History of efforts to create a Hawaiian tribe from September 1 through December 31, 2022; including efforts to create a state-recognized tribe and efforts to get federal recognition through Dept. of Interior regulation, executive order, or Congressional legislation; and efforts to get local and international recognition of an alleged continuing independent nation of Hawaii. Oct 18: U.S. Dept of Interior proclaims it will now treat Native Hawaiians as a sovereign group like a federally recognized tribe (although they are not). Hawaiian sovereignty group's

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History of efforts to create a Hawaiian tribe from September 1 through December 31, 2022; including efforts to create a state-recognized tribe and efforts to get federal recognition through Dept. of Interior regulation, executive order, or Congressional legislation; and efforts to get local and international recognition of an alleged continuing independent nation of Hawaii. Oct 18: U.S. Dept of Interior proclaims it will now treat Native Hawaiians as a sovereign group like a federally recognized tribe (although they are not). Hawaiian sovereignty group's

INDEX OF NEWS REPORTS AND COMMENTARIES FROM SEPTEMBER 1 THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2022

** Note from Ken Conklin: The closing months of 2022 have seen a coming together of several anti-American and anti-military propaganda campaigns by Hawaiian sovereignty activists whose timing appears to be coordinated to amplify unfortunate accidents or naturally-occurring events. Look for the following topics in the index below, in approximately this chronological order, followed by full text of associated news reports and commentaries:
* poisoning of water supply due to leaks of jet fuel from huge military storage tanks, followed by leakage of powerfully toxic fire-fighting foam containing "forever chemicals" that never break down;
* U.S. Dept of Interior announces new policy of frequent routing consultation with Native Hawaiians as though they have a federal trust relationship similar to a sovereign federally recognized Indian tribe;
* New Iolani Palace Exhibit Will Describe The Hawaiian Kingdomʻs Overthrow;
* Blockbuster lengthy headline article in Sunday Honolulu newspaper, in cooperation with ProPublica, entitled "NATIVE HAWAIIANS are still waiting for the military to remove unexploded bombs" on land used for military training in World War 2;
*release of a victimhood report using twisted statistics malpractice allegedly showing racially disproportionate sex-trafficking of "Missing and Murdered Native Hawaiian Women and Girls" and focusing on military men as worst victimizers of very young Hawaiian girls

September 4, 2022: Retired journalist Ian Lind reports that 2 men facing felony charges in the 2019 takeover of OHA offices are likely to raise a sovereignty defense. They claim to be federal marshals for the Sovereign Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi, who are beyond the jurisdiction of the state courts.

Sept 7: Ken Conklin submits 53-page testimony, regarding scoping for an environmental impact statement, to National Science Foundation and NASA concerning the proposed Thirty-Meter telescope project on Mauna Kea. Testimony is intended to debunk and discredit two racially divisive and politically diversionary claims asserted by TMT opponents. The false claims are: (1) Native Hawaiians, as a group, regard Mauna Kea as a sacred place which would be desecrated by TMT; (2) Native Hawaiians are an indigenous people whose genealogical relationship to Hawaii's 'aina (land, sea, air) gives them an inherent right to govern Hawaii and especially to have decision-making political power over land-use decisions. Testimony is available on a webpage "TMT Mauna Kea testimony September 2022" at
https://www.angelfire.com/big11a/TMTtstmnySept2022.html

Sept. 10: Leon Siu, who imagines himself to be foreign minister of the Hawaiian Kingdom, says "Yes, there are many benefits from the Western ways we can use, but to really free our nation, we have to free ourselves of the oppressor’s mindset, we have to think clearly for ourselves and apply our ways to how we want to live. We must be guided by the ways and core values of our kūpuna... aloha ke Akua, aloha ʻāina, mālama pono, kōkua, lōkahi, and so forth."

Sept. 24: Leon Siu notes what President Joe Biden said to the United Nations about Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and attempt to erase Ukraine nationhood, and recasts it sentence-by-sentence into what Joe Blow might say about U.S. 1893 invasion of Hawaii and attempt to erase Hawaii's sovereignty.

October 7, 2022: Leon Siu "Every year at this time, while the U.S. celebrates Columbus’/Discoverers’/Indigenous Peoples' Day, we ask people to hold a ceremony called, The Burning of the Papal Bulls, to reject colonialism. The "Papal Bulls” were edicts issued by several Roman Catholic popes, that set in motion 600 years of colonialism ... United Nations is working to end colonialism.

Oct 17: Defendant in 2019 invasion of OHA office claims state court has no jurisdiction because he is a citizen and official of the sovereign “Kingdom of Atooi.”

Oct 18: U.S. Dept of Interior proclaims it will now treat treating Native Hawaiians as a Native Hawaiians as a sovereign group like a federally recognized tribe (although they are not).

Oct 19: Honolulu Star-Advertiser news report describes new Department of Interior policy toward Native Hawaiians. Ken Conklin online comments focusing on alleged "trust relationship"

Oct 21: Honolulu newspaper editorial supports Dept of Interior unilaterally proclaimed new policy to "consult" with "Native Hawaiians" as though they are a federally recognized Indian tribe. Ken Conklin online comments

Oct 24: Hayden Burgess, alias Poka Laenui, describes his communication through OHA to the Dept of Interior bureaucracy regarding new DOI policy of consultation with Native Hawaiians -- he says the U.S. illegally ousted the Hawaiian monarchy and took over Hawaii; so U.S. first action should be to withdraw from Hawaii and restore Hawaii's status as an independent nation.

Oct 25: Federal government charges Hawaiian sovereignty group member Lindsey Kinney of the Occupied Forces Hawaii Army of threatening to behead Waianae boat harbor master. The "Army" website motto is “Don’t delay, Repatriate today, To the Country of Hawaii.” Kinney, through an attorney, tried to assert that he is not subject to U.S. laws due to the illegal occupation and overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom.

Oct 29: Leon Siu: Secretary of Interior new policy to consult with Native Hawaiians is the newest scam to put Hawaiians into the American Indian tribal-nation corral without actually saying so.

November 12, 2022: Leon Siu: The United States never lawfully acquired or extinguished the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Therefore, the US submission of Hawaii to the UN decolonization list was an act of fraud ... and against General Assembly Resolution 66, constitutes an international wrongful act by the United Nations.

Nov 16: U.S. House Rules Committee holds hearing on proposal to allow Cherokee tribe to send official Delegate to Congress on equal status with Delegates from Guam, American Samoa, and other Territories. 2 news reports, Speaker Pelosi official news release, links to detailed heavily footnoted legal analysis by committee attorney and to YouTube video of 2 hr 33 min hearing.

Nov. 18: University of Hawaii plan for the 10-campus University of Hawaii system prioritizes ‘kuleana to Hawaiians’

Nov 19: Leon Siu, Aupuni Update, describes the historic La Ku'oko'a Hawaiian Kingdom Independence Day holiday (November 28, 1843) being revived nowadays as a way of asserting that Hawaii remains an independent nation.

Nov 24: (Thanksgiving): New Iolani Palace Exhibit Will Describe The Hawaiian Kingdomʻs Overthrow Expected to be completed in 2024, it will be the first major new exhibit the palace has undertaken in decades. [It will embellish the way the Palace is used as propaganda for Hawaiian sovereignty]

Nov 25-27: Hawaiian Independence Day events on O'ahu [Holiday of the Hawaiian Kingdom being revived and celebrated for political purpose to assert continuing independence nowadays and/or to push for action to make Hawaii secede from USA or to make USA withdraw from Hawaii]

Nov 27: Blockbuster lengthy headline article in Sunday Honolulu newspaper, in cooperation with ProPublica, entitled "NATIVE HAWAIIANS are still waiting for the military to remove unexploded bombs" on land used for military training in World War 2. Portrays Native Hawaiians as the only victims; portrays U.S. military as their evil victimizer. Tear-jerker article timed to arouse public sympathy ahead of 2023 legislature, authored by same "reporter" who wrote the series one year ago about U.S. and State of Hawaii malfeasance regarding federally promised DHHL "Hawaiian Homelands."

December 10, 2022: Leon Siu, Free Hawaii blog Ke Aupuni Update reviews history of major U.S. military involvement in Hawaii following 12/07/41 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, decades-long use of Kaho'olawe island as target for training military personnel how to drop bombs, recent repeated poisoning of water at Red Hill, successful resistance to building 30-meter telescope atop Mauna Kea.

Dec 15 with Dec 14: The Holoi a nalo Wahine ‘Oiwi report — the first of its kind undertaken by the Missing and Murdered Native Hawaiian Women and Girls Task Force — analyzes data from various social service agencies and other sources with the aim of better identifying causes behind issues like sex trafficking, sexual exploitation and domestic violence, which appear to affect disproportionate numbers of Native Hawaiian women and girls. ... report found that a majority of sex trafficking cases involved Native Hawaiian girls trafficked in Waikiki — and that 38% of arrests made for soliciting sex from 13-year-olds, through Operation Keiki Shield, have been active-duty military personnel.
Online comments and statistical analysis by Ken Conklin and Andrew Walden

Dec 20: Editorial calls for "A sharper focus on sex trafficking" and proclaims "Native Hawaiians are disproportionately represented among the girls in the islands who go missing and are the targets of sex trafficking."
Online statistical analysis by Ken Conklin

December 31, 2022: Hawaii Supreme Court forces Dexter Kaiama (Attorney General for Keanu Sai's Kingdom of Hawaii) to give up law license. Ian Lind's blog summarizes repeated failure of Kaiama's theory that federal and state courts have no jurisdiction in civil or criminal matters because Hawaii’s annexation to the U.S. in 1898 wasn’t legal, the Hawaiian Kingdom continues to exist as a nation pursuant to international law and has been under a prolonged and illegal occupation, leaving Kingdom law still in effect.

END OF INDEX

==================

FULL TEXT OF ITEMS LISTED IN THE INDEX, FROM SEPTEMBER 1 THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2022

https://www.ilind.net/2022/09/04/two-facing-felony-charges-in-2019-takeover-of-oha-offices-likely-to-raise-a-sovereignty-defense/
Ian Lind blog Sunday 9/04/22

Two facing felony charges in 2019 takeover of OHA offices likely to raise a sovereignty defense

It’s been 3-1/2 years since a dozen men wearing red shirts identifying themselves as federal marshals from the Kauai group known as the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi, stormed into the main office of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, assaulted at least two OHA employees and threatened others, and announced they were there to seize the agency’s assets and arrest “corrupt” trustees. There was a two-hour standoff before police finally gained control of the situation.

Now, after several delays, the trial of six men facing felony charges stemming from the January 17, 2019 incident is scheduled to get underway on September 19. Five–Sadhu-Bhusana Bott, Jordan Faletogo, Ene Faletogo, also known as Ene Faletoga, Rheece Kahawai, and Peter Laban, also known as Peter Laman– are each charged with two counts of kidnapping, a Class A felony, and a single count of 2nd degree assault, a Class C felony. A sixth person, Remedio Dabaluz, is charged with 2nd degree asssault, also a Class C felony. Under Hawaii law, Class A felonies have a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted, while Class C felonies carry a five year maximum.

At least two of the defendants appear likely to defend themselves by arguing that as federal marshals for the Sovereign Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi, they are beyond the jurisdiction of the state courts. Earlier this summer, two defendants, Dabaluz and Jordan Faletogo, asked to dismiss their attorneys and represent themselves in the upcoming trial.

Emmanuel G. Guerrero, who had been representing Dabaluz, stated in a declaration filed in court that “from the inception, the attorney and client have had differing views as to the legal strategy to pursue, and whether the defenses are legally viable, and that the differences are irreconcilable.” Debaluz’ request was approved by Circuit Court Judge Kevin T. Morikone. In an August 10 order, Morikone said he had advised Dabaluz of the dangers and disadvantages of representing himself, and also advised that “he cannot later claim that his self-representation was ineffective.” After determining Dabaluz was aware of the issues, Morikone granted his request to represent himself.

In a separate written declaration filed with the court, Dwight Lum, the attorney representing Jordan Faletogo, said he had a meeting with Faletogo on August 25 “in which it became apparent that we had divergent views of the legal strategy to pursue in regards to this case,” and that Faletogo contacted him the following day saying he wanted to represent himself. Lum’s motion to withdraw and allow Faletogo to take over his own defense was filed last week and is pending.

It seems likely that both Dabaluz and Jordan Faletogo likely intend to argue the Hawaiian Kingdom Constitution, and international laws, protect officials of the Sovereign Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi, including its “federal marshalls,” from such charges. It sounds like a dead-end argument from a legal standpoint, but believers tend to disagree.

According to the indictment, all defendants except Dabaluz face the possiblity of an extended term of imprisonment if they are convicted and sentenced on two or more counts, thereby becoming “multiple offenders.” Ene Faletogo, according to the indictment, may also be subject to an extended term as a “persistent offender” because he was previously convicted of two or more felonies as an adult.

------------------

Ken Conklin submits 53-page testimony, regarding scoping for an environmental impact statement, to National Science Foundation and NASA concerning the proposed Thirty-Meter telescope project on Mauna Kea. Testimony is intended to debunk and discredit two racially divisive and politically diversionary claims asserted by TMT opponents. The false claims are: (1) Native Hawaiians, as a group, regard Mauna Kea as a sacred place which would be desecrated by TMT; (2) Native Hawaiians are an indigenous people whose genealogical relationship to Hawaii's 'aina (land, sea, air) gives them an inherent right to govern Hawaii and especially to have decision-making political power over land-use decisions.

Testimony is available on a webpage "TMT Mauna Kea testimony September 2022" at
https://www.angelfire.com/big11a/TMTtstmnySept2022.html

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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2022/09/ke-aupuni-update-september-2022-little.html
Free Hawaii blog Saturday September 10, 2022

KE AUPUNI UPDATE

Little White Lies

I’ve mentioned before, this famous quote of South African anti-apartheid activist, Stephen Biko: “The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” If the oppressor can get those they are oppressing to believe certain lies, then the oppressor secures his control.

And it’s not only big lies like “Hawaii was annexed” or “Hawaii is the 50th state of the U.S.” or Hawaiians are Americans”, but a lot of little “white lies” that constitute death by a thousand daily cuts. Every day, I still hear the automatic, knee-jerk use of the word, “mainland” when referring to the United States. This is one of the most insidious examples of group-conditioning. But there are many more, “colonial” white lies embedded in our sub-conscious intended to erase and replace our true identity with a foreign one. We may say “We are not American!” and not realize our minds are still caught in the lie of the American dream (or nightmare rat-race) where the prime objective in life is to accumulate a lot of money and power. We know the drill: we can be happy if we get jobs so we can earn money so we can get a place for our family, and buy food imported from “the mainland”, and smile at the tourists, because their money provides the money for our jobs, so we can get a place...

A couple weeks ago, there was a news article about a “shocking” decline in enrollment of Hawaiian students at the University of Hawaii. While I believe higher education is a good thing and Hawaiians have made huge strides because of it, the knee-jerk reaction was to imply the decline of Hawaiian student enrollment as a an alarming and tragic trend. But did anyone stop to think that maybe some of our young Hawaiians don’t see the track of Western higher education for economic success in the colonizers world as something they should blindly pursue? Especially since believing the “white lies” over and over have led to more disenfranchisement, more poverty, more houselessness, more frustration and despair for Hawaiians…

The hundred thirty year long and painful journey from the “overthrow”, to ”annexation”, to “statehood”, to the Koko Head evictions, to the protests at Kalama Valley, Kaho’olawe, Waiahole-Waikane, Hilo Airport, etc., etc. to OHA, to UH Hawaiian Studies, to the “sovereignty movement”, to the “independence movement”, to more aloha ʻāina cofrontations, more evictions, more arrests and incarcerations… culminating in Kū Kiaʻi Mauna and the rise of the Lāhui... has been a journey of separating the lies from the truth.

Yes, there are many benefits from the Western ways we can use, but to really free our nation, we have to free ourselves of the oppressor’s mindset, we have to think clearly for ourselves and apply our ways to how we want to live. We must be guided by the ways and core values of our kūpuna... aloha ke Akua, aloha ʻāina, mālama pono, kōkua, lōkahi, and so forth. a mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at
 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.

SIGN THIS PETITION
 Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! He was the president who turned Hawaii from a peaceful, neutral country into a major hub of America’s war machine. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too!
TinyURL.com/AlohaOeMcKinley

PLEASE KŌKUA
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort. To contribute, go to:
• GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
• PayPal – use account email: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!

Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National

--------------------

http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2022/09/ke-aupuni-update-september-2022-biden.html
Free Hawaii blog September 24, 2022

Ke Aupuni Update

Biden stumbles onto Ukraine-Hawaii parallel

I’ve been in New York observing the opening week of the United Nations General Assembly. Of all the speeches, the most intriguing (and spooky) was US President Joe Biden pontificating about the despicable acts of others without realizing that the US itself did/does the very same thing.

Below is, verbatim, the opening segment of remarks by US President Biden to the UN General Assembly just three days ago, regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Following are the same remarks, adapted slightly, to fit what someone (Joe Blow) might say about the United States’ invasion of Hawaii, January 17, 1893. The parallel is uncanny.

Joe Biden — “Let us speak plainly. A permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbor, [and] attempted to erase a sovereign state from the map.

