[ OUR OPINION ]

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Use Bush visit to make
pleas for Akaka bill

THE ISSUE President Bush is planning to stop in Honolulu for a fund-raiser this month on his way back to the mainland from an Asian trip.

THE Bush administration has been noncommittal about a bill, now stalled in the Senate, that would give federal recognition to native Hawaiians. Governor Lingle has said she will use President Bush's Oct. 23 planned visit to Hawaii on his return from Asia to again urge his support of the legislation. The president's visit also should provide an opportunity for beneficiaries of the bill to don the red shirts they wore in a march through Waikiki five weeks ago and demonstrate their sentiment to the president.

Lingle joined 8,000 marchers wearing red shirts -- symbolizing Hawaiian blood or aweoweo, a school of small, red fish seen as the precursor of change -- in marching down Kalakaua Avenue and calling for justice for Hawaiians. They deserve the same level of recognition afforded to indigenous peoples of the continental United States, and the president should be exposed to the passion behind that quest.

The governor lobbied Congress and the Bush administration in favor of the recognition bill in February, calling it "vital to the survival of the native Hawaiian people; it is vital to the continued character of our state; and it is vital to providing parity and consistency in federal policy for all native peoples in America."

Hawaiian recognition, proposed in the bill sponsored by Senator Akaka, has been made urgent by legal assaults based largely on the U.S. Supreme Court's 2000 decision striking down the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' Hawaiians-only voting restriction. One lawsuit puts at risk millions of dollars in federal funds for programs that support housing, social services, education and health care for Hawaiians. Two others challenge the Hawaiians-only admission policy of Kamehameha Schools.

The Supreme Court ruled that the OHA voting restriction amounted to racial discrimination against non-Hawaiians. Without federal recognition of Hawaiians at the same level as that given to American Indian tribes, federal programs and the Kamehameha Schools' admission policy are at risk. The pending lawsuits should be taken seriously.

An anonymous hold, presumed to be that of Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., has been put on the Akaka bill, preventing it from advancing from committee to the Senate floor. Kyl has expressed concern that the bill, if enacted, would create racial conflict and confusion about Hawaiians' subjection to taxes and state laws. Those concerns are ill-founded, as the continuing recognition of Indian tribes has demonstrated.

Hawaii's congressional delegation is postponing House action until the Senate stranglehold is broken. With Bush's support, the Akaka bill is likely to be enacted, and Rep. Ed Case is confident of its enactment even if the president were to remain neutral. The administration's opposition would signal the bill's death in the Republican-controlled Congress.