Once again the Akaka Bill, designed to secure self-governance rights for native Hawaiians, is being seriously entertained.  Indigenous Hawaiians contend that their ancestral rights were abrogated when the United States colonized the island archipelago in 1893.  Already having passed the House, now as S.310, it was placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar last month, and back on the agenda like a bad penny.

Should the bill become law, it would secure self-government rights for native Hawaiians even though they now represent one percent of the island’s population and a total dispersed population of 400,000 nationwide.  Presumably this small segment of the population could negotiate with state and federal authorities for control of natural resources and land.

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) maintains that “Native Hawaiians, just like Indian tribes, are the first Americans.  They were here long before my ancestors showed up.”  Senator Akaka (D-Hawaii), one of the nine sponsors of the bill, concurred, stating, “Native Hawaiians were disenfranchised.”

While most native Hawaiians support the measure, some radical groups oppose it, arguing this bill will put Hawaiians under federal control thereby militating against the goal of sovereignty. It could also set a precedent for others who might claim preferential treatment and a separate government, such as an Acadian government in Louisiana.

While legislators in Hawaii claim the bill is fair, equitable and constitutional, the last point is questionable since the Constitution does not countenance secession or possible separation from the nation.  Moreover, in attempting to redress the wrongs of the past, the bill introduces wrongs of the present.  In what sense is it fair for one percent of the population to have a right to dictate to the other 99 percent?

Opening this Pandora’s Box has no end.  Every group with ancestral ties to the nation’s founding could conceivably demand preferential treatment. History is filled with mistreatment and claims of malfeasance, but addressing every concern with special treatment would divide the nation in ways that duplicate conditions prior to the Civil War.

It is noteworthy that an America already balkanized by race and ethnicity is now put in the position of having to consider ancestral rights. Groups seeking privilege have now found refuge in the courts and politicians who pander to subcultures.

What the supporters of the Akaka bill do not seem to realize is that Hawaii is a state within the United States with all of the privileges and limitations this status confers.  Lincoln fought to keep the union intact arguing that secession violated the spirit and intent of the Constitution.  Should we now abrogate tradition and law to redress the allegations of wrongs committed more than a century ago?  And if so, why stop with native Hawaiians?

America has become a land of those with grievances.  Perhaps one day the grievants will awaken to a land composed of principalities with little that unites them. The idea of America will be erased without a trace of what held us together.  E pluribus unum will be “e unum pluribus.”  I hope Congress recognizes what is truly at stake when it considers the Akaka bill for more than the future of Hawaiians is on the agenda.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 2:40 pm and is filed under Politics, Civil Rights .