Joe Blow — Let us speak plainly. A prominent member of the Family of Nations (US) invaded its friend and neighbor (Hawaii) and proceeded to erase a sovereign state from the map.

Joe Biden — “Russia has shamelessly violated the core tenets of the United Nations Charter — no more important than the clear prohibition against countries taking the territory of their neighbor by force.

Joe Blow — The US has shamelessly violated the core tenets of the Law of Nations — no more important than the clear prohibition against countries taking the territory of their neighbor by force.

Joe Biden — “Again, just today, President Putin has made overt nuclear threats against Europe and a reckless disregard for the responsibilities of the non-proliferation regime.

Joe Blow — Again, even today, America’s overt military presence makes Hawaii a prime nuclear target with reckless disregard for the responsibilities of a peaceful regime.

Joe Biden — “Now Russia is calling — calling up more soldiers to join the fight. And the Kremlin is organizing a sham referenda (sp) to try to annex parts of Ukraine, an extremely significant violation of the U.N. Charter.

Joe Blow — Now the US is calling — calling up more devastating weapons with which to fight. And Washington organized a sham referendum to make Hawaii a US state, an extremely significant violation of International Law.

Joe Biden — “This world should see these outrageous acts for what they are. Putin claims he had to act because Russia was threatened. But no one threatened Russia, and no one other than Russia sought conflict.

Joe Blow — This world should see these outrageous acts for what they are. McKinley claimed he had to act because Spain (or Japan or China) was a threat to the US’ interests in the Pacific. But no one threatened the US, and no one other than the US sought conflict.

Joe Biden — “This war is about extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state, plain and simple, and Ukraine’s right to exist as a people. Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should not — that should make your blood run cold.

Joe Blow — This occupation is about extinguishing Hawaii’s right to exist as a sovereign state, plain and simple, and Hawaii’s right to exist as a people. Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should make your blood run cold.

----

So America (at least Joe Biden) does know it’s wrong to take over another country and try to obliterate its identity! And they know the remedy for such blatant violation is to stop doing it and pull out! Hey, that’s all we’re asking!

Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.

SIGN THIS PETITION
Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! He was the president who turned Hawaii from a peaceful, neutral country into a major hub of America’s war machine. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too!
TinyURL.com/AlohaOeMcKinley

“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!

Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National

-------------------

http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2022/10/ke-aupuni-update-october-2022-burning.html
Free Hawaii blog Friday October 7, 2022
Ke Aupuni Update

Burning the Papal Bulls, Not Just Symbolically

Every year at this time, while the U.S. celebrates Columbus’/Discoverers’/Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we ask people to hold a ceremony called, The Burning of the Papal Bulls, to reject colonialism.

The "Papal Bulls” were edicts issued by several Roman Catholic popes, that set in motion 600 years of colonialism, the forceful spread of western civilization, religion and culture, often resulting in atrocities against native peoples. This included the violent taking of lands (even whole continents), displacement, genocide, the rampant plundering of resources, and wanton environmental destruction.

Today, colonial attitudes and practices still dominate the world’s culture, economy, and politics. Like it or not, colonial doctrines continue to drive the mechanisms of global society. Much of today’s civil unrest is pushback against the tyranny of nearly 600 years of colonialism.

In December 2020, the United Nations (a club consisting of colonial countries and their former colonies) issued a declaration for 2021-2030 as the Fourth International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism. Wow! Sounds great! The UN says it wants to eradicate colonialism! But wait! What’s this? Fourth decade? What happened in the first three decades? Sadly, nothing!

Like the infamous 1993 U.S. Apology for the taking of Hawaii, the previous three UN declarations to end colonialism, ended up as just lip service.

However this time something is stirring. Last year, 2021 the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva adopted a resolution A/48/7 –titled, “the negative legacies of colonialism on the enjoyment of human rights.” And rather than let it sit on the shelf, just last week, the Council, at the UN’s Palais des Nations, Geneva, conducted a special panel discussion on the matter. I was there in the main assembly hall for that session. Statements by the member states, experts and civil society were impressive in their unequivocal condemnation of colonialism and its continuing negative effects.

The cry was loud and clear: Colonialism must end! Coupled with the General Assembly’s Fourth Declaration for the eradication of colonialism, and a recent assertion by the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, this opens the door to jumpstart and seriously overhaul the UN’s broken-down decolonization process. If this is pushed, it could give a tremendous boost to the many peoples and nations that had fallen by the wayside when freedom was being dispensed. It can also correct the 1959 manipulation of the UN’s decolonization process that made Hawaii and Alaska captive “states” of America.

Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.

SIGN THIS PETITION
Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! He was the president who turned Hawaii from a peaceful, neutral country into a major hub of America’s war machine. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! TinyURL.com/AlohaOeMcKinley

PLEASE KŌKUA
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort. To contribute, go to:

• GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
• PayPal – use account email: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net

Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National

------------------

https://www.ilind.net/2022/10/17/defendant-in-2019-invasion-of-oha-office-claims-state-court-has-no-jurisdiction/
Ian Lind blog Monday October 17, 2022

Defendant in 2019 invasion of OHA office claims state court has no jurisdiction

Another of the defendants facing felony charges stemming from their storming the headquarters of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in January 2019 is claiming to be beyond the jurisdiction of the state courts because he is a citizen and official of the “Kingdom of Atooi.”

Ene Faletogo, who faces two counts of kidnapping, a Class A felony, and a single count of second degree assault, a Class C felony, says the court lacks jurisdiction over him. Faletogo “asserts that he is a sovereign minister of the Kingdom of Atooi,” and “the Kingdom of Atooi is not subject to the jurisdiction of this court,” according to an October 4th declaration filed in court by Nelson Goo, Faletogo’s court appointed attorney.

Goo’s declaration accompanies a motion asking the court to allow Jahmana M.J. Viloria to appear in court as Faletogo’s personal spokesman and representative to argue the issue of lack of jurisdiction. The declaration does not include any relevant information on Viloria’s training, experience, education, or background. An entry on Linkedin.com identifies Mele (Jahmana) Viloria as CEO of Purple Corn Productions, and a musician and engineer. The listing says Viloria has served as director Of strategic communications for the “Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi/Hawaiian Kingdom” since 2018.

A legal defense based on denying the court’s jurisdiction over the defendant is pretty much a dead end, legally speaking. The Hawaii Supreme Court examined several elements of the sovereignty defense in a 2014 opinion (State v. Armitage). In its decision, the court noted that, contrary to a popular belief in sovereignty circles, “individuals claiming to be citizens of an independent sovereign entity are not exempt from the state’s laws.”

“‘International law’ takes precedence over state statutes in only limited circumstances,” the court held. “These circumstances are not present when the dispute is concerned with domestic rights and duties.”

In addition, according to the court, the state “has a legitimate interest in the conduct of persons within its jurisdiction, and their conduct is amenable to reasonable state regulation, regardless of ‘international law.’”

In a series of footnotes, decision highlighted findings of fact agreed to in earlier, lower court proceedings, including:

33. ‘International law’ takes precedence over state statutes in only limited circumstances. These circumstances are not present when the dispute is concerned with domestic rights and duties.” State v. Marley, 54 Haw. 450, 467-68, 508 P.2d 1095, 1107 (1973).

34. The State of Hawaii has a legitimate interest in the conduct of persons within its jurisdiction, and their conduct is amenable to reasonable state regulation, regardless of “international law.” [Id.] at 468-69[, 508 P.2d at 1107] [I citing Skiriotes v. State of Florida, 313 U.S. 69 (1941)D].

Faletogo’s apparent claim to diplomatic immunity also appears to be without merit.

In a similar case involving a claim to diplomatic immunity based on Hawaiian sovereignty, it was noted that such immunity first requires that the United States Government has recognized the foreign state, as well as the authority of the individual to represent that foreign government. The Kingdom of Atooi lacks such recognition, and so Faletogo cannot claim to be protected as a representative.

All of this might make for good political theater, but it’s an argument that is all but dead on arrival, and will get nowhere in court.

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https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDOI/bulletins/3330734
U.S. Department of the Interior sent this bulletin at 10/18/2022 04:02 PM EDT

Interior Department Announces Development of First-Ever Consultation Policy with Native Hawaiian Community

WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior today announced that, for the first time in the agency’s history, it will require formal consultation with the Native Hawaiian Community. New policies and procedures, subject to formal consultation, will further affirm and honor the special political and trust relationship between the United States and the Native Hawaiian Community.

“The Interior Department is committed to working with the Native Hawaiian Community on a government-to-sovereign basis to address concerns related to self-governance, Native Hawaiian trust resources, and other Native Hawaiian rights,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “A new and unprecedented consultation policy will help support Native Hawaiian sovereignty and self-determination as we continue to uphold the right of the Native Hawaiian Community to self-government.”

The draft consultation policy and procedures seek to, among other things:

* Bolster the Department’s consultation efforts to encourage early, robust, interactive, pre-decisional, informative and transparent consultation;

* Require that Department staff undergo training before participating in consultation;

* Establish bi-annual meetings between the Secretary and Native Hawaiian Community leaders to consult on matters of mutual interest;

* Clarify that the Department’s decision-makers must invite Native Hawaiian Community leaders to engage in consultation; and

* Require a record of consultation.

The draft requirements help further the spirit and intent of President Biden’s “Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships,” which outlines the Administration’s efforts to engage Indigenous communities early and often in federal decision-making.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/26/memorandum-on-tribal-consultation-and-strengthening-nation-to-nation-relationships/

The Office of Native Hawaiian Relations (ONHR) will host two virtual consultations on Thursday, Nov. 10 from 9 to 11 a.m. HST and Monday, Dec. 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. HST to gather feedback from the Native Hawaiian Community on the new policy. ONHR discharges the Secretary's responsibilities for matters related to Native Hawaiians and serves as a conduit for the Department’s field activities in Hawaiʻi. More information is available on ONHR’s website.
https://doi.gov/hawaiian/doi-consults-on-its-native-hawaiian-community-consultation-policy-and-procedures

###

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** The news release is copied and further elaborated as follows at

https://doi.gov/hawaiian/doi-consults-on-its-native-hawaiian-community-consultation-policy-and-procedures

The Department welcomes the input of the Native Hawaiian Community on these two draft DM chapters and the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations invites the Native Hawaiian Community to participate in one or both of the below virtual sessions.

Thursday, November 10, 2022
9 a.m. – 11 a.m. Hawaiʻi Standard Time
Please register in advance at:
https://blm.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_G_6B0ICcS36_O6yFV3YBkg(link is external)

Monday, December 5, 2022
6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Hawaiʻi Standard Time
Please register in advance at:
https://blm.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_ib9I63OZTTmKx8PxZpPaWQ(link is external)

Written input regarding the proposed DM chapters is welcomed and should be submitted to
doi_onhr_hhl@ios.doi.gov.
Written input must be received by 5:59 p.m. Hawaiʻi Standard Time on Monday, December 19, 2022. If you have any questions, please contact us at
doi_onhr_hhl@ios.doi.gov.

Proposed DM Chapters

Proposed 513 DM 1 - Department of the Interior Policy on Consultation with the Native Hawaiian Community
https://doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/513-dm-1-oes-clean-508.pdf

Proposed 513 DM 2 - Procedures for Consultation with the Native Hawaiian Community
https://doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/513-dm-2-oes-clean-508.pdf

Related Resources

DOI’s Departmental Manual
https://www.doi.gov/elips

ONHR’s Standard Operating Procedures for Consultation with the Native Hawaiian Community
https://doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/20201022-consultation-appendices-sop-onhr_0.pdf

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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/10/19/hawaii-news/feds-consultation-process-will-put-native-hawaiians-on-par-with-indian-tribes/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Wednesday October 19, 2022

Feds’ consultation process will put Native Hawaiians on par with Indian tribes

by Timothy Hurley

The Department of the Interior announced Tuesday it will require a process of formal consultation with the Native Hawaiian community on any actions it proposes that have a substantial direct effect on the community.

The effort, described in a set of proposed policies and procedures, is a first for the federal agency and puts Native Hawaiians on par with Indian tribes without requiring the community to be a formal tribe.

“New policies and procedures, subject to formal consultation, will further affirm and honor the special political and trust relationship between the United States and the Native Hawaiian Community,” the department declared in its announcement.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the department is committed to working with the Native Hawaiian community on a government-to- sovereign basis to address concerns related to self- governance, Native Hawaiian trust resources and other Native Hawaiian rights issues. “A new and unprecedented consultation policy will help support Native Hawaiian sovereignty and self-determination as we continue to uphold the right of the Native Hawaiian Community to self-government,” Haaland said in a news release.

The proposal, according to the department, is in line with President Joe Biden’s “Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships,” which outlines the administration’s efforts to engage Indigenous communities in federal decision-making “early and often.”

To hear about what Native Hawaiians think of the proposal, Interior’s Office of Native Hawaiian Relations will host virtual consultations 9-11 a.m. Nov. 10 and 6-8 p.m. Dec. 5.

The announcement was welcomed Tuesday by Native Hawaiians.

Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chair Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey called the news “historic” and “an important step in our people’s struggle for self-governance.”

The department’s commitment to work with Native Hawaiians on matters of mutual interest acknowledges the special political and trust relationship between the United States and the Native Hawaiian community, Lindsey said in a statement. “This is very welcome news and we mahalo Secretary Deb Haaland and President Biden for their continuous efforts to involve and engage Indigenous communities and provide us a voice in federal decision- making. We have much to contribute when discussing Native Hawaiian trust resources and Native Hawaiian rights, and we look forward to the work ahead,” she said.

Honolulu Council member Esther Kia‘aina said formal consultation puts the ability of the Native Hawaiians to communicate with the federal government on a whole new level. “I’m excited for this,” said Kia‘aina, who previously served as assistant secretary for insular affairs in the Interior Department.

With wording about sovereignty and self-determination, Interior’s news release evoked memories of the series of meetings held in the islands eight years ago, when the department asked Hawaiians what kind of a relationship the U.S. government should have with a future Native Hawaiian government.

Thousands turned out to essentially tell the department to butt out, loudly saying any involvement by U.S. officials to create a new relationship with a future Native Hawaiian government violated Hawaiians’ right to self-determination.

This time it’s different, said Healani Sonoda-Pale of Ka Lahui Hawai‘i. “This is not about federal recognition,” she said. Rather, it’s coming from Biden’s executive order that calls for consultation with all Native tribes, she said, and the Interior Department is including Native Hawaiians. “Any time there is a federal endeavor on Hawaiian lands, Kanaka Maoli should be consulted,” Sonoda-Pale said. The state government, she said, has shown it is not looking out for Native Hawaiians’ best interest. “On the contrary, Kanaka Maoli are struggling in Hawaii,” she said. “This is another avenue or arena where the Kanaka Maoli people can voice their concerns to the U.S.”

The draft consultation policy requires the department to engage in an early, robust and transparent consultation, notifying any number of Native Hawaiian organizations on a list with some 120 groups. It requires department staffers to undergo training before participating in consultation and calls for biannual meetings between the secretary and Native Hawaiian community leaders to consult on matters of mutual interest.

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, released a statement regarding the proposed consultation policy. “This is a very big deal and a vital first step,” he said. “One of the most important principles in policymaking, especially as it relates to Native communities, is: ‘nothing about me, without me.’ This policy update recognizes that consultation with Native Hawaiians is an essential aspect of decision-making for the federal government and key to upholding its trust responsibility. We have long way to go, but all progress starts with listening.”

** Ken Conklin's online comments

It seems nice and polite for the U.S. government to ask NH "What would you like us to do to you" before they actually do it. The trouble is in the DOI statement's second paragraph talking about the alleged "sovereignty" and self-determination of a racial group, catering to racial separatism and ethnic nationalism.

The U.S. Department of Interior has no authority to single out a racial group and endow it with governmental authority. How about Dept of Interior making Black activists happy by artificially creating a Nation of New Africa containing all 40 million Black people in America and forcing the federal and state governments to "consult" with them and influence decision-making on any issue affecting them? And who would speak for that group?

There are several official memorandums written over the years by high officials of the Department of Interior specifically focused on the alleged trust relationship. The problem is that the memorandums change from affirming to denying and back to affirming the trust relationship, depending entirely whether the writer is working for a Democrat or Republican administration. Democrats always assert the trust relationship exists; Republicans say there is no trust relationship -- just as Democrats pushed the Akaka bill for 13 years while Republicans blocked it. In other words, whether the trust relationship exists is a purely political assertion, not a clear and convincing legal conclusion. The timing of those memorandums is also highly politicized, occurring at the end of one party's governance and followed by the opposite assertion near the beginning of the next administration of the opposite political party.

On January 19, 1993, the last full day of the Republican administration of President George H.W. Bush (the elder), Thomas L. Sansonetti, Solicitor General of the Department of Interior, issued a 20-page official Opinion (Memorandum number M-36978) that there is no federal trust relationship with Native Hawaiians. On page 20 his concluding paragraph said "For the reasons discussed above, we conclude that the United States is not a trustee for native Hawaiians. We further conclude that the HHCA [Hawaiian Homes Commission Act] did not create a fiduciary responsibility in any party, the United States, the Territory of Hawaii, or the State of Hawaii. Deputy Solicitor Ferguson's opinion of August 27, 1979, is superseded and overruled to the extent that it is inconsistent with this memorandum.""

