1. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA – NATIVE HAWAIIAN RECOGNITION – MAUNA KEA
Nomi Carmona shared on Stand for Mauna Kea, Saturday, July 4, 2015,
As an American immigrant in Hawaii, I just want you to know that I
cannot wildly celebrate the principle of freedom, when my government
continues to oppress and illegally occupy Hawaiian Nationals. There are
many like me, who support Hawaiian sovereignty, and see the United
States has become a corporatocracy to the detriment of the world. It is my
hope that someday we can rectify what my government has done to your
government, because the quest for freedom is not over for my country or
yours. #alohaʻāina #kūkiaʻimauna
Chairman Robert K. Lindsey and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Kamana'opono Crabbe of the
Office of Hawaiian Affairs shared, “The matters raised by Mauna Kea extend beyond construction of
the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). Mauna Kea has brought together Native Hawaiian groups and
people of every culture and ethnicity here in Hawaii, our Nation and across the globe.”
President Barack Obama is a person of wisdom and vision. President Obama attempted to reach
out to the Native Hawaiian people, his efforts were rejected.
“A proposal by the Obama administration to create a new relationship
with ethnic Hawaiians may have backfired.
The U.S. Department of Interior is holding a series of hearings about the
plan, which, it said in a statement, would determine “the best path
forward for honoring the trust relationship that Congress has created
specifically to benefit Native Hawaiians.”
The vast majority of native Hawaiians who testified during a hearing here
Monday were indignant, and even outraged, that the federal government
would try to insert itself or side with any faction of native Hawaiians.
They scolded, shouted at and questioned the motives of Interior
Department officials. Many want the Hawaiian monarchy restored to
power and the U.S. government out of Hawaii.
Hawaiian activist Bumpy Kanahele, who heads the organization Nation of
Hawaii, told Interior officials: “We don’t need you to come in to tell us
how to govern ourselves. Let us figure it out.”

2. University of Hawaii Hawaiian studies professor Jonathan Osorio said the
feds shouldn’t intervene and impose additional “aggression upon our
nation.”
“The current effort to recognize a separate ethnic tribe by the Department
of the Interior is unconstitutional because, under the Constitution, it is the
Congress that has the plenary power to recognize tribes and ratify treaties.
That power does not reside in the executive branch of the federal
government or with the various states. So the current effort aimed at
creating a tribe of Hawaiians has no legal basis.” - Former Hawaii State
Attorney General Michael Lilly.
“Not only is it unconstitutional, but the administration has no authority to
enter into such a relationship. It is a sign of how the Obama
administration believes in official discrimination and sanctions it. They
continue to divide up our country and raise the walls between different
races. I find it disgusting that they want to do this.””
- Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
Source: Hawaii Free Press. Obama plan to benefit native Hawaiians runs
into trouble. Malia Zimmerman ‖ Watchdog.org. June 25, 2014.
http://watchdog.org/156202/incite-racial-disputes-hawaii/
Senator Daniel K. Inouye
“Few lawmakers embody the spirit and history of the tribal college
movement more than the late Senator Daniel K. Inouye. While his
legendary military and legislative record are known and honored
throughout Indian Country, it is essential to acknowledge his important
commitment to protecting the free exercise of American Indian languages,
religious ceremonies, cultural practices, and education. Inouye
represented Hawaii in the U.S. Senate for five decades before his death on
Dec. 17, 2012. He was 88.
Inouye understood even better than some tribal communities the perilous
condition of Native languages. He viewed our languages as “a miner’s
canary,” meaning their death signaled the eventual death of Indian
nations. For some this analogy may sound melodramatic, but for Inouye,
who was a student of comparative religions, Native languages were
inextricably linked to the practice of Native religions. He viewed Indian
nations as linguistically unique and believed the preservation of Native
languages was a necessity for their continued political survival as
sovereign nations. The founders of the tribal college movement share the
same belief.

