Hanapepe event starts another year of sovereignty debate BY LESTER CHANG TGI Staff Writer Lawful Hawaiian Government has scheduled a “nationhood rally” at the Salt Pond Park in Hanapepe on Jan. 13 for its drive to reinstate laws to allow
Hanapepe event starts another year of sovereignty debate
BY LESTER
CHANG
TGI Staff Writer
Lawful Hawaiian Government has scheduled a
“nationhood rally” at the Salt Pond Park in Hanapepe on Jan. 13 for its drive
to reinstate laws to allow the Hawaiian Kingdom to operate again as a sovereign
nation.
The sovereignty group’s leader, Henry Noa, will “let people know
the momentum is going in the right direction,” said event organizer Gilbert
Medeiros.
Of the myriad sovereignty groups, Lawful Hawaiian Government has
made the most significant strides in putting the former government back in
place through the creation of executive and legislative branches and a push to
create a judiciary body, Medeiros said.
“Now that the offices are in
place, the nation can start dialoguing with international powers,” Medeiros
said.
With the laws in place, the kingdom of Hawai’i could once again
operate as a sovereign nation, separate from the control of the United States,
according to Lawful Hawaiian Government.
The government claims up to 6,000
registered constituents who want to officially reinstate laws that were in
place before the 1893 overthrow of the monarchy, Medeiros said.
They
contend that because the overthrow and the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands
in 1895 were illegal, the kingdom still exists.
Some of the topics that
will be discussed at the Jan. 13 rally include sovereignty, the takeover and
occupation of the Hawaiian Islands by the U.S. military, birth rights and a
federal bill recognizing Native Hawaiians.
Federal recognition legislation
failed to pass Congress last year, but Hawaii’s senators promised to
reintroduce it when Congress reconvenes this month.
Sovereignty advocates
on Kaua’i have said the lack of action by Congress is a good sign and that they
want the measure scrapped permanently. With the measure out of the way, the
kanaka maoli (aboriginal people of Hawai’i) would have a clear shot at
re-establishing the Hawaiian nation, they said.
$40 million approved by
Congress and signed into law by President Clinton last month to benefit
Hawaiians won’t disrupt the drive for independence, Medeiros said.
The
funds, which would go to Native Hawaiian education programs, health and
job-training programs statewide, are part of $93.7 million Congress and Clinton
has approved for labor, health and educational programs in Hawai’i.
Medeiros said the $40 million is a “drop in the bucket.”
“They are
just trying to pay us off with peanuts,” Medeiros said, adding that the kanaka
maoli could generate more revenues if they owned their own land.
Hawaiians
have not gotten their fair share of revenues from ceded lands and other assets
managed by the state, he said.
