The following is a letter to the Hawaii Advisory Committee of the United States Commission on Civil Rights by Stephen Aghjayan.

I am writing you about the grave and negative consequences our state faces from the potential passage of the Akaka Bill. The proponents of this bill like to say that all they are asking is for is the Federal recognition that other native peoples have. There is never any discussion as to how Federal Indian Policy (FIP) and the reservation system is working on the mainland. I can speak a little to this point.

Prior to moving to Hawaii I lived for twenty years within the boundaries of the Swinomish Indian Reservation in WA State. For over 15 of those years I lived on leased Indian trust land. I have first hand experience with Federal Indian Policy and how Federally recognized tribes (FRT) operate and interact with their neighbors and those they do business with.

Long before 9-11 my experiences and observations were such that I was characterizing FRT as “little terrorist entities in our midst”. I witnessed an attitude among many tribal members that they are tribal members first and Americans second. Many of them like to talk about that their tribe is “sovereign” and the Lummis in particular claim they have never been conquered.

These individuals put their tribal interests above all else. In many places particularly on our borders tribes are involved in the all kinds of illegal trafficking and activities. Tribes are able to flout their congressionally granted so called “sovereign immunity” to misbehave and then not face any consequences.

It used to be that the BIA kept the Tribes in check but since 1974 and the Indian preference in hiring act we now have a situation where the BIA works for the Tribes benefit, not so much for the rest of us. I can see the same thing happening in respect to any Native Hawaiian governing entity.

As the president of the West Shore Tenants Association which represented mainly non tribal members I have experience in bringing grievances against unfair tribal actions into both tribal and federal courts.

Our association was formed in response to 300%-500% land rent increases and what we believed was an illegal utility assessment that was imposed unequally upon tribal and non tribal members to the detriment of the non tribal members. We were unsuccessful in our Tribal Court appeal which found that we could be discriminated against by the tribal utility authority.

FRT compete with local, county and state governments for money, power and resources and they do it with the backing of our tax dollars. Any Hawaiian governing entity would be doing the same thing.

Most tribes have more lawyers working for them on a per capita basis than do the communities around them. One of the things you find out when dealing with tribes is that they will often do things that are wrong and or illegal but they force you to have to challenge them in court to stop them. They will try to get you to go into tribal court first where the playing field is not so level. If you find your self trying to fight a FRT in Federal Court you are fighting not only the Tribe but generally the BIA and the Dept. of the Interior as well. Battling tribes becomes a war of attrition.  The financial burden of challenging them with all the Federal monies at their disposal and the bevy of lawyers at their command is daunting. They don't have to be right, they just have to outlast you. Small towns and counties are often bullied into signing agreements and memorandums of understanding in an attempt to avoid litigation. This almost always leads to the diminishment and transfer of the rights of non tribal members and the resources of local governments to the tribes.

Another key issue in this debate is that Tribal members can vote in US elections and do so to elect people who will be supportive to their interests to the detriment of the general citizen taxpayer. Allowing Native Hawaiians to vote for both their own government as well as in State and local elections would almost certainly have the same negative impacts.

The fact that tribal governments impact non tribal members is very problematic in a Constitutional sense. Article 4 section 4 of the US Constitution guarantees us all a republican form of government which essentially means a government that we all get to vote for. Neither current tribal governments on the mainland or the proposed new Hawaiian governing entities are republican in nature. It is undeniable that any Hawaiian governing entity would impact every citizen of the State of Hawaii yet only those with Hawaiian blood would get to vote for it.

I believe that current FIP is deeply flawed both in its legal underpinnings and in its real world consequences and that the same can be said in regard to the potential consequences of the passage of the Akaka Bill.

I ask the commission to not support the creation of a raced based and non republican form of government here in Hawaii.

Stephen Aghjayan writes from Lihue, HI.