HONOLULU — A lawsuit filed this week in a U.S. court in Honolulu challenges a century-old system that provides one of the most important benefits to Native Hawaiians: land at virtually no cost.
The suit says Hawaii Homes Commission Actwhich allocates land to those with at least 50% Hawaiian blood, is unconstitutional. The lawsuit was filed Monday by the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of a man who is not from Hawaii but is described in the lawsuit as a lifelong Hawaii resident. It’s the latest challenge to Native Hawaiian rights amid opposition from the Trump administration Diversity, equity and inclusion Policies.
Communities throughout the state were essential to economic self-sufficiency and bastions of Hawaiian culture and traditions. Those with at least 50% Hawaiian blood can apply for a 99-year lease for $1 per year. There are about 29,000 people on the waiting list to lease residential or agricultural land.
As a delegate to the US Congress for the Hawaiian Territory, Prince Juna Kuhio Kalanianaole in 1920 pushed for a way to give Native Hawaiians land to live on to help Hawaiians who were “landless and dying” as a result of disease, intermarriage, and loss of land since the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii by American landlords in 1893.
The ranchers opposed the idea and wanted to include only Hawaiians, anticipating that there would come a time when there would be no one left, said Robin Puanani Danner, senior counsel for the Sovereign Council of Homestead Associations of Hawaii. The organization aims to protect the law passed by Congress in 1921. She said Congress settled on the eligibility requirement of 50% Hawaiian blood.
It is generally the only circumstance under which Hawaiians care about blood quantity, which is a way of calculating the percentage of someone’s ancestry.
“That wasn’t our measure,” said Danner, a Kauai homeowner who is also on a waiting list to buy a plot of farmland. “This was the white man’s measure.”
Native Hawaiians have a different relationship with the federal government than Native American and Alaska Native tribes. There are no tribal nations in Hawaii. Outside Hawaii, 575 Tribal nations Throughout the United States, a combination of blood quantity, ancestral lineage, and other criteria is used to determine who qualifies. Register as a tribal citizen.
“We don’t have a federally recognized tribal government, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have self-government” on our Hawaiian homelands, Danner said.
She said those filing suit misunderstand the situation of Hawaiians.
“We are not just a race, we are beyond a race,” she said. “Like American Indians and Alaska Natives, we are political bodies that have a relationship of trust with the federal government.”
There is also a separate lawsuit brought by Students for Fair Admissions — led by Edward Bloom, a major opponent of affirmative action — against Kamehameha Schoolsa competitive private school system that gives admission preference to Native Hawaiian applicants.
Hawaii’s governor and attorney general pledged to fight the lawsuit against Hawaii’s land eligibility.
The US Department of the Interior, a defendant in the lawsuit, declined to comment on the lawsuit, as did the Hawaii Department of Home Lands, the government agency responsible for managing approximately 200,000 acres (81,000 hectares) of land.
“We’re not looking to take anything from anyone,” said Caleb Trotter, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation. “All we’re seeking to do is make sure that this program is equally available to everyone, regardless of how much blood they have. So whether you’re 100 percent Native Hawaiian or zero percent Native Hawaiian, a successful lawsuit will result in everyone having the same opportunity to qualify.”
They don’t expect a favorable ruling from a U.S. District Judge in Hawaii, but it may be more likely from the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Trotter said they are confident the US Supreme Court will agree that government classifications based on ancestry or race are unconstitutional.
Plaintiff Eric Ryan tried to apply for a lease online, but was denied prequalification when he answered “no” to the question of whether he was at least 50% Hawaiian, the lawsuit said.
“This explicitly ancestry-based requirement creates a permanent governmental mandate for state officials to engage in overt racial discrimination, perpetuates stereotypes, and limits housing opportunities for most Hawaiians,” the lawsuit said.
“Our people are still here,” said Sanui Marvell, who grew up in a home in Nanakuli on West Oahu.
It also gives some hope to Hawaiians who left Hawaii because of the mandate The cost of living has risen overwhelmingly She said they could come back one day when they are given a lease.
Marvel, which has reached its blood threshold, now has its own lease nearby. She said Hawaiians have a duty to resist the lawsuit, so their descendants can continue to thrive on Hawaiian lands.
“We have no plans to go anywhere,” she said. ____
Associated Press reporter Savannah Peters in Edgewood, New Mexico, contributed to this report.