In its latest assault on the U.S. Constitution, the Obama administration is proposing to recognize so-called “Native” Hawaiians as an Indian tribe entitled to separate and become an independent sovereign and to “reestablish” a “government-to-government relationship between the United State and the Native Hawaiian community.”
Such an unconstitutional action would amount to authorizing secession for certain residents of Hawaii.
It would also implicitly authorize government-sanctioned, discriminatory conduct against any other residents who don’t meet the explicit ancestry and blood-quantum requirements to be considered a “Native.” This would balkanize Hawaii, dividing the islands into separate racial and ethnic enclaves, and undo “the political bargain through which Hawaii secured its admission into the Union.”
At the end of June, the Department of the Interior issued an “Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” that set out the administration’s plan, with the opportunity for the public to file comments ending on August 19. No doubt to its chagrin, the administration encountered strong opposition at a series of hearings the Interior Department held in Hawaii in June and July, with one official from the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs being loudly booed when she declared her support for the plan.
◼ The Obama Administration’s Attempt to Balkanize Hawaii - Heritage Foundation
Both unconstitutional and bad public policy, this action would balkanize Hawaii, dividing the islands into separate racial and ethnic enclaves. It would also undo “the political bargain through which Hawaii secured its admission into the Union … when native Hawaiians themselves voted for statehood, thus voluntarily and democratically relinquishing any residual sovereignty to the United States.”...
What the Interior Department does not mention, however, is that it encountered strong opposition at a series of ANPR hearings held in Hawaii.[7] At one such hearing, “the vast majority of native Hawaiians who testified” were “indignant and even outraged, that the federal government would try to insert itself or side with any faction of native Hawaiians,” and “they scolded, shouted at and questioned the motives of Interior Department officials.”[8] Colette Machado, chairperson of the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs, “encountered loud protests and boos when she declared her support for the federal government and encouraged officials to move forward” with the proposal.
