Editorials
Thursday, July 10, 1997HAWAII should go all out to reverse a recommendation by a federal task force that Native Hawaiians remain in a census category labeled Asians and Pacific islanders. Senator Akaka has vowed to challenge it. The panel, which has been reviewing the classifications used on the 1990 census and most federal forms, recommended only that the description be changed from Hawaiian to Native Hawaiian. Changing Hawaiians’
category in the censusThat's not good enough. Native Hawaiians should be classified with other indigenous American peoples -- the American Indian/Alaskan native category. This is worth fighting for because Hawaiians should receive federal benefits that other indigenous peoples get.
Keeping Hawaiians in a separate census category with people who are not indigenous creates the impression that they aren't either. As OHA Chairman Clayton Hee pointed out, because Hawaii is part of the United States and Hawaiians are obviously native to Hawaii, "we are no different than indigenous people in the other 49 states."
A spokesman for Senator Akaka noted that Native Hawaiians fare worse than Asians and closer to American Indians and Alaskan natives in such factors as infant mortality, cancer, life expectancy and college graduation. That is all the more reason for the change, because it could mean more benefit from federal programs for a group that certainly could use it. Calling the recommendation "purely political," Akaka spokesman Edward Thompson said the senator will be doing everything he can to fight for a shift to the American Indian category.
As the only part-Hawaiian member of the Hawaii congressional delegation, Akaka is the right person to lead in this struggle. But all of Hawaii's leaders should back him up.
LAST month's landmark proposed settlement of states' lawsuits against the tobacco industry is not without its flaws. Further work is needed to clarify terms of the settlement before it gains approval from Congress and President Clinton. Tobacco companies, whose stock rose dramatically after the proposal was announced, should appreciate concerns about its defects and agree to needed changes. Tobacco settlement
The FDA's authority to bring the tobacco industry under control should not be reduced, but neither should the settlement be abandoned. More negotiations are needed to improve this agreement, but it is too significant an advance to be scrapped because the anti-smoking forces didn't get all they wanted.
THE coup in Cambodia is a brazen repudiation of the United Nations efforts to bring peace and democracy to that beleaguered country. The Clinton administration should immediately impose sanctions on the Hun Sen regime to press for the restoration of the deposed first prime minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh. Coup in Cambodia
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
