Late March 1994
Hawaiians Accused Of Trespassing On Their Land
by Eric M. Kapono
Special To: News From Indian Country
Native Hawaiians in the town of Hilo, Hawaii, have taken their
frustration with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to the
streets in a number of protests that call on the DHHL to get its
priorities straight.
Protesters have submitted to arrest by State Police on Hawaiian
Home Lands and then declared that the State courts have no
jurisdiction over a sovereign Hawaiian.
The Hawaiian Home Lands Commission Act of 1920 created the
Hawaiian Homes Commission and its administrative arm, the
Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. A nine-member body appointed be
the governor of the State of Hawaii, the Commission is charged
with establishing policy and the DHHL implements the policies.
Their mission is the leasing of land to native Hawaiian
beneficiaries of the Act to be used for residence, agriculture or
pasture for $1.00/year for 99 years. "Beneficiaries" are defined
in the Act as those proving at least a 50% Hawaiian blood quantum.
Approximately 187,000 acres scattered across 5 of our 8 main
islands fall under the purview of DHHL and the Commission. Since
the Act was supported in 1920 by the powerful sugar companies only
with the condition that their monopoly on the best lands not be
broken, today the Hawaiian Home Lands comprise some of the most
inaccessible and barren of Hawaii's lands.
The Hilo protests have been responses to the dismal 70-year
record of the DHHL. Since 1920, 4,000 Native Hawaiian
beneficiaries have received a house lot and another 2,000 received
a farm lot. Yet today, over 22,000 Hawaiians are on the waiting
list. Many Hawaiians have died after decades of being on the
waiting list.
A beach pavilion was constructed by beneficiaries of the 1920
Act across the street from the Keaukaha Hawaiian Home Lots in the
community of Hilo. Hoaliku Drake, who serves as both Chair of the
Commission and Director of DHHL, declared this pavilion illegal
because those occupying it did not have a permit from her
department.
The DHHL bulldozed this facility last August following the
arrest of several Native Hawaiians protesting this action. The
pavilion was rebuilt twice in September and twice razed by the
DHHL.
Aupuni o Hawaii, the group organizing the resistance, contended
that hundreds of structures are held by nonHawaiians on Hawaiian
Home Lands with the blessing of the DHHL, while the Department
forces beneficiaries off. The DHHL holds that the commercial
leasing of Home Lands to non-Hawaiians is necessary to generate
income for the Department.
This policy has meant 116,000 acres of Home Lands inventory
[are] leased commercially and 17,000 acres [are] actually leased
for the Native Hawaiian beneficiaries desiring self-sufficiency.
On Oct. 8, Aupuni o Hawaii took their protests against
commercial leasing to the Hilo shopping mall of Prince Kuhio
Plaza, which sits on 39 acres of Hawaiian Home Lands. Plaza
management called in police to break this peaceful protest and
arrests were made.
At the arraignment of those arrested, several Native Hawaiians
declared that the State courts have no jurisdiction over their
affairs.
The reasoning behind this jurisdictional issue stems from the
fact that in 1893, the sovereign Hawaiian Kingdom was illegally
overthrown when U.S. Minister Stevens requested ashore U.S.
Marines to surround the Palace of Queen Lili'uokalani.
While then-President Cleveland called this an unjust "act of
war," his successor, President McKinley, in 1898 pushed through
Congress an annexation treaty with the unpopular Republic of
Hawai'i without the consent of Native Hawaiians. The Territory of
Hawai'i would become the State of Hawai'i in 1959 when the U.S.
misleadingly reported to the United Nations that a fair plebiscite
had occurred in Hawai'i for admission to the Union of American
States.
The illegality of the 1893 overthrow was further substantiated
in Nov. 1993 by Congress and President Clinton with the signing of
S.J. Res. 19 that acknowledges the "100th anniversary of the
illegal overthrow... which resulted in the suppression of the
Native Hawaiian people."
Several families of Hawaiians have organized and are settling
on Hawaiian Home Lands without the department's approval. Free
Association, an organization that represents 3 villages that have
settled in the Keaukaha Hawaiian Home Lands area, stated prior to
arraignment for the Kuhio Plaza protesters on Nov 1:
"We represent Hawaiians who no longer recognize the illegal
occupation. We will continue to occupy our lands while we are
still alive, NOT waiting for our coffin to be the only way to get
back home."
The State's position regarding trespassing by Native Hawaiians
on Hawaiian Home Lands is currently pending the Hilo's Circuit
Judge's decision.
For more information you can contact: Hawai'i Island Council/
Hui Na'auao, 193 Kino'ole Street, Suite 5, Hilo, Hawai'i 96720
808-935-8191 or fax to 808-935-8296.
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"When we walk upon Mother Earth, we always plant our feet carefully
because we know the faces of our future generations are looking
up at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them."
-Oren Lyons, Onondaga Nation
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milo@scicom.alphacdc.com Michele Lord Alpha Institute
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