Hawaii
Hawaii’s native minority is demanding a greater degree of sovereignty over
its own affairs. But much of the archipelago’s political establishment, which
includes the White Americans who dominated until the Second World War and people
of Japanese, Chinese and Filipino origin, is opposed to the idea.
The islands were annexed by the US in 1898 and since then Hawaii’s native
peoples have fared worse than any of its other ethnic groups. They make up over
60 percent of the state’s homeless, suffer levels of unemployment and their life
span is five years less than the average Hawaiians. They are the only major US
native group without some degree of autonomy. But a sovereignty
advisory committee set up by Hawaii’s first native governor, John Waihee, has
given the natives’ cause a major boost be recommending that the Hawaiian natives
decide by themselves whether to re-establish a sovereign Hawaiian
nation. However, the Hawaiian natives are not united in their
demands. Some just want greater autonomy with the state—as enjoyed by many
American Indian natives over matters such as education. This is a position
supported by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), a state agency set up in 1978
to represent to natives’ interests and which has now become the moderate face of
the native sovereignty movement. More ambitious in the Ka Lahui group, which
declared itself a new nation in 1987 and wants full, official independence from
the US. But if Hawaiian natives are given greater autonomy, it
is far from clear how many people this will apply to. The state authorities only
count as native those people with more than 50 percent Hawaiian blood.
Native demands are not just based on political grievances, though. They
also want their claim on 660,000 hectares of Hawaiian crown land to be accepted.
It is on this issue that native groups are facing most opposition from the state
authorities. In 1933, the state government paid the OHA US $136 million in back
rent on the crown land and many officials say that by accepting this payment the
agency has given up its claims to legally own the land. The OHA has vigorously
disputed this.
Hawaii’s native minority refers to______.
A．people of Filipino origin B．the Ka Lahui group C．people with 50% Hawaiian blood D．Hawaii’s ethnic groups