3. This viewpoint reflected Inouye the legislator more than Inouye the
theologian. Inouye understood completely the rising hostility toward
Indian Country in Congress.
He recognized that the threat came not only from conservatives, but
also from progressives who often performed Olympic caliber
legislative calisthenics to dismiss the federal government from living
up to its trust obligation.
Undaunted by right-wing extremism and left-wing apathy, he set out
many years ago to help deliver America’s First Peoples their long-denied
spiritual freedom. He joined with other lawmakers to create significant
new laws, such as the Native American Languages Act, the American
Indian Religious Freedom Act, the Native American Graves Protection
and Repatriation Act, and the National Museum of the American Indian
Act. Inouye was one of the people who helped persuade President Bill
Clinton to sign executive orders protecting sacred sites and the
ceremonial use of eagle feathers. These remarkable achievements provide
statutory vehicles for Indian Country to stem the tide in the loss of
language and the erosion of ceremonial practices.
For over four decades, Inouye deployed collegiality and diplomacy as he
partnered with Indian Country to educate his congressional peers on the
legitimacy and need for tribal colleges. He understood that TCUs
legitimize Native languages, provide culturally based education, and
instill an American Indian world view in those who attend them. Inouye
believed that by establishing venues to advance the study and
revitalization of Native languages and Indigenous thought, TCUs are
creating a heightened form of communication both internally and with the
outside world.
For Inouye, the act of laying each brick and raising each building on
every tribal college campus across Indian Country signaled that Native
peoples were establishing their own academic canon and assuming tribal
ownership of Indian education. He often stated that Indian control over
Indian education was a necessary precursor to the fullest expression of
sovereignty, encouraging tribes to defend their futures by defending their
role in educating tribal members.
Ever the champion of justice, Inouye pointed out that America had
attempted to force American Indians into the same legal status as non-
Natives, which seriously endangered Native languages, religions, and
ceremonial practices. He recognized that tribal colleges provided a
counterbalance to the near eradication of all things Indian within the
American education system. Inouye maintained that America must make
an investment in Native languages and cultural protection, which included
tribal college funding, commensurate with its previous investment to
destroy Native languages, religions, and cultural practices.

4. Today we are picking up the pieces and rebuilding our nations with many
more arrows in our quiver than we would have had without this United
States senator who was determined to defend the languages and
spirituality of Native peoples.
TCUs are continuing Inouye’s work and are at the forefront of our march
towards freedom— intellectually, culturally, and spiritually.
The story of Indian Country’s tribal college movement is one of
perseverance, resiliency, and steadfast commitment in the face of
seemingly insurmountable odds. It is a story of our fathers and sons, our
mothers and daughters, our grandparents, our communities, and our tribes
who have worked to expand Indian control and ownership over Indian
education. It is a story that cannot be told without mentioning that we
once had an uncle in the United States Senate who cherished tribal
colleges.
Senator Inouye was the last living and serving member of Congress who
supported the genesis of the tribal college movement. As we mourn this
profound loss let us take comfort in the guiding cardinal values of Sinte
Gleska University whose president Lionel Bordeaux worked shoulder-
toshoulder for 40 years with Senator Inouye: Woksape (Wisdom)
Woohitika (Bravery) Wacantognaka (Generosity) Wowacintanka
(Perseverance), Wahope Unglawa Sakapi Hecel Oyate ki Wolakota Gluha
Tokatakiya Unya Pi Kte: Reinforcing our foundation for the people to go
forward in the Lakota (Indian) way.”
[Emphasis Supplied]
Source: Tribal College – Journal of American Indian Higher Education
Senator Daniel K. Inouye, May 15th, 2013 | By Ryan Wilson (Oglala
Lakota), President of the National Alliance to Save Native Languages.
James R. Holmes remembers Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii.
Scholars and practitioners debate what makes a good leader, whether
leaders are born or made, and what virtues a leader should possess.
What no one has done is formulate a satisfactory definition of what
leadership is.
I prefer the older way of examining these questions — the method
proffered by the Greek historian Plutarch two millennia ago. Among
his many works, Plutarch compiled a series of capsule biographies
of famous Greeks and Romans. By studying and comparing the lives
of eminent figures of the past, readers could glimpse the traits they
should emulate or shun to live well.

5. A famous American, Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, shuffled off
his mortal coil this week. Inouye’s life is worthy of a Plutarch.
Source: The Diplomat, Daniel Inouye, R.I.P. December 19, 2012 by
James R. Holmes, Professor of Strategy, Naval War College and Senior
Fellow at the University of Georgia School of Public and International
Affairs. http://thediplomat.com/2012/12/daniel-inouye-r-i-p/
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“By the study of their biographies, we receive each man as a guest
into our minds, and we seem to understand their character as the result
of a personal acquaintance, because we have obtained from their acts
the best and most important means of forming an opinion about them.
What greater pleasure could'st thou gain than this?
What more valuable for the elevation of our own character?”
--- Plutarch of Chaeronea. Greek philosopher, Author of biographies and moral treatises.
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