Governor Linda Lingle, R-Hawaii, was well received in Washington D.C. this past February when she followed through on her election-year pledge to fight for federal recognition of Native Hawaiians.Lingle has met with congressional leaders, cabinet heads, Bush administration officials and President Bush himself to present the federal recognition of Native Hawaiians as an issue of “states’ rights” instead of a racial issue. Senator Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, is the major sponsor of the bill, called S. 344 or the “Akaka Bill”, which will extend the same preferences to Native Hawaiians that Indian tribes and Alaska Natives already have as indigenous peoples, including the right to self-governance.
