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| US Civil Rights Commission Gets Another One Right |
| 2009-08-30 |
| The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which three years ago opposed tenets of the so-called Akaka Bill that would create a process for Native Hawaiian self-governance, today issued a letter once again opposing the bill. In its letter to Democrat and Republican leaders of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House, the Commission wrote that it "recommends against passage of the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act...or any other legislation that would discriminate on the basis of race or national origin and further subdivide the American People into discrete subgroups accorded varying degrees of privilege. "Congress has the constitutional authority to re-organize racial or ethnic groups into dependent sovereign nations unless those groups have a long and continuous history of separate self-governance." The Commission called the Akaka Bill "an attempted end-run around the Supreme Court's decisions in Rice v. Cayetano and City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co. The Constitution, however, cannot be circumvented so easily. And even if it could be, we would oppose passing legislation with the purpose of shoring up a system of racially exclusive benefits." The letter ends by quoting the 1840 Kingdom of Hawaii Constitution, which was signed by Kamehameha III and Keoni Ana, the son of British-born Hawaiian minister John Young: "God has made of one blood all races of people to dwell upon this earth in unity and blessedness." |
| Posted by:Snick Whuger2011 |
| #8 "Get sick before June," when the budgeted funds for treatment run out, or so I've read. It's partly because of, lord garth. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-08-30 16:18 |
| #7 fwiw, the Indian Tribes that A-moose mentions get free govt provided medical care on reservation land depite this (or partly because of it), the lifespan of Inidans on tribal lands is way below the ave US |
| Posted by: lord garth 2009-08-30 15:25 |
| #6 The *real* reason behind this is the unholy nightmare that is the BIA. The treaties that were made with many of the various tribes are nonsensical (literally) exercises in gibberish. Some with non-contextual "cut and paste" paragraphs from unrelated documents. They make no sense, then or now. Add to that the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has lost or stolen billions in tribal royalties, and most of its records, and now has had its last four or five secretaries issued federal orders of contempt as soon as they entered office. Fortunately, the non-tribal indigenous peoples, the Alaskans and Hawaiians, are out of that loop. But the Akaka bill would open it all up again. We're talking 50+ years of bitter litigation, and the renegotiation and rewriting of all the Indian treaties. It's no wonder that reform in this is on the schedule right after a successful manned flight to Alpha Centauri. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-08-30 11:55 |
| #5 #1 Native Hawaiians can be real racists. Shocked that Obama isn't supporting them. Posted by gromky Yes, but one has to admit, their educational system is certainly tops. [snark off] |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-08-30 07:57 |
| #4 "The Constitution, however, cannot be circumvented so easily." Hasn't been paying much attention to SCOTUS decrees either. It's been a lot easier to convince 9 people to invert the language or expand the power than to go through the uncertain process of amending the contract. That difficulty, of course, was the intent of the Founding Fathers in making sure changes had the 'consent of the governed'. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-08-30 06:52 |
| #3 the civ rths commission has also been on the right side in the Holder dismissal of the charges against the Phil based black pathers |
| Posted by: lord garth 2009-08-30 05:51 |
| #2 "The Constitution, however, cannot be circumvented so easily." Y'all ain't been paying much attention since January 20, have you? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-08-30 00:16 |
| #1 Native Hawaiians can be real racists. Shocked that Obama isn't supporting them. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-08-30 00:15 |