Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 11, 1 November 2006 — Day v. Apoliona [ARTICLE]

Day v. Apoliona

I am Samuel Kealoha, a former OHA trustee and one of the five 50-percent blood native Hawaiian plaintiffs in the Day v. Apoli.ona lawsuit. The dismissal of Day v. Apoli.ona by U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway on Aug. 7 is a sad farce. But what's even more shameful is the arrogant interpretation by our self-righteous colonized Hawaiian Americans and the phony state agency they created of the district court's "laek of jurisdiction" ruling as a "ringing defeat." The United States Congress has recognized the 50-percent blood Hawaiians since 1920. This polhieal

recognition was amended into the Admission Act in 1959 by more than 94 percent of the people who voted for statehood, including our "l/16-shy" Hawaiians who are now whining for federal recognition. After more than 30 years of iinderiiiining the 50-percent blood Hawaiians' self-determination, it took Rice v. Cayetano to expose this perpetrated scheme with shake-and-bake nation builders and our longtime "nonprofit" leeches pili to the trough. We advocate Day v. Apoli.ona to honor our kūpuna who began "the walk of self-determination" and the late Mitsuo Uehara for the creation of Ho'āla Kānāwai (awakening of the law) in 1976, a 50-percent blood "native Hawaiian initiative" and the predecessor to Ka Lāhui Hawai'i. The phony rhetoric of "Reconciliation and Justice" by our colonized Hawaiian Americans on behalf of the 300,000 l/32-shy Hawaiians is absurd. Until the courts of the United States find the courage and begin to "walk this most difficult terrain," this state-created kaumaha will continue for the next 30 years. Samuel Kealoha Kaunakakai, Moloka'i