Hawaii partition in the works

The mainstream media was focused on the tsunami that fortunately did not overwhelm Hawaii on Saturday. Meanwhile, there is a different kind of trouble in paradise. Our 50th state was America's first multicultural community. But as the Wall Street Journal informs us, the House of Representatives just approved a frightening bill that culturally splits Hawaii in two.

The bill creates a complex federal framework under which most of the nation's approximately 400,000 ethnic Hawaiians can organize themselves into one vast Indian tribe. It endows the tribe with the "inherent powers and privileges of self-government," including the privilege of sovereign immunity from lawsuit. It also by clear implication confers the power to tax, to promulgate and enforce a criminal code, and to exercise eminent domain. Hawaii will in effect be two states, not one.

The method used to create this tribe should make everyone squeamish. The bill delegates the delicate task of deciding who may join the tribe to a federal commission appointed by the secretary of the Interior. Ultimately, the tribe itself will have the power to expel members or invite new ones.

Earlier versions of the bill demanded that the secretary appoint only ethnic Hawaiians as commissioners. In the current version, only those with "10 years of experience in the study and determination of Native Hawaiian genealogy" and "an ability to read and translate . . . documents written in the Hawaiian language" may serve on the commission. These commissioners will examine an applicants' backgrounds to ensure that only "qualified Native Hawaiians" with the right amount of Hawaiian blood join the tribe.

Unlike Indian tribes such as the Sioux and the Navajo, which were identifiable communities when they first encountered European Americans, contemporary native Hawaiians have lived within our culture for 200 years. The legislation, known as the Akaka Bill--it's named for its sponsor--is about racial preference. Let's hope the Senate quashes the bill. We need one nation--not two, not twenty.

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