But later that same year, on November 15, 1993, after Democrat Bill Clinton had assembled his cabinet and subcabinet officials, the new Solicitor General of the Department of Interior, John D. Leshy, issued a one-page un-numbered Opinion formally withdrawing the Sansonetti Opinion without giving good legal reasons why. Leshy's Opinion was issued on November 15 to coincide with the joint resolution apologizing to ethnic Hawaiians for the U.S. role in the overthrow of Hawaii's monarchy, which passed the Senate on October 27, passed the House on November 15, and was signed by President Clinton on November 23, 1993.

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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/10/21/editorial/our-view/editorial-hawaiians-gain-from-federal-plan/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Friday October 21, 2022, EDITORIAL

Hawaiians gain from federal plan

The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced that it will develop a formal “Native Hawaiian community consultation” policy. The announcement marks a substantial advance in Interior’s commitment to incorporate Hawaiians’ input in actions affecting them.

The significance is in Interior’s affirming an official dialogue pipeline between the federal government and Hawaiians, regardless of the existence of a government body that speaks for all Hawaiians. “This chapter affirms and honors the special political and trust relationship between the United States and the Native Hawaiian community, characterized as a government-to-sovereign relationship,” Interior’s announcement states.

While the consultation policy affirms Hawaiians’ place at the table, it explicitly does not give Hawaiians new powers, and applies only to actions undertaken by Interior. What it does do is require Hawaiian input equal to that specified by federal policy for “Indian” tribes. The consultation requirement would apply to policies or actions with “substantial direct effects” on Hawaiians, including regulations or proposed legislation, as well as consideration of “the distribution of power and responsibilities” between the federal government and Hawaiians.

Interior officials will also be required to consult with Native Hawaiians on any issues that might affect their ancestral lands, water and cultural resources.

Carmen Hulu Lindsey, chair of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs board, describes it as “a victory in the fight for Native Hawaiian sovereignty and self-determination,” in that it “confirms and respects the special political and trust relationship” between the U.S. and Native Hawaiians.

The final language of the policy and the particulars of the mandates it may create are being developed, and this will also require Hawaiian input. Interior’s Office of Native Hawaiian Relations will host online meetings on Nov. 10 and Dec. 5; the draft policy and meeting registration links are posted at 808ne.ws/consult.

This significant step forward by Interior comes at a time when Native Hawaiian organizations are increasingly vocal about having input, at a minimum.

The Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA), for example, is creating its own list of potential Hawaiian Homes commissioners who could be appointed by the incoming governor to be part of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) governing body.

“What we’re saying is that shouldn’t we have a say,” said Mike Kahikina, a SCHHA founding member who served eight years on the Hawaiian Homes Commission, in supporting homesteaders’ right to be involved in decision-making. “We like take over our own trust, and our purpose is to get rid of the waitlist, period.”

SCHHA also showed its determination to be heard by reaching out to Congressman Kai Kahele and the Department of the Interior, questioning DHHL’s authority to extend long-term land leases on Hawaiian Homelands property. The objections prompted Interior to step in and assert some control over DHHL actions.

Meanwhile, OHA has pushed back over state restrictions on its land use at Kakaako Makai, and pushed successfully for additional funding derived from the state’s ceded lands.

And the nonprofit Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) has grown into an organization controlling grants and contributions of $70 million in 2021 — much of it COVID-19 pandemic relief programs — from just over $1 million annually in 2018. The group is now pressing to become a force in Hawaii’s tourism industry, vying with the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau for a multimillion-dollar tourism contract for U.S. marketing.

At CNHA’s annual conference this year, which drew about 1,700 in July, CNHA CEO Kuhio Lewis told the Star-Advertiser it’s about “hulihia,” which means deep structural change. That change, which could bring Hawaiian viewpoints to the center of decision-making, may already have begun.

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** Ken's online comments:

".. affirms and honors the special political and trust relationship between the United States and the Native Hawaiian community, characterized as a government-to-sovereign relationship,” Interior’s announcement states."

There is no "trust relationship" between US govt & Native Hawaiian community. Yesterday I posted a series of detailed comments showing the history of that bogus claim. Under more than 3 Presidents, the General Counsel of U.S. Dept of Interior has issued a formal "Opinion" [i.e., law] about this issue, swinging between Republicans vs. Democrats from yes to no to yes. The bureaucrats can invent whatever they want, until the matter gets decided in court or by Congress. It's a political dispute, not settled law. The new DOI consultation policy is nice (ask people what they want before you force it upon them), but not necessary; and has no legal clout.

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On practical issues, get perspective: imagine DOI issued the same policy regarding the "Black community" (40 million people) or "Irish community." Who belongs to each? For mixed-race people, what percentage of ancestry is required to belong? Who has authority to speak for the community? Is it good policy for government to divide lands and people along racial/ethnic lines, creating conflict over which ones get how much at whose expense? Isn't there already enough hatred and divisiveness?

In the case of Indian tribes, the concept 1-2 centuries ago is that Indians are too stupid or backward to cope with modern laws or lifestyles, so Great White Father in Washington will take care of them & make decisions for them. They are peoples defeated in war or by treaty, and Congress can take their lands, make their laws, or break those treaties however it chooses. We put them in ghettos, feed them and give them blankets like a parent does for child. Does "Native Hawaiian community" like that?

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Here's how the so-called "trust relationship" got started and continues.

Monday while walking to work I see a beggar on sidewalk holding out his tin cup. Feeling sorry for him, or maybe that God wants me to give charity, I drop a dollar into beggar's cup.
Tuesday: same beggar and cup, and I drop in another dollar.
Wednesday: same thing.

Thursday I'm running late so I hurry by and do not drop anything into the cup. Beggar stands up, runs after me, shouts angrily into my face "Hey where's MY DOLLAR? You have established a trust relationship with me, and now you owe me a dollar every day.

In Hawaii, the Akaka bill 20 years ago said there were over 160 federal programs tossing money to Native Hawaiians; now we must formalize that trust relationship by creating a tribal government for them & more handouts forever. Today there are actually over a thousand such programs. But it's not enough. It will never be enough to make up for all the bad things you have done to us. Gimme, gimme.

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ttps://www.facebook.com/groups/605307049601602/posts/2818869451578673

This is the 2nd communication being sent to OHA which appears to be the liaison to the Department of the Interior for the consultation with Federal officials. I will be submitting more communications as we come closer to the dates for such consultation. I invite anyone with similar concerns to write to OHA and begin your expressions of concerns early and often. Mahalo 2nd Communication: Consultation with Federal Officials on relations between Native Hawaiian government, Native Hawaiians and the U.S. government

COMES NOW, POKA LAENUI, A HAWAIIAN NATIONAL AND NOT A U.S. CITIZEN. I concede no legitimacy to the U.S. government’s authority in Hawaii over the question of Hawaiian Nationals, over the territory of Hawaii, or over the governance of any subject matter properly within the province of the Hawaiian nation. Since the U.S. aggression against the nation of Hawaii in 1893, and the following colonization through a stepped transaction by the act of the American agent plenipotentiary John L. Stevens, the creation of the “provisional government of Hawaii”, the formation of the rigged “Constitutional Convention”, the creation of the Republic of Hawaii out of that rigged convention, the signing of a “Treaty of Annexation” with the U.S. which was never ratified according to its terms but circumvented by the Joint Resolution of Congress via the Newland Resolution, followed by the U.S. Organic Act incorporating the territory of Hawaii within the claim of U.S. possession, the U.S. has been in illegal occupation of the territory and in illegal claim of imposition of U.S. laws over Hawaiian nationals. The U.S. is obligated, as a consequences of its historical colonization as well as under international law and guided by its claim as being a civil society in the international community, to conduct its affairs with regards to Hawaii, in an honorable fashion requiring that it begins immediately to begin the process of decolonization, restoring to the Hawaiian nationals the power of self-determination over Hawaii and Hawaiian affairs.

The recent announcement that the U.S. government’s Interior Department is committed to working with the Native Hawaiian Community on a government-to-sovereign basis to address concerns related to self-governance, Native Hawaiian trust resources, and other Native Hawaiian rights, may appear generous on the part of the U.S. government, but it is nothing but an avoidance to the underlying criminality of the U.S. colonization and a distraction to Native Hawaiians and all Hawaiian nationals to our underlying rights under international law. The U.S. government has attracted American Indian Deb Holland to speak for it. Also attracted to support this “consultation” has been native Hawaiian and head of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey. But this will be nothing but a show if they do not first address the underlying criminality of colonization here in Hawaii – not only address but to begin the process of decolonization. This is done first by a clear admission of the illegality of U.S. presence in Hawaii, assumption of jurisdiction over Hawaii and Hawaiian nationals, and a commitment to a process of decolonization.

I think it only proper that I disclose my identity as a Hawaiian national. I am a native Hawaiian. But my racial extraction is secondary to my Hawaiian nationality. Like others of many other ethnic, national, religious, and cultural affiliation, we Hawaiian nationals come from many backgrounds, many professions, many walks of life. We are Hawaiian nationals simply because of our allegiance to the Hawaiian nation. We cover a wide array of backgrounds and experiences both within and outside of Hawaii. Many of us are veterans, follow from various religious faiths, and are from economic, educational, and social classes across these Hawaiian Islands. We are also from many places of Hawaii and of the world. Just as the Hawaiian national policy before the American aggression in 1893 which was to welcome and recognize the essential equality of all peoples and to incorporate them as citizens or subjects at their will, we follow a similar standard of Hawaiian nationality.

Aloha `aina. www.hawaiianperspectives.org/documents

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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/10/25/hawaii-news/kaneohe-man-pleads-not-guilty-after-alleged-beheading-threats/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Tuesday October 25, 2022

Kaneohe man pleads not guilty after alleged beheading threats

By Peter Boylan

A 43-year-old man entered a not-guilty plea Monday to federal allegations that he threatened to behead the Waianae Small Boat Harbor master, his wife and their friend following a dispute over nonpayment of $30,000 in mooring fees by the leader of a militant Hawaiian sovereignty group.

Lindsey Kinney, also known as “Cowboy,” who characterizes himself as a member of the Occupied Forces Hawaii Army, was charged Thursday by superseding indictment with two counts of interstate threat to injure, after he posted the threats on his Instagram and Facebook accounts in January.

The harbor master, a 17-year Army veteran, told Honolulu police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he believed Kinney “is a contract killer based on media reports about Kinney’s prior involvement with Michael Miske,” who is charged with racketeering and related crimes, including murder, according to federal court records.

Kinney’s trial is set for 9 a.m. Dec. 12 before U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson. His attorney, Cassandra L. Stamm, declined comment. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Nolan is prosecuting the case for the government and did not immediately reply to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser request for comment. If convicted, Kinney faces up to five years in federal prison on each count.

Based on social media postings and an FBI investigation, Occupied Forces Hawaii is a “a group of persons who identify themselves by military titles and ranks who describe their efforts as operations, don military uniforms, carry illegitimate military documents, and maintain their membership in a military organization.”

The charges are connected to the incident in Waianae and evidence uncovered in that investigation of a March 28 online threat to behead an elected official, a member of their security staff and another person. The superseding indictment does not identify the elected official.

The group’s website displays its motto, “Don’t delay, Repatriate today, To the Country of Hawaii.”

On Jan. 5 the harbor master attempted to serve a man identified in court records as Kinney’s “Associate 1” with a citation for owing the state about $30,000 resulting from nonpayment of mooring fees due to his unauthorized mooring of a sailboat he lived on moored in the harbor and from the state’s disposal of a sailboat previously owned by the man. “Associate 1” is a “colonel” of the Occupied Forces Hawaii who lives in Hilo.

While the harbor master and state Department of Land and Natural Resources officials approached the sailboat, “Associate I began yelling that the officials cannot provide him the written notice while his vessel is underway. During the interaction, Associate 1 acted hostile towards the officials” and called them a derogatory name, according to court documents.

The sailboat owner tried to report an “armed encounter” to the U.S. Coast Guard and later posted to his followers on social media asking them to identify the officials, including their home addresses, according to saved social media posts shared with the FBI by the harbor master’s wife.

Twelve days later, on Jan. 17 at about noon, Kinney allegedly posted on his Instagram accounts that he would cut off the heads of the harbor master, his wife and their friend and take them to the “gates,” according to court records. Three days after that, the harbor master told the FBI that Kinney posted a video stating that DLNR is part of a human trafficking ring and that Kinney will overthrow state government “and then be king,” according to federal court records. Among Kinney’s threats was a series of long posts, including video messages, threatening the harbor master and DLNR. He also posted threats on the victims’ social media pages. “All of you will reap what you sow … I’m sending each and everyone of u to the gates for … TREASON … your heads are mines … u going to the gates headless … as our father is waiting for u all patiently … one way trip … Aloha,” Kinney wrote, according to a sworn affidavit by an FBI agent who worked the case.

The harbor master and his wife told FBI agents that they felt threatened by Kinney’s posts and took them so seriously that they “locked their outdoor gates, kept loaded firearms ready and staged at the front door, and rehearsed security procedures with their children due to the threats and Kinney’s association with Michael Miske,” according to a federal criminal complaint.

During an April 19 detention hearing, Kinney, through an attorney, tried to assert that he is not subject to U.S. laws due to the illegal occupation and overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom. In a June 24 motion to have Kinney released, his attorney stated that Kinney was “not receiving his prescribed mental health medication while in custody, and this is adversely affecting his ability to assist in his defense,” and that he should be released into the custody of his mother, who agreed to sponsor him.

That motion was denied.

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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2022/10/ke-aupuni-update-november-2022.html
Free Hawaii blog Saturday October 29, 2022

Ke Aupuni Update

“Consultation” – new bait, same trap

The newest proposal from Washington D.C. to set up a “Consultation” platform to discuss relations between U.S. Federal Officials, Native Hawaiians and, possibly, a Native Hawaiian government, is the newest scam to put Hawaiians into the American Indian tribal-nation corral without actually saying so. They are avoiding the tribal nation term since we absolutely trashed that concept over the past 20 years.

“Consultation” sounds good but is just another loaded term like “listening sessions” of the ‘DOI-rule-change’ of 2015… and the TMT “public input” of the past few years. With this scheme, whatever decisions the U.S. make, they can say native Hawaiians were “consulted”, implying that native Hawaiians approved.

The U.S. continues to treat their 125-year-long illegal occupation of the Hawaiian Islands as a domestic, Native Hawaiian-American-Tribal problem, instead of an international dispute between sovereign nations. Any honest effort to settle the dispute requires the U.S. to speak with us on an equal level: sovereign nation to sovereign nation, not “consulting” with a bogus Native Hawaiian-American tribe.

The illegal presence of the United States in the Hawaiian Islands is a gross international violation. It demands an international remedy. The only talks necessary are those to negotiate the peaceful, orderly withdrawal of the United States from the Hawaiian Islands; reparations to repair the damage; and the normalization and resumption of friendly relations.

I say, sure go ahead and hold these “consultations”. They will provide excellent opportunities to vent and scold these American government “listeners.” Weʻve gotten very good at it.

As long as we do not fool ourselves into thinking these “consultations” are legally binding or will make any substantive difference; and as long as we reserve our rights and speak as Hawaiian nationals, not Native (U.S.) Hawaiians; and as long as we address the real elephant in the room, the illegal U.S. presence in the Hawaiian Islands; and as long as we maintain Kapu Aloha... this could be fun!

Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.

PLEASE KŌKUA
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort. To contribute, go to:
• GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
• PayPal – use account email: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!

Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National

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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2022/11/ke-aupuni-update-november-2022.html
Free Hawaii blog Saturday November 12, 2022
Ke Aupuni update

International wrongful act by the UN

In 1946, the newly formed United Nations decided to identify peoples and nations that had not yet “attained a full measure of self-government” and to assist them in attaining self-government — in other words, to undergo decolonization. UN Members identified and submitted their colonies, possessions, and occupied territories — about 100 of them — to the UN list of Non-Self-Governing Territories (NSGT).

The United States put Alaska, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and Hawaii on the list. But Hawaii didn’t belong there.

By 1946, the Hawaiian Kingdom had already “attained a full measure of self-government” over 100 years before! The Hawaiian Kingdom was a formally recognized self-governing sovereign State, a subject of international law under bi-lateral and multi-lateral treaties with dozens of sovereign States, including five treaties with the United States. The Hawaiian Kingdom was a member of the Universal Postal Union; and had 137 embassies and consulates in 26 countries around the world!

The Hawaiian Kingdom was undeniably a country that had already “attained a full measure of self-government” and had done so over 100 years prior to the birth of the United Nations itself. The Hawaiian Islands did not belong on the decolonization list.

The United States never lawfully acquired or extinguished the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Therefore, the US submission of Hawaii to the UN decolonization list was an act of fraud. And, inscribing Hawaii to the NSGT list in contradiction to Chapter XI of the United Nations Charter defining a Non-Self-Governing Territory, and against General Assembly Resolution 66, constitutes an international wrongful act by the United Nations.

That means the UN is complicit in the ongoing suppression of the Hawaiian Kingdom as a sovereign State; the destruction of Hawaiian nationality; the forced imposition of U.S. citizenship; the displacement and impoverishment of the Hawaiian people; the pillaging of lands and resources; the infliction of foreign economic, social and cultural systems; and turning a peaceful, neutral country into a menacing U.S. war machine, placing the people of Hawaii in imminent danger of annihilation by enemies of the U.S.

