Racial Government Defeated

Good news. The US Senate did not get the supermajority needed to pass Daniel Arakaka's racial government. It would have set up a separate government for only those with one drop of Hawaiian blood. Hawaii is very diverse and integrated, so this would be a step backward socially as well as an insult to every American.

I saw it reported that there were no hearings on Akaka's bill in Hawaii. There is a lot of opposition to it and old Daniel didn't want to hear it. So he didn't allow a hearing.

Honolulu Advertiser

But opponents hammered at the bill, saying it would create an unconstitutional, race-based government.

"Nearly every time our government has taken race into account when dealing with its citizens, the effects have been detrimental if not devastating," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the assistant majority leader. "Unfortunately, today the Senate is considering a bill that would wreck the progress we have made."

McConnell said the bill "violates the letter and spirit" of the Constitution.

"The way this bill tries to maneuver around this unconstitutionality is by ... creating a new tribe of Native Hawaiians," he said. "But this new tribe is a shell game. As recently as 1998, the state of Hawai'i itself acknowledged that the tribal concept has no historical basis in Hawai'i."