Reclaiming Hawaiian Lands

Submitted by Duke Kalipi on behalf of the Lawful Hawaiian Government

In July, Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed Senate Bill 1520 into law, becoming Act 195. This act is the prelude to the Native Hawaiian Reorganization Act, also known as the Akaka Bill. We believe its true intent is to have the Hawaiian people agree to give up their rightful claim to their national lands, identified by the U.S. government as ceded lands. These are the lands of the former Hawaiian Kingdom – government, crown and public acreage.

“Although the Statehood Act retroceded these lands to the State of Hawaii, nearly 400,000 acres of what was originally Hawaiian government lands are still owned by the U.S. government,” according to a report from Sen. Dan Inouye in Dateline Washington from 1972.

“What we are dealing with here in practical terms is 1.8 million acres in ceded lands… and about 200,000 acres of Hawaiian homelands…” Gov. Abercrombie, then a member of Congress, told the Committee on Indian Affairs on June, 11, 2009. “This [Akaka Bill] has nothing to do with the U.S. Constitution… or race. This has to do with the assets, land and money.”

Through the passage of Act 195, the Hawaiian people approved the establishment of a Hawaiian governing entity that is controlled by the U.S. federal and state government.

This is similar to another piece of U.S. legislation, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. By passing that act into law, the Alaskan people gave up ownership of 300 million acres to the U.S. government in exchange for federal recognition. This followed the passage of the Native Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which also gave the U.S. aboriginal land title ownership to Indian lands in exchange for federal recognition.

“[For the Hawaiian people to receive] a cash compensation for extinguishment of the aboriginal title, similar to that provided in the Alaska settlement, would seem to be justified in light of the Alaska precedent,” reads Inouye’s report.

Remember U.S. public law 103-150, para. 29: “Whereas, the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished their sovereignty as a people or over their national lands to the United States, either through their monarchy, plebiscite or referendum.”

Act 195 is designed to have the Hawaiian people participate in a plebiscite that would give their right to sovereignty and their national lands to the U.S. government.

Don’t let this happen to us. Support the lawful Hawaiian Government and assist the reclamation of the national lands.