WyBlog

Congress passes the Hawaii Balkanization Act

The Daley Gator brings us the disappointing news that the "Akaka Bill" is back. Last week on a strictly party-line vote the House of Representatives passed the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. It's essentially legalized segregation — "Aloha Crow" legislation designed to deny certain Americans' rights and privileges based on their race. Only this time it's anyone who is not "Native Hawaiian" who will be subjected to official discrimination.

The bill creates a complex federal framework under which most of the nation's approximately 400,000 ethnic Hawaiians can organize themselves into one vast Indian tribe. It endows the tribe with the "inherent powers and privileges of self-government," including the privilege of sovereign immunity from lawsuit. It also by clear implication confers the power to tax, to promulgate and enforce a criminal code, and to exercise eminent domain. Hawaii will in effect be two states, not one.

Naturally the burning question then becomes, "who is a Native Hawaiian?" Would you believe that it's a throwback to the "one drop of blood" standard that was used to discriminate against negroes in the old south?

Here's an idea, maybe all the "qualified Native Hawaiians" can sew little yellow pineapples on their shirts so we can tell them apart.

The motivation behind this blatantly divisive legislation is of course money. Native Hawaiians have quite the racial spoils gravy train to protect. Billions of dollars are doled out each year by the state's Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) thanks to lands the federal government ceded to the state decades ago. This money should be used to help all residents of Hawaii, but OHA ensures that only ethnic Hawaiians benefit from the home and business loans as well as housing and education programs which it administers.

But ten years ago the U.S. Supreme Court upset their applecart. Hawaiian law established that only ethnic Hawaiians could vote for members of the OHA oversight board. This law was found to be unconstitutional due to the 15^th Amendment's prohibition on racial discrimination in voting rights.

Hence, if the OHA's election methodology is unconstitional, then the racial determination factors used in their benefits allocations almost certainly violate the Equal Protection clause of the 14^th Amendment. That won't do, so the Akaka Bill was born. If Native Hawaiians were an Indian Tribe then constitutional prohibitions against discrimination wouldn't apply.

I have something of a dog in this hunt since my wife's family is from Hawaii. Her great-great-grandfather was William P. Jarrett who served as the first Hawaii territorial delegate to the United States Congress. She has many aunts, uncles, and cousins still living throughout the islands.

Since we've visited Hawaii many times we've gotten used to how the racial spoils system operates. And believe me, it is pervasive. Did you know that pretty much everything in Hawaii sells for 2 vastly different prices? There's the marked price ("the Haole price") and then there's the under-the-table "Native Hawaiian" price.

How do I know this? Because one of the first times I visted her father's house I brought some beer with me and happened to comment on how expensive it was to purchase. He said simply, "next time come with me". So I did. And lo and behold when he told the clerk "this is my son-in-law" the beer that yesterday was $11.99 a sixpack was suddenly $5.99.

When we went to buy macadamia nuts he told us what to say and we amazingly encounted a "special sale", half off!, which lasted just until the next customer walked up the counter. And the best "Native Hawaiian" deal of all? Inter-island plane flights. At a time when tourists like us were paying $89 to $149 each way my father-in-law never paid more than $19 round trip.

So yeah, I'd say that protecting a racket like that is worth twisting into knots the definition of an Indian Tribe, don't you?

But let me ask you something. Suppose we found out that Korean grocers in New York were charging ethnic Koreans one price for fruit, and everyone else (including blacks) a much higher price. Do you think that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and the rest of the usual grievance mongers would have something to say about that?

So why do Native Hawaiians get to maintain their discriminatory practices? Why is our Congress voting to expand the benefits accorded to anyone who has "one drop of Hawaiian blood"? A category which will most likely include my daughter even though she has never resided in Hawaii?

I imagine that the irony of passing this law during Black History Month was lost on the proponents. What Hawaii needs is a Martin Luther King Kamehameha, what they got was Daniel Akaka.

Posted at 15:52 by Chris Wysocki   [/rants]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: Hawaii Akaka   |   Tweet