Post #98292 by christiki295 on Thu, Jun 24, 2004 8:50 PM

Its all about who gets the land:

The bill is silent, though, on what many believe is the real issue underlying discussions of Hawaiian sovereignty: the 1.8 million acres of so-called ceded lands taken from the kingdom and passed on to the state government.

Those lands are held in trust, and 20 percent of their income flows to native Hawaiians, but many pro-sovereignty activists say they must all be returned to a Hawaiian nation. That is complicated by the fact that among the tracts are military bases around Pearl Harbor, the University of Hawaii campus, and Honolulu International Airport.

In part because the bill does not address the ceded lands, many hard-core sovereignty supporters oppose it.

"The minimum [acceptable] should be a sovereign nation with a land base inviolate," said Jon Osorio, a native Hawaiian who is a professor of Hawaiian studies at the University of Hawaii.
He added that Hawaiians could remain part of the United States and negotiate compensation for things such as military bases.

. . .
Micah Kane, director of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, said leases were now granted only to people whose incomes were below the median.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/6297339.htm?1c

In Arakaki vs. Cayetano (II), pla
intiffs are asking that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands be declared unconstitutional and invalid under the provisions of the Constitution of the United States of America. In addition they are asking that any and all moneys and properties be returned to the State of Hawaii and be used for all residents of the State of Hawaii. Should this lawsuit succeed, the waiting list for Hawaiian Homestead leases would cease to exist, current homesteaders would need to enter into negotiations with the State, and the OHA and DHHL would need to transfer all assets to the state, thereby ceasing to operate its programs which benefit Native Hawaiians.

Although Maui has 31,000 acres set aside as Home Lands, only 225 families actually had settled on homesteads during the program's 80-year history, using less than 150 acres.
Meanwhile, more than 3,000 families, many of whom had been waiting for decades, were still on the waiting list for a Maui homestead. Another 300 families, granted homestead leases 16 years earlier at Waiohuli, high on the slopes of Haleakala, were still waiting to begin building their homes. Continuing disputes between the state and county governments and a developer kept the gates locked and families out. Another 70 families, who had received homestead leases for farming, also 16 years earlier, were even further behind. There were no roads, electricity, or water. Incredibly, the families were told to just keep waiting.
"It was not a good time," says HCA Executive Director Jim Wagele. "Problems with the program were much more visible than any successes. We now realize that the Hawaiians whom the Home Lands were most intended to help, are the ones most likely to be excluded. We were asking native Hawaiians to be financially fit before they can access the program that is supposed to help them. That's a tall order for many native Hawaiian families."

The 300 families at Waiohuli, for example, did not have an effective advocate, especially since the homestead association had dissolved years before. HCA stepped in, helping the families re-establish the organization and training the new officers to interact more effectively with public officials. The revived homestead association proved successful in resolving the issues quickly, and in February 2002, the gates were finally unlocked. "It was a huge event, and the families had made it happen!" exclaimed Wagele.
http://www.ruralisc.org/hca_success.htm