient Hawaiian way of doing things, in which one group takes what they can by force from other groups.

  • So if 195 were invited that meant that to have a majority vote at least 98 invitees would have to vote in the affirmative in order to pass anything. Only 88 did.

    • So what if only 20 people out of the possible 195 showed up, “Warrior” and 15 voted yes, would you consider that to be legitimate? No. However, if 100 showed up and 98 voted in favor then it could be said that it was legit because with only a hundred the amount of yes votes would have been enough to win the day even if 195 had actually showed up.

      This unelected group of racists have done nothing legitimate, or legal. Just a bunch of racial separatists that got together on the tax payer’s dime with no authority to conduct their racist activities.

      • Hey, all you White folks that were told in the sovereignty meetings down in Puna that the new “reinstated Kingdom” would allow anyone that wanted to to be in it have apparently lied, eh? These racists will only allow one droppers in, per their “constitution”.

        You have been lied to all along in order to obtain your support, and now you know the truth. It’s all about race, and you are the wrong one!

      • Just keep watch DD. here are the steps:
        1.) create the role
        2.) create the constitution
        3.) Ratify the constitution
        4.) vote in the leaders of the Haw’n Government
        5.) Cut deal with US
        6.) take all of DDs little, tiny assets and send him back to where he father was born
        7.) Have another Luau

        we coming for you DiverDave;-)

        • With 550,000 people in the U.S. claiming to be at least one droppers that will require at least 275,001 votes to “ratify”. It will never happen with your made up “role” of names. But you can play dress up if you want to. It’s a free country, unlike the racist one you’ve concocted.

        • you got bad intel, we only ned 30,000 lol, your clueless and continue to underestimate the Hawaiian People.

  • I still got Hawaiians committing political suicide saying they ain’t American and they ain’t voting. Not that I’m seeking ONLY the Hawaiians to vote, other than military and white people, instead of racist japanese that voted for ige and takai. To hear these Hawaiians continue to say that is IRRITATING AND IGNORANT AND MAKES HAWAIIANS LOOK REALLY STUPID. SOMEONE NEEDS TO HELP SET UT STRAIGHT FOR THEM, JUST REALLY SHOWS THEIR IGNORANCE THAT ALL THEY LIKE DO IS SMOKE METH, CIGS, AND DRINK BEER, AND LIVE OFF WELFARE. #Kaaihue4Mayor

  • The sleeping Giant is rumbling. Who is this Giant we so respectfully speak of? Residents of Hawaii, the state, with no Hawaiian blood. For years, this giant has done its dirty work largely behind the scenes. The current narrative of Hawaiian nationalism is forcing the hand of this Giant. Kanaka like to believe that they are some special class of native people whose “illegal” overthrow owes them perpetual special race-based treatment until the end of time. I no think so says da Giant. Pretty soon, the Giant shall awake and crush the remaining irritants biting at the surface of his skin. And now, this Giant is armed with a whole new generation of players who could give a damn if they are offending Hawaiians. Remember, Hawaiians are grossly outnumbered in the state. Even more for Hawaiians who seek complete independence. Yet If this is the fight they want, this is the fight they will get. Sadly, they will get crushed. Some of the leaders of these groups have drank too much of the awa flavored kool aid and have rendered much of their followers in to the alleyways of delusion. The word is compromise. History has dictated that in the end, as bad as it sounds, kanaka need to take what is given. Because it is a lot more than most other non-koko having residents of the state could ever dream of having. From the 12.5 Billion trust to Oha to Hawaiian homes…the list goes on and on. Protect what you have. Build a positive bridge or get crushed on the shores of perpetual tail chasing.

  • This is a disappointingly breezy article. Did you even read the document you a writing about? More substance please. A lot of people obviously put a lot of hard work into this document, but your article certainly gives it short shrift.

Click here to see our full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. Submit your coronavirus news tip.

Be the first to know
Get web push notifications from Star-Advertiser when the next breaking story happens — it's FREE! You just need a supported web browser.
Subscribe for this feature

Scroll Up