The Hawaiian Kingdom calls upon the United Nations, its member States, and the international community to stop supporting the United States’ illegal occupation of the Hawaiian Islands and to assist in the reinstatement of the Hawaiian Islands as a sovereign, independent, peaceful, neutral State, so we can normalize and resume proper international relations among the nations.

Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.

SIGN THIS PETITION
Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! He was the president who turned Hawaii from a peaceful, neutral country into a major hub of America’s war machine. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too!
TinyURL.com/AlohaOeMcKinley

Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National

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** Ken Conklin's note: The following items are focused on what might seem an obscure "down in the weeds" topic. But it could become an important issue regarding a future push for Congressional creation and recognition of a Hawaiian tribe. On Wednesday November 16, 2022 the powerful U.S. House Rules Committee held a hearing on the concept to officially seat a Congressional Delegate representing the Cherokee tribe of Oklahoma. Such a Delegate would have the same powers (including voting rights on committees) as the Delegates from Washington DC, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands -- and the Territory of Hawaii (1900-1959). Among all the 574 federally recognized tribes this one has the best shot at demanding a Delegate because of a treaty from 1835 that has never been repudiated. Hundreds of other tribes might then demand the same right. "Native Hawaiians" are not (yet) a federally recognized tribe, but a Hawaiian tribe would have more members than any other tribe including the Cherokee. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued an official statement after the hearing, supporting the concept and suggesting it should be broadened to include all of America's "indigenous people." Note also that this hearing was held soon after the Department of Interior launched a new policy of reaching out to Native Hawaiians as "indigenous people" to engage in consultation before, during, and after every federal government department's action that might have an impact on Native Hawaiians. And legislation has also been introduced to formally ratify the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It is no coincidence that the hearing date of November 16 is the anniversary of the date in 2010 when President Obama officially endorsed UNDRIP, although Congress never ratified it. Of special concern is that the ranking member of the Rules Committee -- likely to become Chairman in the Republican-controlled House in 2023 -- is Republican Rep. Tom Cole from Oklahoma, who is an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Tribe of Oklahoma and who was a major pusher of the Akaka bill during the years it was active in Congress (2000-2012). Hawaiian tribalists at OHA and numerous other sovereignty activists would say that a Hawaiian tribe has an even stronger right to a Congressional Delegate than the Cherokee, because of treaties between the Kingdom of Hawaii and the USA; but opponents would note that U.S. treaties with Hawaii were with the multiracial Kingdom rather than with the allegedly indigenous "Native Hawaiians" who would now be seeking tribal status.

Following are news reports on November 16, 2022 from "Roll Call" and CNN, along with a news release from Nancy Pelosi's official webpage as Speaker of the House, plus a link to a detailed and heavily footnoted analysis by the legislative attorney of the Congressional Research Service submitted to the House Rules Committee for release on November 16. A 2-hour and 33-minute YouTube video of the November 16 House Rules Committee hearing can be viewed at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWC9iMZYmDU

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https://rollcall.com/2022/11/16/house-delegate-cherokee-nation-hearing/

Roll Call [reporting on Congress] November 16, 2022

House should ‘keep its word’ and seat delegate from Cherokee Nation, panel hears Congress could get its first tribal nation delegate if lawmakers take action

* Photo caption Chuck Hoskin Jr., chief of the Cherokee Nation, testifies at a House Rules Committee hearing on Wednesday alongside Congressional Research Service attorney Mainon Schwartz. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

By K. Sophie Will and Sean Newhouse

With nearly two centuries of expectations on his back, Cherokee Nation Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. faced the House Rules Committee on Wednesday as the panel examined the path forward to seating the first-ever tribal nation delegate in Congress.

In the 1830s, lawmakers narrowly ratified a treaty promising to allow a Cherokee delegate in the House, among other things, in exchange for their land east of the Mississippi River.

This Treaty of New Echota of 1835 was a catalyst for the infamous Trail of Tears, which killed 4,000 Cherokee and threatened the survival of the tribe in present-day Oklahoma. Yet the Cherokee never got their delegate.

Now almost half a million strong, they’re back to demand Congress keep its word. They want the delegate seated as soon as possible.

“It’s a no-brainer,” Kimberly Teehee said in an interview. “It’s written not in a discretionary way, but in a way that’s a mandate. And what a way to show the rest of the world and the rest of Indian Country that the United States keeps its word and honors the commitments that it made to the Cherokee Nation so long ago.”

Teehee, a former Hill staffer and Native American affairs policy adviser for President Barack Obama, has been the Cherokee’s choice for the delegate position since 2019.

But the response has been slow. While most agree that Congress would need to act before Teehee can take her place, the hearing this week marks the first time lawmakers have publicly grappled with what to do next. According to the treaty, the Cherokee Nation “shall be entitled to a delegate in the House of Representatives of the United States whenever Congress shall make provision for the same.”

Advocates say momentum is on their side. Across the country, the American Indian and Alaska Native population has nearly doubled in the last 10 years, census data shows. And things are changing in Congress, too, with more elected Native American members than ever before.

“As a member of the Cherokee Nation, I firmly believe the federal government must honor its trust and treaty responsibilities,” Rep. Markwayne Mullin said in a statement ahead of the hearing. The Oklahoma Republican — who last week won the race to replace retiring Republican Sen. James M. Inhofe — will be the first Native American to serve in the Senate since Colorado Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell retired in 2005.

For this growing group at the Capitol, the rise in visibility is the product of centuries of rebuilding lives and communities — and it’s only just the beginning.

“There are many examples of the government not honoring its word to tribes across the nation, and I will work tirelessly in Congress to ensure that does not happen again in the future,” Alaska Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola said in a statement. This year, she became the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress.

Questions of representation

While the Cherokee’s treaty is unique in its language about a delegate, there are two other treaties that could also be interpreted as requiring congressional representation — the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek with the Choctaw Nation and the 1778 Treaty with the Delawares. Both have not yet been capitalized upon.

Even though there won’t be a “flood” of tribes asking to have representation, Hoskin assured the panel on Wednesday that tribes across the country “understand the significance of what it would mean for the House to live up to the federal government’s promise.”

The National Congress of American Indians, the largest intertribal organization in the country, has repeatedly backed the Cherokee’s pursuit of a delegate, though it did not comment on what other tribes might do.

This particular delegate would truly be different from any other — Teehee would represent Cherokee citizens no matter where they live, not just in a certain locality. Cherokee members outnumber the combined population of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, all of which have their own delegates in Congress.

Rules ranking member Tom Cole has signaled his strong support, but on Wednesday said lawmakers should proceed with caution in order to get this right.

“We should remember that the Cherokee Nation is not the only tribe that has or may have this right, and the process we ultimately follow for this claim may apply to others as well,” said the Oklahoma Republican and member of the Chickasaw Nation, a key ally for Teehee if control of the chamber next year flips to Republicans as expected.

Members raised other worries at the hearing, too, like whether any other treaties or Oklahoma statehood voided the original treaty and whether the treaty was self-enacting. And they posed questions about dual representation — Cherokee Nation members would be represented in the House by both their respective district representatives and the new delegate.

Hoskin said this particular concern is “unwarranted,” since all delegates in the House are so-called “nonvoting members,” which means they can vote in committees but aren’t permitted to vote in the full chamber.

The committee was curious about the Cherokee’s process for selecting the delegate, which includes an appointment by Hoskin and the approval of the tribal council rather than an election, far from the standard for other members of Congress.

‘Seat at the table’

The debate strikes at the heart of some tales as old as time for Indian Country, Teehee said — balancing sovereignty and intergovernmental collaboration, combating ambiguity and racism in old laws and pushing back against the U.S. for violating the treaties and trust of Native Americans.

It’s about “having a seat at the table whenever formulating laws about us,” Teehee said.

“Native people have too few champions in Indian Country. And we often look to the handful of people that are in Congress to carry the weight of resolving those issues on their shoulders,” Teehee added. “I think the Cherokee Nation’s seat at the table would be yet another voice.”

Kimberly Teehee is the delegate-designate to the House from the Cherokee Nation. (Courtesy Cherokee Nation)

Of the handful of Native Americans currently serving in the House, most say they are closely following the debate, even if they have not explicitly spoken out in support of Teehee.

“The federal government owes trust and treaty obligations to federally recognized tribes, and it’s Congress’ duty to carefully review these obligations, including seating delegates to Congress,” Kansas Democrat Sharice Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, said in a statement.

New Mexico Republican Yvette Herrell, who is Cherokee, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

While it may seem like the current Congress has dragged its feet, a House Democratic leadership aide said lawmakers have sought to learn more. Last year, the House Administration Committee asked the Congressional Research Service to issue a report on the possible seating and the legal complexities that could arise, which it did in July. The next step was this week’s Rules Committee hearing.

The hearing laid out two options for the House from here: either find agreement on a bill or resolution forming the seat, or adjust its standing rules package on the first day of the 118th Congress to accommodate the delegate.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy did not respond to a request for comment. But Cole said after the hearing that Republicans are “not dealing” with the seat in the rules package they are planning so far. The possibility of legislatively creating the delegation has not yet been discussed in the conference, he added.

Hoskin said he prefers the standing rules route, since the Nation believes the Senate and the president have already acted on the delegation in the form of the treaty and all that’s left is House action. He would like to see Teehee seated by the end of this session.

Chair Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said that wading through the issues brought up on Wednesday might take longer than that, but he believes a solution is within reach.

If she doesn’t get her seat secured in some way by December adjournment, Teehee said she’ll try again next Congress with her bipartisan allies.

“I come from tough stock,” she said. “Our people survived the Trail of Tears — we will persevere.”

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https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/111622

Nancy Pelosi, officlal news release from Speaker's office November 16, 2022

Pelosi Statement on House Rules Committee Hearing on Cherokee Nation Delegate

NOVEMBER 16, 2022 PRESS RELEASE

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued this statement after the House Rules Committee completed a hearing on seating a non-voting Delegate from the Cherokee Nation:

“Since 1835, the Treaty of New Echota has entitled the Cherokee people to representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. Chairman Jim McGovern and the House Rules Committee have taken a key first step toward identifying what actions must be taken to honor this long-standing promise. The House Democratic Caucus will continue to explore a path toward welcoming a Delegate from the Cherokee Nation into the People’s House.

“Our Caucus has drawn great strength from the leadership of our Native American colleagues and the Congressional Native American Caucus. As we celebrate National Native American Heritage Month, the Democratic House remains committed to correcting the profound injustices of the past, living up to the federal government’s treaty obligations, fully embracing our trust responsibility and building a brighter, fairer future for the Cherokee Nation and all indigenous peoples.”

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https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/16/politics/cherokee-nation-delegate-house-committee-hearing-cec

CNN Wed November 16, 2022

The Cherokee Nation’s demand for a congressional delegate gets a hearing in the House

By Harmeet Kaur, CNN

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. (left) and Mainon Schwartz, an attorney for the Congressional Research Service, testify during a hearing before the House Rules Committee. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images

Nearly two centuries ago, the US government promised the Cherokee people a seat in Congress in exchange for giving up their homelands. So far, it hasn’t delivered.

But that promise came one step closer to being fulfilled on Wednesday after the House Rules Committee held a historic hearing on seating the Cherokee Nation’s delegate – a right that the tribe asserts it was granted in the 1835 Treaty of New Echota.

“It’s time for this body to honor this promise and seat our delegate in the House of Representatives,” Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in his testimony. “No barrier, constitutional or otherwise, prevents this.”

Under the Treaty of New Echota, brokered between the US government and a minority group of Cherokee leaders who claimed to represent the tribe, the Cherokee were made to give up their ancestral land and relocate west of the Mississippi River. Though a majority of the Cherokee people opposed the treaty, it was ratified in 1836. Thousands of Cherokee citizens are estimated to have died on the resulting journey now known as the Trail of Tears.

The Cherokee Nation has in recent years called on the House to enforce a provision of the treaty stipulating that it “shall be entitled to a delegate in the House of Representatives of the United States whenever Congress shall make provision for the same.” In 2019, the tribe appointed as its delegate Kimberly Teehee, who previously served as a senior policy adviser for Native American affairs during President Barack Obama’s administration and as a senior adviser to former Democratic Rep. Dale Kildee of Michigan.

During Wednesday’s hearing, members of the House panel heard testimony from Hoskin and legal experts on the Cherokee Nation’s claim to a delegate, what powers the delegate would have and how the process of seating that delegate might work.

There are outstanding questions

Rep. Jim McGovern, chairman of the House Rules Committee, and GOP Rep. Tom Cole, the committee’s ranking member, both indicated during the hearing that it was important for the US to honor its obligations to tribal nations.

“The history of this country is a history of broken promise after broken promise to Native American communities,” said McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat. “This cannot be another broken promise.”

The delegate could be seated through a simple resolution in the House or through federal statute, and McGovern said he wanted to see the issue addressed quickly. Still, he and other lawmakers said, there were questions that needed to be resolved.

Among them was why it took until 2019 for the Cherokee Nation to demand that a delegate be seated. Hoskin replied that the Trail of Tears and other federal government policies decimated the Cherokee people, and that only now had the tribe regained its strength as a political nation.

“We are now in a position where we can, as a practical matter, assert this right,” he said. “Whereas my predecessors in the two centuries before, frankly we were just trying to hang on to our way of life and rebuild.”

Lindsay Robertson, an expert in federal Indian law and a professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, also testified during the hearing that Congress would have to provide “clear evidence of intent to abrogate” in order to argue that the treaty was no longer valid. In other words, Hoskin said, the treaty still holds because it has never been repealed.

Another concern that was raised was whether a delegate for the Cherokee Nation would amount to “double representation,” given that the tribe’s citizens are already represented by House lawmakers from their respective states.

Hoskin argued that wouldn’t be the case, give that other delegates in the House do not have voting privileges. Washington, DC, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the US Virgin Islands each have a delegate who serves a two-year term – while those members can vote in committee, introduce legislation and engage in debate, they can’t vote on final legislation. The Cherokee Nation delegate would likely serve a similar role, he said, adding that the position was intended to represent the interests of the tribal government.

The Cherokee Nation’s demand for a delegate could potentially open the door to similar claims from other tribes – lawmakers noted in the hearing that they had received such requests from the Choctaw Nation and the Delaware Nation based on treaties those respective tribes had made with the US. Of those claims, the Cherokee Nation’s is likely the strongest, said Mainon Schwartz, an attorney for the Congressional Research Service.

“The language of the Treaty of New Echota is the clearest of the treaties between the United States and various tribes,” she said.

Two other federally recognized Cherokee tribes – the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina – have argued that they are also successors to the Treaty of New Echota and are therefore entitled to a delegate.

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https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/HHRG-117-RU00-Testimony-SchwartzM-111622.pdf

Statement of Mainon A. Schwartz
Legislative Attorney
Before
Committee on Rules
U.S. House of Representatives
Hearing on
“Legal and Procedural Factors Related to Seating a Cherokee Nation Delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives”
November 16, 2022
Congressional Research Service
7-5700 www.crs.gov

** Detailed research report, 135 footnotes; pdf attached; fascinating details
https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/HHRG-117-RU00-Testimony-SchwartzM-111622.pdf

===========

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/11/18/hawaii-news/university-of-hawaii-plan-prioritizes-kuleana-to-hawaiians/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Friday November 18, 2022

University of Hawaii plan prioritizes ‘kuleana to Hawaiians’

By Esme M. Infante

A new six-year strategic plan for the 10-campus University of Hawaii system was approved Thursday, with fulfilling responsibility to Hawaiians and Hawaii, promoting successful students, meeting the state’s workforce needs and diversifying the local economy as its four “imperatives.”

The UH Board of Regents unanimously approved the “UH System Strategic Plan 2023-2029” during a meeting at the UH Hilo Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy.

UH President David Lassner said afterward in a Honolulu Star-Advertiser interview that the plan will not be left on a metaphorical shelf, but actively used to guide changes at the university.

“Our (new strategic plan) language is different than any university in the country,” Lassner said. “Particularly, the imperative about kuleana to Hawaiians and Hawaii, that is pretty much newly framed, and this was at the urging of (UH) regents, who asked us to step up to our responsibilities to our Hawaiian students, faculty and staff and the curriculum. … How can the University of Hawaii be a force for what has to change within the state, given our expertise and capacity?”

The plan’s imperatives, and how they’ll be carried out:

>> “Fulfill kuleana to Hawaiians and Hawaii.” The goal would be to “model what it means to be an indigenous-serving and indigenous-centered institution: Native Hawaiians thrive, traditional Hawaiian values and knowledge are embraced, and UH scholarship and service advance all Native Hawaiians and Hawaii.”

The plan says UH supports the success of Native Hawaiians in learning, teaching, service and research, and “nurtures Native Hawaiians as leaders.” It also calls on UH to “create opportunities for all UH students, faculty, staff, executives and regents to inform their work by learning about Hawaiian language, culture, knowledge, and the past and present impacts of colonization.” Additionally, it says UH will “play an active role in the reconciliation of injustices, advancing language parity, and improving the lives of Native Hawaiians across the islands.”

>> “Promote successful students for a better future.” Objectives include increasing participation in post- secondary education statewide and providing support for student success, including addressing barriers to access, basic needs and holistic health and wellness. The plan “embraces innovation a little bit more, and the need to do more different modes of instruction to serve students for different situations,” such as students who live in rural areas or who want to study while working, Lassner said.

