A Coqui Frog in the Well: Why the Akaka Bill is a Hollow Echo of Native Hawaiian Self-Determination

Abstract

Part I of this paper provides a brief history of the U.S. occupation and annexation of Hawaii. Part II explores Native Hawaiian land rights in the contexts of both domestic and international law. Part III concludes that the Akaka bill fails to recognize the legal landscape of Native Hawaiian land and natural resource rights. By denying the de jure posture of the relevant parties in favor of their de facto relations, the Akaka bill unlawfully constricts Native Hawaiians’ rights of self-determination and sets a troubling precedent for future relations between the Kanaka Maoli and the U.S. Moreover, the bill indulges in a colonial narrative of the disposition of land and natural resource rights that threatens all indigenous groups in the United States.