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| Hundreds of protesters waving signs, many dressed in red, surround organizer Derek Kauanoe during the press conference portion of the rally held yesterday at the state Capitol near the statue of Queen Lili'uokalani. The gathering was called to demand that the state withdraw its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of the State of Hawai'i v. OHA over the sale of ceded lands. Photo: Blaine Fergerstrom |
Kupu'āina Coalition protests state's U.S. Supreme appeal over ceded land sales
Gov. Lingle says state will not withdraw appeal
By T. Ilihia Gionson / Ka Wai Ola
Signs with exclamations like "Ceded lands are stolen lands!", "Don't meddle until we settle!", and "No bust the trust!" gave a visual summary of the reason about 300 Native Hawaiians and supporters rallied at the state Capitol on Monday.
The protesters gathered to urge Governor Linda Lingle to drop the state's appeal of the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court's January 31, 2008 decision regarding the sale or transfer of ceded lands that is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
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| Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Chair Haunani Apoliona chants Na 'Oiwi 'Olino before addressing the crowd. The state is appealing a ruling by the Hawai'i Supreme Court to the U.S. Supreme Court over the state's right to sell ceded lands. Photo: Blaine Fergerstrom |
The ceded lands are 1.2 million acres of former Hawaiian government
land ceded to the state as part of the 1959 Admission Act. Revenues
from the use of the Public Land Trust, as the body of land has come to
be known, go to five purposes, one of which is the betterment of
conditions of native Hawaiians through the programs of the Office of
Hawaiian Affairs.
In 1994, OHA and four individual plaintiffs – Pia Thomas Aluli, Jonathan Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio, Charles Kaʻaiʻai and Keoki Kamaka Kiʻili – sued
to prevent the state from selling ceded lands; specifically in that
case, 500 acres in Lāhaina, Maui and 1,000 acres in Kona, Hawaiʻi.
The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court's January opinion, written by Chief Justice
Ronald Moon, said in part, "We believe… that the Apology Resolution…
and the related state legislation, give rise to the State's fiduciary
duty to preserve the corpus of the public land trust, specifically, the
ceded lands, until such time as the unrelinquished claims of the native
Hawaiians have been resolved."
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| Jon Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio, a professor at the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at UH Mānoa, addresses the crowd and the media at a press conference preceding a rally at the state capitol on Monday. Behind him, protestors held signs with slogans like "No Bust The Trust" imploring Governor Linda Lingle to drop the state's appeal of a Hawaiʻi Supreme Court ruling barring the state from selling or transferring ceded lands until native claims are settled. Photo: Blaine Fergerstrom |
In April, the state appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, and in October, the court decided to hear the case.
Monday's protest was organized by the Kupu'āina Coalition, which is
comprised of the ʻAhahui o Hawaiʻi Native Hawaiian law student
organization of UH Mānoa's William S. Richardson School of Law, UH
Mānoa students, and community leaders.
"We're concerned about the State Attorney General [Mark Bennett]'s
statement… that this appeal is about clouded title to ceded land," said
Kupuʻāina member Derek Kauanoe. "The truth of the matter is this appeal
has the potential to address much more. Intentions aside, we need to
look at the potential impacts of this appeal, which are dangerous and
unnecessary."
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| "We all gotta come together," said Bray Kapiko of Kāneʻohe, who held an upside-down Hawaiian flag at Monday's rally at the state capitol. He urged unity amongst Hawaiians for a favorable outcome in the state's federal court appeal of a Hawaiʻi Supreme Court decision that barred the state from selling or transferring ceded lands until Native Hawaiian claims to the lands are settled. Photo: Blaine Fergerstrom |
"This case now headed to the U.S. Supreme Court is of grave concern,"
OHA Board Chairperson Haunani Apoliona said. "We firmly stand behind
the state Supreme Court's opinion which says the state should keep the
ceded land trust intact until Native Hawaiian claims to these lands are
settled."
"It's important to understand the connection of the land, our
ancestors, and us. We depend on the land for everything," said Shad
Kāne of Nākoa o Pālehua. Food comes from the land, and "food
consumption is a sacred function. Many foods are kinolau of our gods.
That's why land is so important."
"Lots of people have lost that basic understanding," Kāne said.
"In 1959, [the state] screwed up," said protestor Anthony Benzon. "Give the land back to the Hawaiians."
Lingle will not withdraw appeal
By Lisa Asato / Ka Wai Ola
Gov. Linda Lingle in a statement issued yesterday said her administration remains committed to Native Hawaiian programs, but she will not withdraw the state's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"I supported the appeal to the United States Supreme Court because I believe the Congress did not take from the state in 1993 the rights it gave the state in 1959," the statement said, referring to the 1993 Apology Resolution, which apologized for the United States' role in the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and the 1959 Admission Act, which transferred some 1.2 million acres of ceded lands to the state for five purposes, including education, affordable housing and the betterment of the condition of Hawaiian people.
"As the governor of all Hawai'i's people, Native Hawaiian and non-Native Hawaiian alike, I could not in good conscience seek to withdraw our appeal to the United States Supreme Court and will not do so," the statement said.
Speaking to reporters before the rally, she said her administration's support for Native Hawaiian programs has been "unparalleled by previous administrations," including moving more families onto homestead lands and its support of the Akaka Bill, which seeks federal recognition of a Native Hawaiian governing entity. "Anyone who characterizes our taking this case to the Supreme Court as somehow being against Hawaiian rights is simply misrepresenting … our position," she said.
She and Attorney General Mark Bennett told reporters that the case would not affect a proposed settlement for past-due revenues owed to OHA by the state. The measure was defeated in the state Legislature last session but is expected to be reintroduced this session.
Bennett said the Hawai'i Supreme Court's decision has "large practical consequences" that currently bars it from permanently transferring any ceded lands to a non-state party, he said. "It says it lasts only until some future undefined event, but this injunction could last for decades," he said. Ceded lands comprise almost 100 percent of the state's land holdings, including parcels housing in whole or in part facilities like the University of Hawaii in Manoa and Hilo, Honolulu International Airport, state harbors, many public schools and Hilo Hospital.
He said 29 states filed so-called friend of the court briefs supporting the state of Hawai'I's appeal to the Supreme Court because they also received their lands – held in trust – from the U.S. government through an admission act or resolution of admission. And those states also want to ensure that a state's land rights can't be taken away by an apology resolution or act of Congress, he said.
Addressing concerns that the U.S. Supreme Court could also address race-based programs in its ruling in the ceded lands case, Bennett said: "The issue of the legality or constitutionality of (race-based programs) is not germane to that legal issue. I think that anybody who understands the court's jurisprudence would agree with that. Would that mean it's impossible that the court could touch on this issue? It's not impossible, but I think it's extremely unlikely." He said the state's brief to the court will make sure to say it's not raising the issue of race-based programs.
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