>> “Meet Hawaii workforce needs of today and tomorrow.” The goal is to “eliminate workforce shortages in Hawaii while preparing students for a future different than the present.” Lassner said this represents a shift to make workforce preparation a systemwide concern instead of leaving it largely to the seven UH community colleges.

Objectives include prepping students for “occupations that are essential to community well-being including education, health, technology, skilled trades and sustainability/resilience.” Among other aims: enhancing nontraditional offerings and partnering with employers.

>> “Diversify Hawaii’s economy through UH innovation and research.” The goal, the plan says, is to “build and sustain a thriving UH research and innovation enterprise that addresses local and global challenges by linking fundamental scientific discovery with applied research necessary for technological innovation to create jobs and advance a knowledge-based economy.”

Among the areas in which UH will build and sustain research and innovation hubs: climate resilience, energy and sustainable ecosystems; ocean, Earth and atmospheric sciences; astronomy and space sciences; data sciences and global cybersecurity; health and wellness; and food security and agriculture.

The plan began development in the spring, led by a 26-member steering committee, and it considers feedback from students, faculty, staff and community members, the university said. Details on how progress will be measured, and a link to the full strategic plan, can be found at 808ne.ws/UH6yearplan

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** Ken Conklin's online comment(s)

Same old same-old. In 2002 I published a webpage entitled "A review of Dobelle’s tenure as President at UH, focusing on his aggressiveness in pushing the CHS agenda and his recent pledge to politicize UH even further, harnessing UH as a partner in bringing about a racial supremacist government entity."
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/uhacafreedobelle.html
Here are a few portions of it.

Newly-hired President Evan Dobelle stepped into the UH quagmire to begin work on July 2, 2001, knowing very little about Hawaiian history, the ceded lands, or the sovereignty movement. Like many "fresh off the boat" academic liberal ha*les, he abandoned life-long habits of intellectual dilligence to "go native." He knew only that he had been welcomed enthusiastically by students and faculty at the Center for Hawaiian Studies. The story was told that he had been given a kukui nut lei (symbolic of knowledge and enlightenment), which delighted him so much that he wore it constantly for weeks, even in the shower and in bed. The activists bombarded him with music, hula, and stories of a stolen nation, stolen land, and cultural repression. A politically liberal President Dobelle, enthralled by Hawaiian culture and hearing tales of historical and current victimhood, unquestioningly adopted the activists' romanticized mystification of history and their feeling of racial grievances.

In a speech to the Chamber of Commerce on July 18, 2001, at Hilton Hawaiian Village, making public his policy objectives for the UH, President Dobelle said, "In addition, so not simply to have rhetoric without real commitment, I have directed a full funding for the historic requests of the UH Hawaiian Studies department throughout the system over the next several years. Period. To do less is to deny where we came from ..." Was Dobelle simply a naive newcomer deeply moved by the welcome he was given, or were Dobelle and the Center for Hawaiian Studies already carrying out a well-orchestrated plan?

On September 11, 2002 President Dobelle began his second year at UH by giving a major speech to the "first annual" convention of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement. The CNHA is an umbrella organization of large, wealthy, racially exclusionary government and private organizations and influential individuals.

In closing, Dobelle pledged help in bringing something now imagined to reality:

"It seems to me that those of you who are battling to define your people according to self-defined terms have a dual citizenship — of this state, and of a state yet to come into existence. Of Hawai'i and Ha-va-i'i," he said. "Ha-va-i'i, home of your ancestors, exists now as a state of mind — and with the university as your partner, the Hawaiian community will turn that into a state of being. ... " "

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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2022/11/ke-aupuni-update-november-2022-giving.html
Free Hawaii blog November 19, 2022
Ke Aupuni update

Giving Thanks for Lā Kuʻokoʻa

This year, 2022 is the 179th anniversary of an historic moment: November 28, 1843 was the day the United Kingdom (Great Britain) and the Kingdom of France jointly proclaimed their recognition of the Hawaiian Kingdom as a sovereign nation — equal in status with the major powers of the world.

In 1843 King Kamehameha III declared November 28 as Lā Kuʻokoʻa, Hawaiʻi Independence Day, a national holiday to be celebrated throughout the Hawaiian Kingdom. For 50 years, Lā Kuʻokoʻa and Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day) were enthusiasticaly celebrated as the prime national holidays.

But in 1894, the self-proclaimed “Republic of Hawaii” adopted the American “Thanksgiving Day” to be celebrated instead of Lā Kuʻokoʻa as part of a deliberate, denationalizing program to erase any celebration of Hawaiʻi as a sovereign, independent country. It almost worked. But about 30 years ago, Uncle Kekuni Blaisdell and a few Hawaiʻi kiaʻi began to remind us and rekindle awareness of our great legacy as an enlightened, independent Hawaiian nation.

Today, Lā Kuʻokoʻa and Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea are proudly celebrated throughout Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina... and in other places around the world where Hawaiians live.

You can help to educate others about Lā Kuʻokoʻa. As you gather with ‘ohana and friends for Thanksgiving this year, remember to give thanks for Lā Kuʻokoʻa! Share with your ʻohana this amazing historic achievement of King Kamehameha III and the emissaries he sent on this mission to the opposite side of the globe. Eō!

The Story of Lā Kuʻokoʻa

Approaching the mid-Nineteenth Century, European countries were continuing their centuries-long habit of colonizing lands of native peoples. Pacific Island nations were being swallowed whole by European colonial powers. King Kamehameha III, seeing this trend sought to prevent this from happening to his island Kingdom.

Having declared his Kingdom as a Christian nation in the early days of his reign; with the vast majority of his people embracing Christianity, the King, in 1839, issued a Hawaiian Declaration of Rights; and in 1840, enacted a Constitution for the Hawaiian Islands, balancing Biblical truths and democratic principles of liberty, along with Hawaiian values of aloha ʻāina and mālama pono, as the basis for the governance of the Hawaiian Islands. Thus, Hawaiʻi could not be regared as a heathen nation and was, therefore, immune to colonization under the so-called “Doctrine of Discovery”.

To ensure against colonial ambitions by European powers, King Kamehameha III sent three trusted envoys, Timoteo Haʻalilio, William Richards (Hawaiian subjects) and Sir George Simpson (a British subject) on a mission to America and Europe for the purpose of securing recognition of Hawaii’s sovereignty by the three most powerful nations on Earth, Great Britain, France and the United States.

Led by Haʻalilio, the envoys succeeded! In a formal proclamation issued on November 28, 1843 at the Court of London, representatives of the crowns of the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of France signed a joint proclamation recognizing the Hawaiian Kingdom as a sovereign nation. The United States followed suit several months later.

These acts of recognition meant the Hawaiian Kingdom was accepted, and would be henceforth regarded as, an equal sovereign by the three most prominent members of the exclusive club of sovereign nations, known as “the family of nations.”

The Hawaiian Kingdom was able to pry open the door to “the family of nations,” not only for the Hawaiian Kingdom to enter, but for others to follow a century later.

The good news is that We, the people — the aloha ʻāina — by remembering this day, are the living proof that the sovereign Hawaiian Kingdom that was recognized 179 years ago still exists! And as the lāhui stands up (Kūʻe) here on our ʻāina, proclaiming we still exist, we are blazing a way for liberation of other nations in captivity.

Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.

SIGN THIS PETITION
Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! He was the president who turned Hawaii from a peaceful, neutral country into a major hub of America’s war machine. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! TinyURL.com/AlohaOeMcKinley

PLEASE KŌKUA
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort. To contribute, go to:
• GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
• PayPal – use account email: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!

Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National

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https://www.civilbeat.org/2022/11/denby-fawcett-new-iolani-palace-exhibit-will-describe-the-hawaiian-kingdomʻs-overthrow/
Honolulu Civil Beat [online newspaper] Thanksgiving Thursday November 24, 2022

New Iolani Palace Exhibit Will Describe The Hawaiian Kingdomʻs Overthrow
Expected to be completed in 2024, it will be the first major new exhibit the palace has undertaken in decades.

By Denby Fawcett

We have museums in Hawaii that focus on art and culture, volcanoes and natural history, but as of yet no museum specifically details the genesis of the Hawaiian Kingdom, its overthrow and the modern political movement to restore the islandsʻ once independent nationhood.

Friends of Iolani Palace, the nonprofit that manages the palace, has raised more than $3 million to create such a permanent display in the basement of the palace.

“A critical but bittersweet story of our Hawaii,” Paula Akana said Saturday at a dinner at the palace to raise another half million dollars to complete the new galleries. Akana is the executive director of Friends of Iolani Palace.

The galleries — to be completed in 2024 — will be the first major new exhibit the palace has undertaken in decades. Most recent work on the building has been to repair and maintain the 19th century structure.

“It will be exciting for visitors to be given an understanding of Hawaii’s history all the way from the Kamehameha dynasty to the constitutional monarcy to the sovereignty movement,” says Akana. She says visitors to the palace are intrigued by its grandeur as they walk through the European-style rooms of its final occupants, King David Kalakaua and his sister, the last sovereign Queen Liliuokalani. “But after seeing the first and second floors deaing with this one period, they often want to know more about the earlier days of kingdom and what led to its overthrow and what happened after Hawaii was no longer an independent nation,” she says.

The palace used a federal grant to hire a team of scholars — historians and political scientists — to write the text for the displays that are planned to be authoritative rather than incendiary.

“It is an opportunity to present a Hawaiian-centered narrative of what happened,” says Noenoe Silva, one of the content experts hired to write the text.

Silva is a professor at University of Hawaii Manoa who teaches courses in Hawaiian and Indigenous politics and Hawaiian language. She is the author of “Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism.” She and the other content experts have spents months collaborating to reach agreement on accurate wording for the text on the panels that will be not be offensive to visitors.

“They will be telling hard truths. A truth is a truth. That is the value of fact-based history. The goal is to give a clear understanding of what happened,” says palace curator Leona Hamano.

Eight new galleries will be created in rooms in the palace basement that until now have been used for storage. Currently the basement has six galleries with displays that sometimes seem frozen in time such as Queen Liliuokalaniʻs jewelry collection, Kalakauaʻs assortment of medals and ribbons, cases with swords and koa calabashes and other royal items. The rooms fail to give a sense of the energy that once permeated the palace as the last monarchs increasingly struggled to retain their kingdom.

Silva is working on the text for the new gallery called “Hawaiiʻs Story” that traces the steps leading up to the 1893 overthrow, the overthrow itself and how its aftermath continues to impact people today.

The telling of the expanded story of the kingdom’s demise and its aftereffects might be uncomfortable for some visitors as they consider the hard-hitting information in the new galleries especially if they are unfamiliar with Hawaii’s history, including the fact that the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown by American businessmen and planters and there are active movements today to restore sovereignty.

Another new gallery calld Hawaiian Diplomacy Gallery will emphasize the royal leaders work to preserve and strengthen their nation and gain official American and international recognition for Hawaii as an independent country.

The gallery will point out the far-reaching diplomatic relations Hawaii had between 1866 and 1900 with more than 100 consulates and ligations in countries across the globe, including Russia, Japan, China, Germany and Tahiti as well as France and England where the kingdom had diplomatic representatives in multiple towns and cities. This gallery also will highlight Kalakauaʻs Hawaii Youth Abroad program in which 17 young people, including one girl, were sent as far as China, England and Italy to study and bring back their knowledge with the hope they would eventually serve as Cabinet members in the kingdom. Part of the room will feature a map of Kalakauaʻs trip around the world in 1881 to encourage the formation of treaties to strengthen support and international friendships for the islands.

“How many monarchs of that time do we know of that left their nests, seeking what was out there in the much wider world and absorbing what would be valuable to bring back. Kalakaua was adverturous; he had no fear, much like the early Polynesian navigators who came before him,” says Hamano, the curator.

To entertain young people, there will be a gallery called the Family Interactive Room where children can dress up in clothes from the monarchy period. A gallery called Contemporary Movements will feature the political quests in full motion today such as campaigns to protect land rights and Hawaiiʻs environment, language revitalization and movements to restore Hawaiian sovereignty.

“We hope to help people understand that the palace is not just a place of ancient history where things happened a long time ago. As Hawaiians, we feel connected to it today as a living entity where we can come together to feel how the issues so compelling in the past continue to be part of the present, “ says scholar Silva.

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(Ken Conklin's online comment; it was not published when first attempt was made around 4 AM due to censorship of viewpoint by Civil Beat editors. However, around 6 PM I tried again; and sometime after that it got published -- apparently there are different editors doing the censoring depending on time of day, and I got lucky [or else somebody was too full of turkey and bubbly to care by then!])

It's no surprise that the Palace exhibition is scheduled to open in 2024, the 20th anniversary of Noenoe Silva's book.

For decades, Iolani Palace tours have spewed sovereignty propaganda to hundreds of thousands of tourists from USA and around the world with in-person and headset tours, exhibits, books and films. Historical falsehoods abound in both the book and tours. Example: the book's back cover and Palace tours prominently say nearly every Native Hawaiian signed the anti-annexation petition in 1897. But the petition had 21,269 signatures, including non-natives, while there were about 40,000 natives living in Hawaii then. There was a different petition on a different topic (restore the Queen) with about 17,000 signatures. Silva and Palace propagandists love to add the two together; and if challenged they say "It doesn't matter that what's at the top of the petitions are different." But I say it matters a lot: most who signed the smaller petition probably also signed the larger one; and apparently 4,000 natives who opposed annexation also opposed restoring the Queen! That's only one example. Read my detailed book review for many more. Google:
angelfire Silva Aloha Betrayed

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https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2022-11-25/hawaiian-independence-day-events-across-oʻahu
Hawaii Public Radio Published November 25, 2022 at 12:30 PM HST

Hawaiian Independence Day events across Oʻahu

By Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi

Before the Thanksgiving holiday was celebrated in Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Kingdom had its own November holiday — Independence Day.

Lā Kūʻokoʻa is observed annually on Nov. 28. It was on that day in 1843 that Hawaiʻi was formally recognized as an independent nation by other world powers, including England, France and the United States of America.

King Kamehameha III was the first Hawaiian monarch to send a delegation to the U.S. and Europe to secure recognition of Hawaiʻi's sovereignty.

The achievement was celebrated as a national holiday known as Lā Kūʻokoʻa from 1843 through the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893.

Renewed efforts have been made in recent years to revive Hawaiian Independence Day celebrations in communities across the islands.

Lā Kūʻokoʻa events include:
Nov. 26 @ 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 27 @ 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Independence market (47-540 Ahuimanu Road Kaneohe, HI 96744)

Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi is a general assignment reporter at Hawaiʻi Public Radio. Her commitment to her Native Hawaiian community and her fluency in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi has led her to build a de facto ʻōiwi beat at the news station. Send your story ideas to her at khiraishi@hawaiipublicradio.org.

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https://www.thegardenisland.com/2022/11/27/hawaii-news/hawaiian-independence-day-celebrated-monday/
The Garden Island [Kaua'i] Sunday November 27, 2022

Hawaiian Independence Day celebrated Monday

By Dennis Fujimoto

** A gallery of 5 photos by author Dennis Fujimoto have the following captions:
* During a Wednesday march and sign waving along Kaumuali‘i Highway in Puhi, students and staff of Kawaikini New Century Public Charter School show the reason for no school on Monday for the school.
* Kawaikini New Century Public Charter School student Hi‘ilei Berg, also the reigning Miss Hawai‘i Sr. Elementary School 2023, collects toys for Toys For Tots Saturday at the Grove Farm Market in Puhi.
* Kawaikini New Century Public Charter School Director Chad Shimmelfennig, right, leads the school’s students and staff during a sign waving campaign on Wednesday along Kaumuali‘i Highway in Puhi.
* Kawaikini New Century Public Charter School students demonstrate their pride in the Hawaiian flag that replaced the Union Jack following La Ku‘oko‘a in 1843.
* Kawailehua Hamberg, right, a Kawaikini New Century Public Charter School staff member wearing La Ku‘oko‘a shirt, leads a group of Kawaikini students from the Puhi campus to Kaumuali‘i Highway for a sign waving campaign.

PUHI — There will be no school on Monday for the Kawaikini New Century Public Charter School because Nov. 28 is La Ku‘oko‘a, or Hawaiian Independence Day.

“It always was a holiday, from long ago,” said a chaperone to the march and sign waving on Wednesday by the 167 students ranging from kindergarten to grade 12 of the Puhi school.

The march and sign waving were presented and coordinated by the school to raise awareness of La Ku‘oko‘a, the Hawaiian flag, and Kawaikini, said one of the school coordinators.

“La Ku‘oko‘a is a part of Hawaiian history,” said Kawaikini Director Chad Schimmelfennig.

Students waving Hawaiian flags trooped from their campus near the Kaua‘i Community College lo‘i (taro fields) and parked safely behind the chain-link fence separating them from busy Kaumuali‘i Highway. There, the group’s message was reinforced by the horn honks from passing motorists.

La Ku‘oko‘a was established as a national holiday on Nov. 28 during the Hawaiian kingdom to celebrate the official recognition of Hawai‘i as an independent country by world powers, including England, France and United States of America in 1843.

