The U.S. Civil Rights Commission, in a reversal of its previous stance, has come out in favor of Native Hawaiian federal recognition as a sovereign political entity.
The panel this week released its newest report, “Broken Promises: Continuing Federal Funding Shortfall for Native Americans,” in which by a 6-2 vote, members endorsed the concept of recognition as sketched out in variations of the so-called “Akaka Bill,” named for the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, its chief sponsor. A decade ago, a far more conservative group of commissioners had rejected the bill, which did not help it on its course through Capitol Hill.
That is a welcome change of position. It was important for a body such as the federal civil rights panel to, as Commissioner Karen Narasaki said, correct the record. In a telephone interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser editorial staff, she said she considered the previous finding to be “an embarrassment.” It’s hard to dispute that reaction.
Narasaki, along with fellow commission member Michael Yuki, wrote a commentary published here on Thursday’s op-ed page, in which they noted: “We hope this correction spurs Congress to reconsider and pass legislation that addresses the recognition of Native Hawaiian sovereignty.”
There is currently no such effort in the works, either through congressional action or the administrative course laid out in the waning days of the Obama presidency.
There should be. Finding a way to acknowledge, finally, the rights of self-determination for the state’s indigenous people would accord
Native Hawaiians a nation-within-
a-nation status many have sought.
This would be in keeping with the trust relationship the federal government has established with other native groups, formalizing a long history of federal legislation and programs that has defined the relationship for the better part of a century.
However, there are other aspects of the commission’s report in which prospects for improvement do seem hopeful. The panel recognizes the disproportionate impact of the criminal justice system on indigenous people, including Native Hawaiians.
And now that Congress took a step toward a right-sized criminal-justice system with a newly enacted package of reforms, there could be adjustments to prosecutorial and sentencing policies that could help Native Hawaiians, as well as other ethnic minorities overrepresented in prisons.
The “Broken Promises” report is a 312-page document that surveyed the status of Native Americans, Alaska natives and Native Hawaiians and their needs unmet by federal programs.
It covers their population distribution and socioeconomic status, health conditions and access to care, education, housing and economic development. It also includes opposing statements from the commissioners who voted against the majority position.
But a large section of the document does outline the social ills stemming from some of the highest rates of crime and victimization. Specifically on Native Hawaiians, the report cites figures showing that “despite constituting 24 percent of the Hawaiian population, Native Hawaiians represented 39 percent of the state’s incarcerated population.” They are more likely to be jailed for drug offenses and receive longer sentences for the same offenses than other groups, the report states.
The bipartisan criminal-justice bill, now awaiting the president’s signature, is aptly titled the First Step Act. In fact, it won’t solve all these problems, but its major provisions include an easing of mandatory minimum sentences, and penalties for drug charges.
Perhaps this all signals a return to a more fair-minded view of how native and other underprivileged populations should be treated. Now it’s up to the indigenous people themselves to help society move the needle even further.
