"An inevitable aspect of restoring Hawaiian sovereignty would mean elimination of U.S. control of Hawaii. Assuming such a utopian scheme were successful, all persons capable of proving ancestry dating back to 1898 would be citizens of this new utopia.

It follows that with a reversion to Hawaiian law of 1893, since equality was already encoded in the laws of the kingdom, all citizens, regardless of race, would be eligible for homestead land.

This would leave no room for racial supremacism or irrational expectations of preferred entitlement to any benefits provided by the kingdom government.

If the Akaka Bill should become law, Hawaii would be divided into two sovereign entities. Citizenship would be based strictly on proving possession of a single drop of Hawaiian blood. Such a sovereign entity, as is the case with the current tribal designations, would therefore, like Islamic law, not be subject to criticism, or accountable to any law other than group interest. Said tribe would be empowered to rule according to whatever laws this separate sovereign government saw fit to enact.

U.S. Sen. Dan Akaka is one of the finest persons I have ever known. His intentions, as well as those of most proponents of the bill, are worthy and humane.

Nonetheless, the idiocy of creating a race-based sovereign nation within the 11,000 square miles of these islands, quite frankly, will inevitably be dystopian. It defies logic."

Get the Story:
John S. Carroll: The idea of a race-based sovereign nation within the bounds of a U.S. state should never have been taken seriously (The Honolulu Star Advertiser 12/3)

Native Hawaiian Self-Determination Bill:
H.R.862 | S.381

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