King Kamehameha III, according to a report aired on Hawai‘i Public Radio, was the first Hawaiian monarch to send a delegation to the United States and Europe to secure recognition of Hawai‘i’s sovereignty. His achievement was celebrated as a national holiday known as La Ku‘oko‘a from 1843 until the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893.

The state’s Office of the Historian said the United States formally recognized Hawaiian independence in a treaty signed on Dec. 23, 1826.

Hi‘ilei Berg, a Kawaikini student and the reigning Miss Hawai‘i Sr. Elementary America 2023, added her thoughts to Hawaiian Independence Day. “As a child of Hawaiian ancestry, a student of Kawaikini, and a Punana Leo O Kaua‘i graduate, La Ku‘oko‘a to me is a celebration of the hard work my kupuna did in the past, allowing me to honor it in the present and continue to share the history of Hawai‘i so it is not forgotten in the future,” Berg said. “On Monday, Nov. 28, we celebrate La Ku‘oko‘a by proudly waving our hae Hawai‘i (Hawaiian flag) in remembrance of our Hawaiian independence. ‘Ka hae nani o Hawai‘i, e mau kona welo ‘ana,’ or, the beautiful flag of Hawai‘i, may it wave forever.”

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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/11/26/hawaii-news/native-hawaiians-are-still-waiting-for-the-military-to-remove-unexploded-bombs/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Saturday November 26, 2022 at 10:25 AM [newspaper is solely online on Saturdays, no print edition. This article suddenly appeared online at 10:25 AM on Saturday and then WAS THE FRONT-PAGE HEADLINE STORY IN THE SUNDAY PRINT EDITION -- the largest circulation-day. The same pattern was followed in 2021 with the blockbuster series on DHHL by Rob Perez and ProPublica]

Native Hawaiians are still waiting for the military to remove unexploded bombs
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is leading the remediation effort, has been plagued by shoddy work and multiple regulatory disputes, according to an investigation by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and ProPublica.

By Rob Perez
This story was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, in partnership with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

For the better part of two years, Liliu Ross had lived in a one-room tin-roofed shack in the rural outer reaches of Hawaii’s Big Island. It had no running water and no electricity. But it provided shelter for Ross as she raised sheep and grew crops on land that her Native Hawaiian ancestors once called home. From the open fields and gentle slopes of her five-acre farm lot, she marveled at the stunning views of nearby Mauna Kea, one of the world’s tallest island mountains. Still, there were challenges to living under such conditions. At night she read by candlelight, and during the day she bathed outside with water she warmed in a pot over a fire.

So, in 2014, Ross secured a loan under a special program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help Native Hawaiians build or purchase homes on Native lands. An architect created drawings for a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house, complete with energy-efficient appliances and a covered lanai. And she even picked the location for the new home.

Within months, though, her plan collapsed. Ross learned in a phone call from her builder that HUD had imposed a freeze on federal housing funds throughout the region. As it turned out, her property had been part of the Waikoloa Maneuver Area, a 185,000-acre site that was used by the U.S. military for live-fire training in the 1940s. Troops had fired an unknown number of grenades, mortars and other munitions that failed to explode, and many of the potentially deadly weapons remained, hidden beneath years of soil and vegetation buildup. Federal authorities wanted to ensure the land was safe to use.

But the funding freeze had sweeping consequences. Other prospective borrowers on Native lands soon found they could no longer obtain government-insured mortgages, the only type available on such properties. The freeze also meant that local and state governments could not tap the main sources of federal funding to develop affordable housing in the region — a critical need in a state with one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation. The action effectively thwarted a century-old promise by the federal government to return Native Hawaiians to their ancestral lands.

Money would flow again, HUD decided, after the military removed any unexploded ordnance, or UXO, and state regulators vouched for the land’s safety.

Eight years later, though, Ross is still waiting. The now-64-year-old farmer continues to live in the same shack. She is one of hundreds of Native Hawaiians who are unable to secure housing on lands that the government set aside for them in a trust. Many have already waited years — and sometimes decades — for the opportunity to build homes, farms and ranches.

“People are getting old, people are dying,” said Mary Maxine Kahaulelio, a prominent Native Hawaiian activist who lives near the UXO zone. “This is another form of delay for Hawaiians.”

No one can say for sure when relief will arrive. In one area, the state initially projected that the construction of 400-plus homes would be completed by next year. It paved streets, poured sidewalks, erected street lights and installed fire hydrants and road signs. But in 2015 it halted construction amid the federal funding freeze; not a single home has been built. Today, weeds and other vegetation are slowly overtaking the empty lots.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is leading the remediation effort, has been plagued by shoddy work and multiple regulatory disputes, according to an investigation by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and ProPublica. In one case, after state regulators raised concerns, the Corps rebid a contract to assess the UXO risk on the largest Native parcel in the region, prolonging a process that is years behind schedule.

The previously unreported details, laid bare in interviews and hundreds of pages of documents obtained through public records requests, provide further evidence of how government agencies have bungled the timely return of Native Hawaiians to their ancestral lands. The Star-Advertiser and ProPublica reported in 2020 and 2021 how the state was largely bypassing low-income and homeless Hawaiians because of the pricey homes it developed and how the federal government effectively circumvented a reparations law, depriving the program of prime properties suitable for housing. Today, more than 28,000 beneficiaries — the term for people who are at least 50% Hawaiian — are currently waiting for lots statewide, including nearly 6,000 seeking housing on the Big Island.

For its part, Army Corps officials said they are committed to clearing the Native lands as soon as possible. “Keep in mind we’re trying to help,” said Loren Zulick, who until recently served as the Corps’ program manager for Waikoloa, in an interview. But, he added, “our driving factor is to clean up contamination and protect human health and the environment.” In a written response to the news organizations’ findings, the Corps said it is “committed to getting the remediation done right to ensure these areas are safe” and that every acre that goes through the process “is a success toward restoration of lands.”

HUD also defended its Waikoloa policy, saying in a statement that it was developed “to ensure the safety of all occupants of HUD housing, including Native Hawaiians.”

Local leaders, however, say the government needs to move faster to fulfill its obligations to Hawaii’s indigenous people.

“It’s just common sense, common courtesy, basic values everyone is taught as children: If you break it, fix it,” said Robin Danner, chair of the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations, the largest beneficiary group in the state. “We have the most powerful military on the planet. It’s just unacceptable that the UXO debacle is still ongoing, truly hurting families, keeping them from using our land.”

A DEADLY HISTORY

After World War II broke out, the U.S. used large swaths of undeveloped land in the Waikoloa region for so-called live-fire exercises, in which Marines trained in battle-like conditions with artillery shells, rockets, grenades, tank rounds and other arms. It was one of several places in Hawaii that the military used for such training. Officials estimated that about 10% of the munitions failed to detonate during the Waikoloa maneuvers, so before leaving in 1946, the military conducted a cleanup operation. Technicians methodically walked the grounds looking for unexploded arms and debris, which were then destroyed or hauled away.

But over the years, there have been a handful of accidents. In 1954, two ranch workers were killed and three colleagues injured when an old mortar shell exploded near them. The accident prompted another round of cleanup, but that effort failed to catch many remaining munitions too: In 1983, two more people, soldiers involved in a military exercise, were injured when an old shell exploded.

Despite the risks, development marched forward throughout the region. The UXO status of the lands was hazy in those early decades, before the Corps took on a formal role. Many property owners assumed that the prior cleanups made their land safe to develop, and those who were unsure hired UXO experts to guide construction. Coastal resorts, shopping centers, residential subdivisions, parks and other developments gradually popped up.

Among the developers was the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which manages nearly 12,000 acres within the UXO zone as part of the land trust. It was set up in 1921 by Congress to help a people then headed toward extinction. The state took over management in 1959 as a condition of statehood. Under the program, anyone who is at least 50% Native Hawaiian is entitled to lease land for $1 a year and either build or buy a home on it. Over the years, scores of beneficiaries did so within Waikoloa. Both the state and federal governments, as overseers of the trust, are legally bound to ensure the program’s success.

Government remediation efforts picked up again in the 1990s, after federal legislation resulted in the Army Corps being given responsibility for clearing former defense sites such as Waikoloa. And building continued without controversy until 2014, when a Native Hawaiian beneficiary in Puukapu, the same community where Ross lives, applied for a home loan to renovate his residence, as others had before him. This time, though, the lender rejected his application, largely because an appraiser noted that the property was in a UXO zone.

The loan denial alarmed local HUD officials, whose agency had provided millions of dollars each year to DHHL for lot development and housing assistance, including loans to eligible Hawaiians to purchase or build homes on trust land. Federal officials told the Star-Advertiser and ProPublica that they were previously unaware of the unexploded ordnance issue, which local and state environmental reviews had not adequately addressed. DHHL said it conducted such a review before starting construction on a nearby subdivision in 2012, but that it didn’t uncover any UXO. Nevertheless, once HUD learned of the potential contamination problem in the region, it imposed a freeze on funding and HUD-backed mortgages until safety concerns were addressed.

To comply with the policy, DHHL began putting UXO disclosure provisions in the new land leases it awarded to Native Hawaiian beneficiaries. The designation prevented those leaseholders from obtaining government-insured mortgages until the UXO problem in their specific community was resolved. In fact, some lenders had already stopped lending on Native lands in the Waikoloa area.

REGULATORS RAISE RED FLAGS

Hundreds of Native Hawaiians looked to the Army Corps to step up its work so the freeze could be lifted. Months, however, turned into years. “My balloon is deflated,” said Leolani Kini, 65, whose plans to build a home on the Big Island are on hold. “It’s heartbreaking for me every day.”

Kini and other Hawaiians were counting on the Army Corps to review two key areas.

One was Puukapu, the mostly rural area where Ross lives and Kini wants to move. It’s the largest trust parcel in the UXO zone and includes nearly 450 lots leased by beneficiaries. The other area was Lalamilo, the location of the unfinished 400-home subdivision.

Given the limitations of technology and other factors, all parties acknowledge, it’s impossible to remove all munitions from the UXO zone. Hawaii’s rugged terrain and high iron levels, for instance, interfere with the digital equipment used to search for buried bombs. Instead, the cleanup goal is to reduce the UXO risk to “negligible.” But over the past several years, state health department documents reveal its regulators have raised significant questions about how the Corps performed its assessments in both areas.

In Puukapu, the department issued a scathing response to an initial Corps report, saying “there appears to be intentional efforts to omit and obscure relevant data.” Regulators also objected to the Corps’ finding in the 2018 report that the UXO risk was acceptable and no further action was needed.

“They basically were saying, ‘Hey, we’re done,’” said Sven Lindstrom, the health department regulator who oversees the Corps’ remediation work. “And we were like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, we need to talk about this more. You need to allay our concerns that there might still be hundreds of munitions items at this site.’”

The Corps took two years to respond, and after that it had to hire another contractor to help complete the report, which still isn’t finished.

In Lalamilo, regulators questioned the effectiveness of new technology the Corps is using to detect munitions, as well as the reliability of its past sweeps of the area. The skepticism was driven by a series of discoveries by workers in other parts of the UXO zone that the federal agency had previously designated as clear. In 2018, for example, they discovered large fragments on the ground and a foot-long projectile just steps away from a low-income apartment complex. The old shell, which still had the potential to explode, was buried just three inches below the surface.

To allay concerns, the Corps analyzed nine past sweeps of the area that includes Lalamilo. The results, however, were far from reassuring. As it did in Puukapu, the agency backed away from its initial assessment, telling the state it had low confidence in the effectiveness of its prior work. The Corps is now doing a new, more comprehensive sweep of Lalamilo, using state-of-the-art equipment, and is discussing the data with regulators as the work progresses. The technology dispute, however, remains unresolved.

Meanwhile, Native Hawaiian beneficiaries regularly drive by the subdivision site, just off the main road into Waimea. About a dozen told the Star-Advertiser and ProPublica that they often wonder when the project will get back on track. The site’s 2012 groundbreaking sign, which is still standing, touts the name of Gov. Neil Abercrombie. He left office eight years ago.

In response to questions from the news organizations, the Corps acknowledged that the remediation process is time-consuming. But the agency won’t sacrifice quality for speed, according to Lt. Col. Ryan Pevey, who heads the Corps’ Hawaii operations. “At the end of the day, it’s about the safety of the people of Hawaii and the environment,” he said in an interview. The Corps said it is highly confident that the Puukapu assessment, once completed, will allay the state’s concerns and show that hundreds of UXO will not be left in the ground.

The trust lands have been getting special attention in recent years, officials added. “It is a priority for us to try to help the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands with their needs for people who are trying to get loans on their properties,” said Zulick, the former Waikoloa program manager.

The Corps said Lalamilo is currently ranked No. 1 among its Waikoloa priorities and Puukapu is third, designations that direct resources to expedite the UXO work. Just a few years ago Puukapu was No. 22 — a reflection of the fact that the area had not been used as intensively for live-fire training as other sectors, according to the Corps. Some beneficiaries believe no remedy is needed in Puukapu. They say people have worked the land there for decades without incident, and many express frustration that the Corps is taking so long to assess a site they believe is safe.

William J. Aila Jr., who oversees DHHL and the 203,000-acre land trust, reflected on the balance that must be struck to successfully resolve the UXO problem. “Obviously, we would like to see this effort proceed faster, but we understand the Army Corps has a process, and we want them to do a thorough job,” Aila said in a statement.

NATIVE HAWAIIANS PAY THE PRICE

Native Hawaiians are paying the price for the delays — sometimes, quite literally.

Shirley Gambill-De Rego, a Big Island mortgage manager, recalled the case of a man who, after learning of the UXO delay, paid a private company $25,000 to sweep his mother’s land in Puukapu so he could get a loan to replace her aging home. Given that his mother was elderly, the man concluded that he couldn’t afford to wait for years for the Army Corps to do its job, said Gambill-De Rego, who ultimately helped the family get financing for construction. The new home was completed about seven years ago. The mother has since died.

Others have also had to dip into their own pockets.

Rocky and Kamala Cashman moved to Puukapu with designs for a new home in 2014. The retirees, who were in their 70s at the time, set up shop in a temporary trailer, expecting to live there for a year at most while workers constructed their new prefabricated home. But just before building began, their bank canceled the loan because it was no longer insurable due to the UXO problem. Other lenders subsequently turned them down as well. As a result, the trailer became their home for the next five years.

The rented camper, which measured 240 square feet, had just enough room for a king-sized bed, a bathroom and a small refrigerator. The couple made meals with a toaster oven, microwave, electric frying pan and rice cooker. While the living situation was cramped, Kamala Cashman said, it was offset, in part, by the natural beauty of their five-acre lot, which featured expansive mountain views. “We made it work,” she said.

The financial cost, though, was significant. On top of renting the trailer, the Cashmans paid to lease two shipping containers to hold their household belongings and a third to store the wood and other materials for their new home. Their total five-year rental tab came to about $60,000.

Then, in 2019, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, an advocacy organization for Hawaii’s indigenous people, stepped in. The group agreed to lend the Cashmans $300,000 through a program designed to assist Hawaiians unable to get more conventional financing. The council approved the loan even though the UXO assessment in Puukapu was still ongoing. “I knew if we didn’t step in and help, this family would still be in the trailer,” said Kuhio Lewis, the council’s chief executive officer.

The Cashmans moved into their new home in 2020. The three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath cedar-and-redwood residence spans about 2,500 square feet of living space — more than 10 times the size of their rented trailer — and features a dome-shaped great room and a wraparound balcony facing Mauna Kea. “It’s sad that it took five years for us to move into something that should’ve happened in a few months,” said Kamala Cashman, who is now 81. “That shouldn’t be happening at their age,” added Noe Aiu, Cashman’s daughter.

The HUD freeze is impacting Native Hawaiians in other ways too.

Those who have wanted to sell their homes in the region have had to look for all-cash buyers because of the unavailability of financing. And some have been unable to refinance existing mortgages, which prevented the homeowners from taking advantage of record-low interest rates in 2021. Rates have since rebounded to two-decade highs. The result, advocates say, has been that Native Hawaiians have been deprived of building financial equity during a period in which Hawaii real estate values have soared. If any other group were denied such an opportunity, government officials would “move mountains to turn that faucet back on,” said Rolina Faagai, vice chair of Hawaiian Lending & Investments, a beneficiary-run organization that helps Hawaiians obtain mortgages on trust lands. “Not for our community. Why is that?”

A PLEA FOR HELP

Given how long beneficiaries have suffered under the freeze, Native Hawaiians and their advocates are now calling for the Corps and the state’s congressional delegation to expedite remediation. “They’ve got to prioritize this,” said Lewis, head of the Native Hawaiian advocacy council, citing the state and federal governments’ long-standing legal duty to beneficiaries as overseers of the land trust. “This is a trust obligation to Native Hawaiians, an obligation that is being unfulfilled, unmet.”

The Star-Advertiser and ProPublica reached out to Hawaii’s four members in Congress about the Waikoloa cleanup process. Just two responded: U.S. Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz. Hirono did not answer the news organizations’ questions but issued a general statement saying more needs to be done to ensure the governments’ trust obligations are fulfilled. Schatz was more specific. In written responses, he said he would push for more funding to speed up the cleanup effort to help ensure no one waits longer than needed. “It’s a dangerous job that understandably takes time,” he said of the remediation work. “But for beneficiaries, every delay in the process has a real impact.”

In recent years, Congress has approved additional monies for Waikoloa, according to Schatz, who sits on the Senate’s appropriations committee. A decade ago, the project was getting about $10 million annually. This year, the total hit more than $18 million, a record, Schatz said. Much more, however, is needed. The Corps estimates $375 million will be required to finish the job.

Danner, the beneficiary leader, urged DHHL to help supplement the remediation effort. “If the lots were good enough to issue to our families, then they are good enough for DHHL to spend resources to clear the lands for safety,” she said. But the department, which received a record $600 million from the state this year to boost the Native Hawaiian homesteading program, said the federal government is obligated to pick up the tab and should.

For now, Ross continues to wait. Several years ago, she added a second room to her shack and now has running water and a power generator. But she is losing hope that she’ll ever see an actual house. “There’s a lack of concern for the Hawaiian people,” she said. “So we’ll just continue to be successful on our trust land.”

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** Ken Conklin's online comment(s)

Headline says "NATIVE HAWAIIANS are still waiting for the military to remove unexploded bombs" and indeed the entire article focuses entirely on that one particular ethnic group's troubles concerning unexploded ordnance. But surely UXO is a problem wherever there is land used for military training during the past hundred years, and that's a problem affecting all ethnic groups. So why does this extremely looooong article focus exclusively on this one ethnic group? Because "Native Hawaiians" are our favorite racial group. They are Hawaii's favorite victims -- the ones who have huge institutions with thousands of employees, and politicians in their pockets, founded on claims of victimhood which have brought in zillions of dollars in federal and state tax dollars paid by everyone else. Harvesting money and political power from victimhood claims is far more lucrative, lots more fun, and takes less work, than growing taro or rebuilding fishponds.

Remember Rob Perez and ProPublica series of "news reports" a year ago, about the history of the ceded lands and malfeasance of DHHL in "putting Hawaiians back on the land." That series of articles was perfectly timed, like now, just a couple months before the legislature opened. Those articles, like this one, were tear-jerkers designed to mold public opinion to cajole the legislature which gave over a BILLION dollars in 2022 to the racially exclusionary DHHL/OHA. Today's article, by the same authors in the same newspaper with the same editors, is undoubtedly only the first of a series leading up to the 2023 legislative session where the same tactics will be used to extort another Billion tax dollars for racial entitlement programs.

Throughout my 30 years in Hawaii I have seen "Native Hawaiian" political activism targeting the U.S. military -- the idea is to push the military out of Hawaii as a first step toward pushing USA out of Hawaii and making Hawaii once again an independent nation. Do it with high-publicity protests, fake religious rituals and building rock "altars"; lawsuits, etc. Remember the issue of stopping military use of Kaho'olawe as a bombing target. Remember live fire training in Makua Valley where all those methods were used. Remember the water pollution caused by leaking fuel storage under Red Hill -- a tragedy which the activists were delighted to grab hold of to stoke anti-military sentiment. Now it's unexploded bombs from 80 years ago stopping poor old granny from getting a loan to build a house.

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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2022/12/ke-aupuni-update-december-2022.html
Free Hawaii blog Saturday December 10, 2022

Ke Aupuni Update
by Leon Siu

An Existential Crisis

Wednesday, December 7, was the 81st anniversary of the devastating Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. This brazen act of war catapulted America into World War II and caused the US to not only greatly multiply its military operations in our islands, but to dig its claws deeper into Hawaii.

On the same day it attacked Pearl Harbor, Japan also attacked several American bases such as those in the Philippines, which was also a “US territory.” But only the attack on Pearl Harbor was referred to as an attack on American soil… portrayed as an attack on America itself… to infuriate and stampede the American public, by selling them the idea that Hawaii was part of America… and to make Hawaiians think that they were Americans. The musician, Makana Cameron wrote a very insightful piece a while back on the scheme of conflating Hawaii with America.

December 7th provided the US the opportunity to exponentially expand and dig the claws of their armed forces into Hawaii, figuratively and literally. Rallying, fighting, sacrificing and dying in service to America made many Hawaiians profoundly patriotic Americans. It is no wonder that generation voted for statehood in 1959. The formidable American war machine had saved the world and Hawaiians were proud to be part of the winning side. With the Cold War and the hot ones in Korea and Vietnam, the US military operations went viral in Hawaii.

Rude Awakening

Hawaiʻi’s cultural revival of the 60s gave rise to serious questions in the 70s concerning the military’s presence in Hawaiʻi: Why is it that so much of our ancestral lands are controlled by the US military, and off-limits to Hawaiians? Why are they conducting live-fire training on our ʻāina? Why are they assaulting Kahoʻolawe with bombs and naval shelling? Why is the US military allowed to destroy, contaminate and poison our land and water, stockpile vast amounts of weapons of mass destruction and occupy some of our best lands, with impunity?

Because they could. Very few had questioned or opposed the US military presence.

This allows America to do what it wants to do, regardless of the harm it could cause to the Hawaiian people. Their public “briefings” and “community input” and “consultations” are a travesty.

Today we are faced with serious threats to our very lives because of the US military reckless presence in our islands. The most immediate threat is the contamination of Oʻahuʻs drinking water by leaks from the US Navy giant fuel storage tanks in Kapukaki (Red Hill). The Navy admits fault and responsibility to fix it. Hawaiians, the general population, the “state” leaders, even the US Congress has demanded the giant tanks be immediately emptied and decommissioned. All we get from the navy is bureaucratic run-around from their ‘flacks” (public relations people), saying they’re taking care of it.

The other serious threat to our lives, especially the nearly one million people on Oʻahu, is the strong probability of being annihilated (“collateral damage”) by a nuclear missile attack on the US military bases, installations and command centers on the island. The utter destruction of a nuclear attack will make the December 7th Pearl Harbor attack look like a picnic on the beach.

The really scary thing is that time and again, the US has demonstrated that Hawaiian lives are very low priority to America’s agenda and national interests. Their track record shows they donʻt care if we live or die as long as America can have it’s way.

However, all is not lost. Over the past fifty years, kūʻē actions by Hawaiians and others to stop the desecration and damaging of our lands and sacred places have succeeded. The most prominent and inspirational aloha ʻāina kūʻē being Protect Kahoʻolawe. And the many, many small, but significant victories, add to growing the resolve and confidence of the Lāhui to protect our ʻāina with Kapu Aloha. This led to Kū Kiaʻi Mauna... the game changer!

How do we Free Hawii of the military occupation of our homelands? By carrying on the brave and steadfast kūʻē of generations of Kiaʻi guided by nā Kūpuna and ke Akua in asserting our kūleana to aloha ʻāina. Eō!

Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.

SIGN THIS PETITION
Rename McKinley High School and remove the McKinley statue! He was the president who turned Hawaii from a peaceful, neutral country into a major hub of America’s war machine. Sign this online petition NOW! Tell everyone you know to sign it too! TinyURL.com/AlohaOeMcKinley

PLEASE KŌKUA
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort
To contribute, go to:
• GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
• PayPal – use account email: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!

Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National

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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/12/15/hawaii-news/more-data-needed-on-missing-murdered-native-hawaiian-women/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser December 15, 2022

More data needed on missing, murdered Native Hawaiian women

By Linsey Dower

** Photo captions
Khara Jabola-Carolus, executive director of the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, speaks Wednesday at a news conference announcing the release of ‘Holoi a nalo Wahine ‘Oiwi: Missing and Murdered Native Hawaiian Women and Girls Task Force Report (Part 1),” at the State Capital.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM Dayna Schultz, of the anti-violence organization Pouhana O Na Wahine, spoke Wednesday at the state Capitol and urged people to talk about issues highlighted in the Holoi a nalo Wahine ‘Oiwi report. “Do not be afraid to speak of it — because silence continues the shame,” Schultz said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS Makanalani Gomes, of AF3IRM, a feminist and decolonization organization, held a fist in the air Wednesday at the state Capitol as she discussed a report on missing and murdered Native Hawaiian women.

Among the findings in a report released Wednesday by a task force created by the state Legislature last year, more than a quarter of missing girls in Hawaii are Native Hawaiian.

The Holoi a nalo Wahine ‘Oiwi report — the first of its kind undertaken by the Missing and Murdered Native Hawaiian Women and Girls Task Force — analyzes data from various social service agencies and other sources with the aim of better identifying causes behind issues like sex trafficking, sexual exploitation and domestic violence, which appear to affect disproportionate numbers of Native Hawaiian women and girls.

“The types of violence that lead to people being missing and murdered impact Native Hawaiians at rates much higher than other populations,” said the report’s lead investigator, Nikki Cristobal, at a press conference held Wednesday at the state Capitol. “It is my hope that we can use this report and subsequent reports to adapt our policies and practices to better protect our Native Hawaiian women and girls from further sexual exploitation and gender- based violence.”

Responding to an Associated Press report, several states formed similar task force panels after a report by the Urban Indian Health Institute found that out of 5,700 cases of missing and slain Indigenous girls in dozens of U.S. cities in 2016, only 116 were logged in a Justice Department database.

Cristobal identified data collection as one of the biggest obstacles in moving forward with reform-minded efforts as public and private agencies don’t always collect statistics on race. And some data groups together Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, making it difficult to identify the degree to which Hawaii’s Indigenous people are affected. About 20% of the state’s population is Native Hawaiian.

“We need to be better across departments,” Cristobal said. “Specifically people in the military, police departments, Department of Health, all those major players. Being better at collecting racial and gender data that is disaggregated and having more accessible processes for sharing those datas for task force members like myself.”

Administered through the state Commission on the Status of Women and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the task force comprises individuals representing over 22 governmental and nongovernmental organizations across Hawaii that provide services related to violence against Native Hawaiians. Advocates and task force members attended the press conference dressed in red, symbolizing the blood of Indigenous women who are missing or murdered.

The 22-page report found that the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girl crisis documented in Canada and the mainland United States is also devastating Hawaii.

While Native Hawaiian females represent only 10.2% of the total population of Hawaii, more than a quarter of missing girls here are Native Hawaiian, according to the report. Also, the average profile of a missing child is a 15-year-old Native Hawaiian girl, missing on Oahu. Additionally, the report found that a majority of sex trafficking cases involved Native Hawaiian girls trafficked in Waikiki — and that 38% of arrests made for soliciting sex from 13-year-olds, through Operation Keiki Shield, have been active-duty military personnel.

“On one hand, these findings are startling,” said Khara Jabola-Carolus, executive director of the Commission on the Status of Women. “On the other hand, this report really doesn’t say anything new. Instead, it vindicates and validates what Native Hawaiians, sex trafficking and gender-based violence service providers and feminist activists have been saying all along.”

Jabola-Carolus, who serves as a co-chair of the task force and has advocated for women and girls in Hawaii for a decade, said she hopes the report will prompt more people to joint efforts to effectively address issues probed in the report. Advocate Dayna Shultz of the anti-violence organization Pouhana O Na Wahine said that change can even begin within one’s own family.

“At the end of the day, everyone has a part to play,” Shultz said. “Have these conversations. Do not be afraid to speak of it — because silence continues the shame.”

The 2022 report will be made available on OHA’s website as well as on the Commission on the Status of Women’s website.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.

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** KenConklin's online comments

This "news report" and the underlying data are astoundingly full of statistics malpractice -- I'll be polite and use the word HOGWASH. Here's an example of the sort of nonsense we see here.

PANIC! OMG, have you seen the latest data? Half the kids in Hawaii have below-average intelligence! We urgently need to do something about this. We must greatly increase the budget for our schools. We must double the salaries we pay to teachers in order to recruit the best teachers to help our kids overcome their handicaps.

Did you recognize the absurdity of my little "news report"? Let me remind you that the word "average" by definition refers to a number where half the data are below average and half are above average. So of course half the kids have below-average intelligence. Nothing can be done to "fix" that. But enough people might be dumb enough to fall for my trumped-up emergency and start a political groundswell to raise taxes to raise teacher salaries. We owe it to our kids!

Here's one of the many statistics frauds in this article. "While Native Hawaiian females represent only 10.2% of the total population of Hawaii, more than a quarter of missing girls here are Native Hawaiian" Now wait a minute. Article correctly says "About 20% of the state’s population is Native Hawaiian." OK. That's close to a quarter of the whole population being NH; so of course it is to be expected that about a quarter of missing girls would be NH. The fact that NH females are 10.2% of total population is totally irrelevant -- cannot be compared with -- "a quarter of missing girls are NH" Think about it. Apples and oranges.

Here's another datum not provided in article. In the previous decennial census where fully disaggregated data were available, the median (avg) age of NH in Hawaii was 26, while median age of entire population excluding NH was 42. That 16 year age gap is huge. Would a customer looking for a sexy girl want a 42 year old woman, or would they want a 26-year-old? NH females on average are far younger than non-NH females; so of course they are more greatly sex-trafficked. Duh! This is not disproportionate when the huge age gap is considered. The only way to do legitimate data analysis would be to go back to the original data and see what percent of 12-16 year old sex-trafficked girls are NH compared to what percent 12-16 year old sex-trafficked girls are non-NH; and whether that corresponds to what percent of all 12-16 year-old girls are NH, etc.

Commenter named "whutevah" is correct about the statistics being badly distorted by the fact that 99% of all so-called "Native Hawaiians" are mixed-race. That means that nearly every girl counted as "Native Hawaiian" should also have been counted as Chinese and Filipina and White etc.; but the people doing the counting always count a NH as solely NH and do not count them also as being any of their other ethnicities. That's why the victimhood mongers are able to portray NH as having the worst victimhood for virtually every bad thing including heart disease, breast cancer, incarceration, drug abuse etc. -- statistics malpractice to support demands for political power and for hundreds of racial entitlement programs that go only to NH.

"whutevah" asked "WHY HASNT THIS BEEN REPORTED UPON SOONER " This same Linsey Dower who wrote this "news report"also wrote another one yesterday describing a one-day conference at UH East-West Center featuring Cornell West, Kamana Beamer, and a bunch of other anti-military hate-America activists putting together a big forum on American imperialism and colonization in Hawaii, the anti-military drumbeat related to the Red Hill water contamination, and now the report on military men being the biggest baddest customers for sex-trafficked Native Hawaiian girls. All these topics have been coordinated to make the biggest possible anti-military, anti-US propaganda hit-piece.

** Another commenter later provided evidence supporting my hunch: The report also asserts that nearly half of all NH females are under the age of 18. This would be more than twice the percentage for all other races and is statistically impossible and unsupported. This error is further support for Ken Conklin's statements about the report being based on grossly inaccurate statistical analysis. However, the report is apparently evidence that math proficiency in Hawaii is lacking . Also from the report: "Missing also includes Native Hawaiian women and girls whose whereabouts are unknown, including women and girls who are missing as a result of being trafficked and/or trapped in the military-prostitution complex." Wow! That is incredibly biased. The report offers no data to support the premise that locals and tourist have less involvement in prostitution than our service members.

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http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/Articles-Main/ID/36448/Native-Hawaiian-Girls-LESS-Likely-to-be-Missing
Hawaii Free Press Wednesday, December 14, 2022

by Andrew Walden

HOLOI Ā NALO WĀHINE ‘ŌIWI: Missing and Murdered Native Hawaiian Women and Girls Task Force Report
A publication of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in collaboration with Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women, December, 2022

(Editor’s Note, obvious bias: The word “military” occurs 20 times in this report. The word “drug” four times, “Methamphetamines” zero times, “Pimp’" once, "Foster" three times.)

(Editor's Note: According to 2010 Census, 32.8% of population age 10-17 identifies as Native Hawaiian alone or in combination. LINK: See pg 74. The report cites 1/4 of missing girls identified as Native Hawaiian. This shows NH girls are proportionally LESS likely to be 'missing' than other girls.)

HNN: “Rape with 13 year olds appears to be prevalent within the Air Force, Army, and Navy,” said Jabola-Carolus.

Native Hawaiian women and girls experience violence at rates disproportionate to their population size. Because of a lack of accessible data and a systemic disregard for the safety and wellbeing of Native Hawaiian women and girls on the part of government entities, the scope of the Missing and Murdered Native Hawaiian Women and Girls (MMNHWG) crisis is incomplete. Statistics on MMNHWG are highly limited. Therefore, the statistics presented in this report must be interpreted with the understanding that the true scope of the problem of MMNHWG is much larger than the meager data available can demonstrate at this time.

The lack of data on MMNHWG and on Native Hawaiian women and girls in general may leave many with the perception that MMNHWG is not an issue that warrants further exploration and/or government resources. Such perceptions directly fuel the continued erasure of Native Hawaiian women and girls. The crisis of MMNHWG is often called “the invisible crisis” due to:

1) the lack of recognition that Native Hawaiians are the Indigenous peoples of Hawai‘i and that they continue to experience systemic racism;

2) no concerted effort on the part of the federal or state government to understand and prevent MMNHWG; and

3) the avenues by which Native Hawaiian women and girls go missing or are murdered is complex and intertwined with persistent historical inequities that many people with legislative power fail to recognize are continuing to affect the condition of Native Hawaiians today.

For this report, the term “Native Hawaiian Women and Girls Violence” or “NHWG violence,” includes the underlying social, economic, cultural, institutional, and historical causes that contribute to the ongoing violence and systemic erasure of Native Hawaiian women and girls. “Missing” for this report is broadly defined as Native Hawaiian girls (persons under the age of 18) who are deemed as “runaways” by law enforcement, meaning they voluntarily or involuntarily fled from their parent/guardian and may or may not return. Missing also includes Native Hawaiian women and girls whose whereabouts are unknown, including women and girls who are missing as a result of being trafficked and/or trapped in the military-prostitution complex.

