Part 3 of my conversation with Jade Danner: Jade Danner Jones Well, John, well just have to disagree about how much power ICWA holds for Native peoples. For the families that keep their children because ICWA forces the State to apply a higher burden of proof when deciding to remove a child from their own home, and requires the state to make active efforts to help families solve the issues that are putting their children at risk, not just start some clock on a countdown to the termination of parental rights, and requires the state to place children with their relatives as a first priority, ICWA holds a great deal of power. For the family involved in this case, ICWA certainly made the difference, as the State of Alaska has about a 30% success rate at reunifying children with their families once the remove them. The tribal governments in Alaska have an 87% success rate, and thats operating with one hand tied behind their back because the state is so opposed to their exercise of any governmental authorities. adn/article/20140718/supreme-court-affirms-tribal-courts-authority-case-man-convicted-beating-girlfriend I dont think the elders at Minto think they are just red men doing the job of the state and feds. I think those elders feel they are red men doing their own jobs. The job of caring for our families, for our rights, for our resources is our job, John, not the state and feds. And I dont have rose colored glasses on about federal recognition, I worked for a tribe in Alaska, John, I know first-hand the struggles of assert governing authority even with the government-to-government relationship in place. But I also know that in the first 6 months of working for them, we stopped 6 petitions for termination of parental rights just by reading ICWA to the judge presiding over the case. So Id say that for those 6 families, who managed to get the services they needed to safely seek the return of their children, ICWA mattered a great deal. I also know the socio-economic conditions of my own people, and that the State of Hawaii is not anywhere near as hostile to the exercise of governmental powers by the Native Hawaiian people, and I know we have good people, smart people, capable of solving whatever challenges may come our way. I am not so jaded as you about the ability of Native peoples to successfully solve their own challenges. The Native Hawaiian people have been solving our challenges pretty successfully over the last 40 years, and that has been with one hand tied behind our backs for lack of any recognizable governmental powers. I can see how successful we could be if we were able to make our system of hooponopono THE way conflicts were resolved, not just some alternate method parties could choose. I can see how successful we would be if we could write our own educational standards for our own schools, or determine for ourselves what the appropriate solution was for drug-related offenses. I can tell you right now, that what I know of my own people, is that we would surely develop systems that helped people a lot more than getting stuck in the state and federal prisons does now. Will our federally-recognized Native government have to fight battles to ensure that the U.S. holds up its end of the relationship? Yep. Will we have a few bad leaders along the way? Yep. But I am not afraid of that because I know that within our own people, we have smart attorneys who can use existing federal law to force the federal government to hold up its end, just like your efforts with the White House forced the IRS to back up, and eventually, the tribes will secure the necessary legislation to take those bad laws off the books. I know that our people will hold our own leadership accountable, and when we find a bad leader, we will remove him from office. That I believe in my own people is not having rose colored glasses, John, it is based on evidence. We are a large and capable Native people, and we have the ability to look at what did and didnt work for the American Indians and what did and didnt work for the Alaska Natives, and apply those lessons to how we navigate our own relationship with the United States. It has been clear that the US supported an armed conflict that led to the demise of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and that for 5 years after that conflict, stepped away from Hawaii. After that, the facts depend on who you ask, and while I personally agree with the Native Hawaiian version of that history, I acknowledge that there are others that do not, and until those facts are tried before some court of jurisdiction, our version of history will carry the same weight as Ken Conklins version of it. That may not be something my people want to hear, but thats the truth. More importantly, there is no plan for how to achieve an independent Hawaii, and worse, there is no plan within that vision, for how to advance the Native Hawaiian manao and ike as the supreme sensibility that will govern what happens in Hawaii. I will say it again. If the Kingdom was restored today, the Native Hawaiian people would still be a minority in our own homeland, with only a small voice in the laws that are made by the Kingdom. That is how it was when our Kingdom was overthrown, and that is how it will be now that our numbers are too small to effect our own will absolutely. In addition, over 30,000 people who live on Hawaiian Home Lands would have their homes at risk of being lost, the 23,000 people still on the waitlist would likely lose any right to secure lands under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, as that is a federal law. Thats 100,000 Native Hawaiian people who would lose the opportunity to live on more than 200,000 acres of land set aside for Native Hawaiian homesteading, and we would lose any future opportunity to open those lands up to all Native Hawaiians once the list was cleared. The fact that the State of Hawaii has done a terrible job in actually putting those lands in Native Hawaiian hands does not mean we should throw away the ability to secure lands to our families. It means we should do what is necessary to take control of those lands, and figure out how to distribute them ourselves. That takes having a federally-recognized government. Foster Ampongs assertion that I am the one who is bullying people is absurd. I am the one pointing out the facts, all of them, so our people can make informed decisions. I am not the one posting pictures of people and their children under the heading of Traitor to the Hawaiian Kingdom as a tactic of intimidation and fear. I am not the one encouraging others to hate, and certainly not to hate other Native Hawaiians while defending the likes of Riley Cardwell. I am not confused about which people I belong to, John, or which people I have a kuleana to advance. All of my efforts have been to secure an option for the Native Hawaiian people to consider, because right now, even a federally-recognized Native Hawaiian government is not yet on the table, and even if it was, we, the Native Hawaiian people, do not have a fair process for deciding our collective future. What we have right now are a bunch of groups that represent about 20 percent of our people, while the other 80% shake their heads and wonder what the heck is going on. So again, John, you dont know me, and I suggest that you not let your own dissatisfaction with American Indian leadership color your perception of Native Hawaiian leadership, or the future we could make for ourselves. Governing is hard, and that will be true whether we are exercising the powers of a federally-recognized Native Hawaiian government, or an independent state. It requires people to be problem solvers, not just problem citers. And I have faith that we are up to the task, especially if we, the Native Hawaiian people, are the only ones making the decisions that affect our lives. Have a great day, John. And mahalo for reposting my actual words, instead of some mistranslation of my meaning, to the group. John Kane The foster care system is still regarded as the modern equivalent to residential schools. Strong assertive communities fare better than others. It is interesting that the same faith you have in your people is absent in the context of independence. You can begin to fix everything under Fed Wreck but everything is at risk on any other path. The vulnerability from administration to administration seems to be ignored although the urgency to act now under the Obama administration seems to ignore this. I only partially blame corrupt leaders. Most of it is the system. And that system includes the Feds making the final determination on who is the recognized leader. This has not gone well often. Fed Wreck reduces the voice of the people. It relies on leadership that they get to dub legit. And far too often these Fed Wrecked leaders are corrupted by the system and silence the voices of the people by buying or crushing the voices. This is possible because of the power the feds give these guys not what the people yield to them. You talk about accountability but there seems to be much mistrust toward you even in the capacity you work in. Many seem to be troubled with holding OHA and CNHA accountable without the cover of Fed Wreck. How much money has been spent on lobbying for the Akaka Bill or this latest effort. And what is the source of those funds. I am neither accusing nor sensationalizing the success you have had in these federal and tribal bureaucracies. I have faith in Native people. Not blind faith, but faith none-the-less. But our people are certainly not immune from the corrupting forces of greed and power. And the Fed Wreck system almost preys on this. I like anyone else hopes a fair system is used to bring the people together on a path forward but I for one do not support majority rule. This reduces issues like this to a contest with winners and losers. True leadership demonstrates the ability to bring people together not dictate rule and law. Nor would they reduce important issues like this to a contest that itself can be corrupted.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 02:51:32 +0000