For the second time in a week, I got a comment hidden. This time, I puckishly put an animated gif on of an exploding nuke in response to a threat by a bunch of morons to have a referendum on Texas seceding from the Union. So much for cheap humor. However…
Let’s take this seriously for a moment. Late last week, Justice Anthony Kennedy issued an injunction voiding a “Natives Only” election for delegates to a convention empowered to possibly remove Hawaii from the Union.
This was one of those things that was controversial from the start. The overthrow of the monarchy in the 19th century and the annexation of the resulting Republic by the United States in 1900 is relevant but won’t be discussed here. What is, is that there’s an “Indian reservation” of sorts on the island of Niihau, and there are about a hundred thousand people with Native Hawaiian ancestry living in the Aloha state.
Last September, the US Department of the Interior issued a memorandum, which reads in part:
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced today a proposal to create an administrative procedure and criteria that the Secretary of the Interior would apply if the Native Hawaiian community forms a unified government that then seeks a formal government-to-government relationship with the United States. Under the new proposal, the Native Hawaiian community — not the Federal government — would decide whether to reorganize a Native Hawaiian government, what form that government would take, and whether it would seek a government-to-government relationship with the United States.
“The United States has a long-standing policy of supporting self-governance for Native peoples, yet the benefits of the government-to-government relationship have long been denied to Native Hawaiians, one of our nation’s largest indigenous communities,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. “Today’s proposal is testament to the Obama Administration’s strong support for our nation’s Native peoples’ right to self-determination.”
So the election was set up. Mail-in ballots went out on November 1st, and were due to be counted yesterday. But, as was said before, the Supreme Court blocked them from being counted.
Yes, the Native Hawaiians have been screwed, but the Supreme Court was right in this case. Unlike Indian Tribes, other ethnic groups aren’t recognized by the the Federal Government as corporate entities. Blacks and Hispanics, for example, are not recognized as corporate entities that can rule territories or negotiate like Labor Unions with state or federal governments.
Supporting Black and Hispanic rights is supporting the rights of the people who just happen to be Black or Hispanic. Among these rights is NOT included the right to form a government and leave the Union. Some Native Hawaiians are to some extent advocating an apartheid state, a bantustan, with the rights of “Native Hawaiians” trampled outside it, or worse, an independent secessionist state with the rights of the majority trampled. Most are not.
As to who might win if the votes were counted, I don’t know (finding poll results on the issue is almost impossible), but most articles on the subject, being recognized as an “indian tribe” with a reservation of Niihu and parts of the Big Island, are not popular.
The issues in the Hawaiian case have a few valid points, but Texas, on the other hand does not. Any referendum on secession cannot get on the ballot, as secession is treason and cannot be recognized as anything else barring a constitutional amendment. If Texas secedes, the Marines will be sent to Austin, if Hawaii secedes, the Marines will be sent to Honolulu.