“Murdered” for this report is defined as Native Hawaiian women and girls who are killed through violent physical means. It also includes Native Hawaiian women and girls who died under suspicious and/or complex circumstances such as drug overdose and suicide. These definitions are aligned with how other Indigenous nations are defining violence within the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls movement. These definitions also allow for the accuracy of exploring and naming the specific mechanisms of the MMNHWG crisis such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, suicide, poverty, and disenfranchisement from the land. Expanding the frame of exploration of MMNHWG beyond governmental definitions of missing and murdered creates space to center the experiences of survivors and move toward community healing in a way that is accurate and respectful.

21% of Hawai‘i’s total population (N= 1,441,553) identifies as Native Hawaiian (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021). 10.2% of the total population of Hawai‘i identifies as a Native Hawaiian female, with 47.6% of this population identified as females under the age of 18 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021).

∞ More than a quarter (1/4) of missing girls in Hawai‘i are Native Hawaiian (JJIS, 2001- 2021).

∞ Hawai‘i has the eighth highest rate of missing persons per capita in the nation at 7.5 missing people per 100,000 residents (Kynston, 2019).

∞ The average profile of a missing child: 15 year old, female, Native Hawaiian, missing from O‘ahu (MCCH, 2022).

∞ The majority (43%) of sex trafficking cases are Kānaka Maoli girls trafficked in Waikīkī, O‘ahu (Amina, 2022).

∞ 38% (N= 74) of those arrested for soliciting sex from a thirteen-year-old online through Operation Keiki Shield are active-duty military personnel (Hawai‘i Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, 2022).

∞ In 2021, the Missing Child Center Hawai‘i (MCCH) assisted law enforcement with 376 recoveries of missing children. These cases are only 19% of the estimated 2,000 cases of missing children in Hawai‘i each year (MCCH, 2021).

∞ On Hawai‘i Island, Kānaka Maoli children ages 15-17, represent the highest number of missing children’s cases, with the most children reported missing in area code 96720, Hilo (Hawai‘i Island Police Department, 2022).

(Editor's Note: According to 2010 Census, 44.6% of Hawaii County population age 10-17 identifies as Native Hawaiian alone or in combination. LINK: See pg 74.)

∞ From 2018-2021, there were 182 cases of missing Kānaka Maoli girls on Hawai‘i Island, higher than any other racial group (N= 1,175) (Hawai‘i Island Police Department, 2022).

∞ 57% of participants served through the Mana‘olana Program at Child & Family Services are Native Hawaiian females who have experienced human trafficking (Mana‘olana, CFS, 2021-2022).

read … Full Report
https://www.oha.org/wp-content/uploads/MMNHWG-Report_Web.pdf

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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/12/20/editorial/our-view/editorial-a-sharper-focus-on-sex-trafficking/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser December 20, 2022, EDITORIAL

A sharper focus on sex trafficking

There is much more work to do to find solutions for the roots of the problem, but the overarching issue seems clear enough: Native Hawaiians are disproportionately represented among the girls in the islands who go missing and are the targets of sex trafficking.

That wakeup call is a key finding of a report from the Missing and Murdered Native Hawaiian Task Force convened by the state Legislature last year.

One of the principal findings in the report, titled “Holoi a nalo Wahine ‘Oiwi,” is that more racially specific research data is needed to understand fully what conditions and problems are the cause of the peril faced by Hawaiian girls and women.

It makes sense to make this an important focus — funding agencies and organizations could then better tailor programs to address the specific issues that leave Native Hawaiians so vulnerable. And the resulting outreach to remedy the causes inevitably helps other racial groups caught up in similar circumstances.

But the 22-page document, released last week, already says enough to justify immediately amplifying work already being done by government and various organizations to address concerns for women and girls.

The report notes that more than one-fourth of the missing girls in Hawaii are of Native Hawaiian ancestry, whereas only one-fifth of the state’s people are part of its Indigenous host population.

Even more startling data points: 43% of sex trafficking cases involved Native Hawaiian girls trafficked in Waikiki, and that 38% of arrests for soliciting sex from 13-year-olds have been of active-duty military personnel.

Social service experts trained in this area say that, while they are not surprised by this, these observations validate what activists have observed for years.

The task force is patterned after similar panels established in several other states after a worrisome report by the Urban Indian Health Institute identified large numbers of missing and slain Indigenous women and girls.

In 2021, state House Concurrent Resolution 11 was adopted to establish the task force. It is administered through the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, with additional research funding support from nonprofit Native Hawaiian health board, Papa Ola Lokahi Inc.

The methodology was to survey literature on the issue and draw data from state and community agencies. It explained the systemic barriers faced by many Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, such as poverty, substance abuse and involvement in foster care and the criminal justice system. Some takeaways from the report:

>> More than one-third of adults experiencing physical violence at the hands of an intimate partner in this state are Indigenous, according to 2013 data.

>> Of the nearly 30% of high school students reporting emotional abuse by an intimate partner in a 12-month span in 2017, 38% are Hawaiian.

>> Of the sex trafficking cases tracked by Susannah Wesley Community Center between October 2021 and May 2022, 45% are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

Agencies that serve Native Hawaiian interests, such as OHA, Kamehameha Schools and Hawaiian civic groups and nonprofits should seek ways to fund or otherwise assist social service groups already confronting the crisis.

But there’s a lack of precision on where problems lie, due to varying definitions agencies use and the absence of consistent information on ethnicity, according to the report. Lawmakers should support efforts to gather that granular detail.

To do less would be to deal another blow to Native Hawaiians. Lifting them up instead would elevate all of Hawaii.

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** Ken Conklin's online comment(s)

There is one simple fact that explains the statistics malpractice found in every one of these "studies" portraying "Native Hawaiians" as the worst victims for sex trafficking, drug abuse, heart disease, cancer, diabetes etc etc. Nearly EVERY NH is mixed race. For perhaps 3/4 of them, more than 3/4 of their individual ancestry is from Europe or Asia. The malpractice happens because whenever a victim says they are NH, that's the end of the researcher's labeling of their race. They are counted as fully NH and nothing else. So all those other races in the victim's ancestry get zero tally marks when counting what percent of victims fall into each racial group. So of course NH look like worst victims when they are not.

---

To do statistics correctly, each victim should be required to tell what percent of his/her ancestry is NH, what % is Filipina, what % is Chinese, what % is Caucasian, etc.; and each racial group should be "awarded" that percentage of a tally mark for each victim. But politically, many NH will say "I'm NH, end of story, one drop of NH blood makes me fully NH." And all researchers say that too. Great for ethnic pride. Great for getting gobs of tax dollars handed out to wealthy powerful NH gangs like OHA, CNHA, Papa Ola Lokahi, UH Hawn Studies. It's pure baloney. Researches get paid by NH organizations to gather data & write reports used for applying for more grants to gather more data and write more reports. Nobody wants to do seriously accurate research. Including editors of this newspaper. It's a huge scam; statisticians know it and have everything to gain by playing along.

---

Correct statistical method is to award a % of a tally mark for victimhood to each race in victim's ancestry equal to the % of that race in each victim's ancestry. Is that too intrusive, violates privacy, too hard to gather data and crunch the numbers? Too bad!

But here are 2 other ways to do the research -- less scientifically accurate but better than current nonsense where 1% of magic blood gets 100% tally mark.

1. Each victim tells the one race which has highest % in their ancestry, and one full tally mark goes to that race. In case two races have equal %, toss a coin to decide which one wins.

2. Focus on NH ancestry and ignore all others. For each victim, ask what is their % of NH ancestry. Make a line-graph of all data combined: horizontal axis is % of NH ancestry and vertical axis is # of victims. If the line slopes up, then being NH is correlated as a possible cause of the problem. If line is flat or squiggly, then NH is not correlated and not the cause.

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https://www.ilind.net/2022/12/31/attorney-known-for-arguing-hawaiian-kingdom-sovereignty-gives-up-his-law-license/
Ian Lind blog Saturday December 31, 2022

Attorney known for arguing Hawaiian Kingdom sovereignty gives up his law license

An attorney who became the leading courtroom proponent of the “Kingdom defense”, the idea that those who consider themselves citizens of the Hawaiian Kingdom are not subject to federal and state laws and, therefore, cannot be held accountable in criminal or civil courts, has abruptly resigned from the practice of law.

Dexter K. Kaiama announced his resignation from the state bar in a sworn declaration filed in the Hawaii Supreme Court on Thursday, December 29, at 6:54 p.m.

His resignation came in response to an order by the Supreme Court to “show cause…informing this court of any reasons as to why he should not be suspended from the practice of law immediately” for failing to cooperate with an active investigation of alleged misconduct carried out by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.

The court, in its December 19 show cause order, said Kaiama “knowingly and wilfully failed to obey a lawful subpoena, issued by ODC under the authority of this court,” contrary to his duty, as an attorney licensed to practice law, to cooperate with the Disciplinary Counsel. He was given ten days to answer or face immediate suspension.

Kaiama, 63, also claims the title of appointed attorney general of the “Hawaiian Kingdom” headed by David Keanu Sai, one of several competing sovereignty groups that claim to represent a resurrected, reinstated, or reestablished Hawaiian Kingdom government.

He was admitted to the practice of law in Hawaii in October 1986.

In multiple cases and court filings over a number of years, Kaiama has used the legally-discredited notion that Hawaii’s annexation to the U.S. in 1898 wasn’t legal, the Hawaiian Kingdom continues to exist as a state pursuant to international law and has been under a prolonged and illegal occupation, leaving Kingdom law still in effect. As a result, Kaiama has argued federal and state courts have no jurisdiction in civil or criminal matters.

Although this legal argument has never succeeded in court, Kaiama has nonetheless continued to push it in a number of criminal and civil cases in both state and federal courts, which has brought him into conflict with the Disciplinary Counsel and other agencies.

In 2019, the Supreme Court approved an ODC recommendation that Kaiama be publicly censured for accusing Circuit Court Judge Greg K. Nakamura of being a “war criminal.” Kaiama argued Hawaii is an “occupied territory” under the international laws of war and disputes properly belong in a military courtroom, and that Nakamura therefore was a war criminal for allowing the foreclosure case to go forward.

In June 2020, Kaiama was permanently barred from providing “legal services or any other assistance” to any homeowner whose property is facing actual or threatened foreclosure. The action came after the State Office of Consumer Protection filed a civil lawsuit alleging Kaiama had been part of a foreclosure defense scheme that violated the state’s Mortgage Rescue Fraud Prevention Act.

James Evers, attorney for the Office of Consumer Protection, referred the case against Kaiama in the foreclosure fraud to law enforcement agencies, and in late 2018 apparently filed a complaint with ODC against Kaiama based on the same investigative findings, triggering the case that has now led to Kaiama’s resignation.

Along with his response to ODC, which ended in his resignation announcement, Kaiama also filed a document in the Supreme Court record accusing the justices of the Hawaii Supreme Court, two 3rd Circuit judges, Evers (the Consumer Protection attorney) and attorneys and staff of the Disciplinary Counsel, of being war criminals for failing to recognize the existence of the Hawaiian Kingdom and depriving Hawaiian nationals of fair trials during what the report calls the prolonged military occupation of Hawaii.

Kaiama filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii in 2021 on behalf of the Hawaiian Kingdom, bringing the same charges against a slew of defendants, including President Biden and a number of federal officials, then Hawaii Governor David Ige, members of the Hawaii Supreme Court, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, and honorary counsels representing dozens of countries.

The government’s motion to dismiss the case is instructive.

“Plaintiff bases its claims on the proposition that the Hawaiian Kingdom is a sovereign and independent state. However, ‘Hawaii is a state of the United States . … The Ninth Circuit, this court, and Hawaii state courts have rejected arguments asserting Hawaiian sovereignty.’”

“[T]here is no factual (or legal) basis for concluding that the [Hawaiian] Kingdom exists as a state in accordance with recognized attributes of a state’s sovereign nature,” the government argued, concluding Kaiama’s “claims are ‘so patently without merit that the claim[s] require no meaningful consideration.’”

In a Civil Beat column published in early 2014, I reviewed an earlier Hawaii Supreme Court decision responding to similar arguments.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2014/02/21292-hawaii-monitor-some-laughable-royalty-claims/

In the latest case of this kind, decided earlier this year, the court went out of its way to reject arguments made by members of one Hawaiian sovereignty group that they were exempt from state law because they are “citizens” subject to the laws of the Hawaiian Kingdom (State v. Armitage, decided January 28, 2014).

The case involved criminal charges filed against Henry Noa and two other members of the Restored Hawaiian Government (also referred to as the Reinstated Kingdom of Hawaii or Reinstated Nation of Hawaii) for landing on Kahoolawe in a demonstration they described as aimed at “reclaiming” Kahoolawe and all other public lands for their Reinstated Kingdom.

The Supreme Court dismissed the criminal charges on a technicality, but then took the occasion to systematically address the sovereignty arguments raised in this case and others.

The court acknowledged the state’s stated openness to resolving outstanding historical claims that might be asserted by Hawaiians based on the Legislature’s previous recognition of their “unrelinquished sovereignty.” But the court said clearly that it could not, and would not, pick and choose among the claims of competing sovereignty groups.

“To date, no sovereign native Hawaiian entity has been recognized by the United States and the State of Hawaii,” and the court noted that there are “several” organizations vying for such recognition.

Whether or not an independent sovereign Hawaiian Kingdom exists is a political question and is not a matter for the courts to determine, the court ruled.

Only when a sovereign Hawaiian governing entity is recognized in the local, national and international arenas will it be granted the appropriate legal deference. Today, no group is able to claim such recognition.

The court also held that while the state Constitution protects “all rights, customarily and traditionally exercised for subsistence, cultural and religious purposes,” building a native Hawaiian nation is not one of the fundamental rights protected by the constitution.

And the court noted that, contrary to a popular belief in sovereignty circles, “individuals claiming to be citizens of an independent sovereign entity are not exempt from the state’s laws.” “’International law’ takes precedence over state statutes in only limited circumstances,” the court held. “These circumstances are not present when the dispute is concerned with domestic rights and duties.”

See:

Attorney known for his use of the “Kingdom defense” apparently at odds with Disciplinary Counsel, iLind.net, 9/1/2022
https://www.ilind.net/2022/09/01/attorney-known-for-his-use-of-the-kingdom-defense-apparently-at-odds-with-disciplinary-counsel/

Lawyer known for “sovereignty defenses” barred from future foreclosure assistance, iLind.net, 6/21/2020
https://www.ilind.net/2020/06/21/lawyer-known-for-sovereignty-defenses-barred-from-future-foreclosure-assistance/

More of the sovereignty movement’s pseudo-legal theories, iLind.net, 2/2/2020
https://www.ilind.net/2020/02/02/more-of-the-sovereignty-movements-pseudo-legal-theories/

Two sovereignty advocates hit with allegations of mortgage rescue fraud, iLind.net, 5/11/2019
https://www.ilind.net/2019/05/11/two-sovereignty-advocates-hit-with-allegations-of-mortgage-rescue-fraud/

Keanu Sai claimed “diplomatic immunity” shielded him from fraud allegations, iLind.net, 5/13/2019
https://www.ilind.net/2019/05/13/keanu-sai-claimed-diplomatic-immunity-shielded-him-from-fraud-allegations/

Here’s Why Hawaii Judges Are Not ‘War Criminals’, Civil Beat, 5/11/2017
https://www.civilbeat.org/2017/05/ian-lind-heres-why-hawaii-judges-are-not-war-criminals/

Dispute Muddies Already Confusing State of Sovereignty Claims, Civil Beat, 9/2/2015
https://www.civilbeat.org/2015/09/ian-lind-dispute-muddies-already-confusing-state-of-sovereignty-claims/

The ‘Kingdom Defense’ Is a Dead End for Mauna Kea Protesters, Civil Beat, July 22, 2015
https://www.civilbeat.org/2015/07/ian-lind-the-kingdom-defense-is-a-dead-end-for-mauna-kea-protesters/

TMT protesters cling to discredited legal defense, iLind.net, 7/20/2015
https://www.ilind.net/2015/07/20/tmt-protesters-cling-to-discredited-legal-defense/

------

** Ken Conklin's online comment:

Ian, thank you for calling attention to Dexter Kaiama's forced resignation from the practice of law. At least Kaiama behaved with better decorum than another, previous "Attorney General" of Keanu Sai's fake Kingdom, Gary Dubin, who partnered with former Governor Waihe'e in another home foreclosure "rescue" company and weekly "Foreclosure Hour" radio broadcast. Dubin had been Sai's A.G. during the "World Court" circus at the Hague, and then a year or two ago spent a long time kicking and screaming as the Hawaii Supreme Court slowly ripped away his law license, exercising due process with "all deliberate speed".

But something is much more valuable than your news report about Kaiama's loss of license, and your previous reports about Dubin's demise: your persistence in tracking the legal topic you have named "the Kingdom defense." Thank you for the numerous footnotes citing your writings on that topic.

==================

Send comments or questions to:
Ken_Conklin@yahoo.com

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