We Are Ohana

Billy Frank, Jr. is chairman or the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. As a statement from the NWIFC chairman, the column represents the interests and concerns of treaty Indian tribes throughout western Washington.

There’s an ancient bond between the Native Hawaiian people and the Indians of the Pacific Northwest. So when the Republican-led U.S. Senate turned thumbs down on Native Hawaiian sovereignty by defeating the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act in June, we felt the impact right here on the mainland.

There’s a familiar ring to it all. The United States government took over the sovereign nation of Hawaii from Queen Lili’uokalani in 1893. There was no justification for it, other than the American corporate interests there wanted to possess the land and resources that had belonged to the Hawaiian people for thousands of years. Barely 30 years earlier, they did the same thing here in the Pacific Northwest so farmers could till, miners could dig and timber barons could clearcut.

Since the Hawaiian takeover, commercialism has gone hog wild there. Most of the natural habitat and natural resources have been wiped out or polluted. The original inhabitants of the land have been killed off or pushed into small corners, treated like second-class citizens, and subjected to a million more insults and injuries.

Sounds more like home all the time.

Here’s another thing we have in common with the Hawaiians: We will never give up the pursuit of justice.

Congress has passed resolutions of apology to the tribes, acknowledging the important contributions we have made to America. They did the same for the Hawaiians with Public Law 103-150 (the “Apology Resolution”) in 1993. But as long as the destruction of the land and resources continues, as long as traditional rights are stomped upon and as long as people choose to ignore historic commitments, apologies are as worthless as a wet match.

Still, we will not give up.

As long as a drop of Native Hawaiian blood burns for the retention of their culture, language and traditional values, they will fight to stand up straight in the face of oppression. And we will stand up alongside our Native Hawaiian brothers and sisters. We are Ohana (family).

As long as the United States chooses to ignore the blemish of native human rights in its history, it will fail to achieve the greatness within its grasp. And so I send this message to the members of Congress, the Supreme Court and the Administration: Make it right for the first citizens of this land. Acknowledge and embrace the values of our stewardship. Open your eyes to the challenges we face and give us your hand as brothers and friends.

The apology passed by Congress in 1993 clearly acknowledged that the Native Hawaiians never relinquished their inherent sovereignty or their dignity as a people. It will not harm the United States to stand behind its word, keep its treaties and convey the same rights and liberties to natives as it does to others. Neither the Hawaiians nor the tribes are asking for a thing we do not, by all rights, already own. It’s time for the politicians to take a rest from their insistence for human rights in other countries, long enough to consider it in their own.

For more information, contact Steve Robinson or Tony Meyer, (360) 438-1180. §