Hawaii lawmaker apologizes for words ‘reported out of context’

Under fire for what one Native Hawaiian group described as hate speech, Hawaii island state Sen. Lorraine Inouye issued an apology for comments she made in a television news interview and pledged to consult with Hawaiian cultural practitioners to help educate her on related issues.

Inouye (D, Kaupulehu-­Waimea-North Hilo) made her controversial remarks during a Hawaii News Now report last week on House Bill 499, which provides authority for the extension of certain leases on ceded lands — the government lands that were taken from the Hawaiian monarchy by the Republic of Hawaii and eventually ceded to the United States and held in trust by the state of Hawaii.

“I have a difficult time accepting a reality that it’s ceded lands and it’s lands that are taken away from our Hawaiian people. But that is totally not true,” she told a reporter.

In a letter to Senate President Ron Kouchi, Ka Lahui Hawai‘i called the statement racist hate speech and urged the Senate to reprimand the senator and remove her from her committee leadership post. The group also called for an apology.

“Her racist rhetoric has caused emotional harm to the indigenous people of Hawai‘i and has forced the Lahui to relive historical trauma tied to the distortion of our history and the severing of our ties to these lands,” the April 28 letter said.

Inouye, in a statement released Monday, said her words were reported in isolation and out of context, which caused them to be hurtful to members of the Hawaiian community.

The chairwoman of the Senate Land and Water Committee went on to “apologize for offending anyone who felt I was being disrespectful toward the Hawaiian people and their culture.”

“That was never my intent and I regret the words I chose to use,” Inouye said. “Moving forward I am committed to being more sensitive to issues before my Water and Land Committee. I am in conversations with respected Hawaiian cultural practitioners to help educate me on these issues.”

Ka Lahui Hawai‘i spokeswoman Healani Sonoda-Pale said she was disappointed by the senator’s “disingenuous’ response.

“It made a lot of people even angrier, the way it was worded,” she said.

“The senator needs to acknowledge our history,” Sonoda-Pale added. “There are so many opportunities to learn about the history of the ceded lands and the overthrow (of the Hawaiian monarchy). As an elected official, there’s no excuse for such ignorance.”