Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 7, 1 July 2013 — Schatz urges justice for Hawaiians [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Schatz urges justice for Hawaiians

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawai'i) spoke on the Senate floor on Kamehameha Day to eall for long-

sought-after federal recognition for Hawaiians - "a top priority of my immediate predecessors in this body" - he said, referring to the late Sen. Daniel i

tnouye ana retirea ien. uamei AKaKa. "Inaction puts Native Hawaiians at a unique disadvantage," Schatz said. "Of the three major groups of Native Americans in the United States - American Indians, Alaska Natives and

Native Hawaiians - only Native Hawaiians currently laek the benefits of democratic self- i

government." Schatz said federal policies and actions stripped or weakened Native Ameri-

cans of their language, family structure, land bases, cultural practices and traditional leadership. "And these policies were as harmful and unjust to Native Hawaiians as they were to Alaska Natives and Ameri-

ean Indians," he said. Schatz covered the long history of Hawaiians

from contact with Capt. James Cook in 1778, the American forces-backed overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893, President Clinton's signing of the Apology Resolution a century later, to the state's ongoing effort to register qualified Hawaiians for the Native Hawaiian Roll - a step in forming a Hawaiian governing entity.

"It is long past time for the Native Hawaiian people to regain their right to self-gov-emanee," he said. ■

| U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz