official photo
Daniel Akaka
He was part of the pair of old Dan's (the other one being Daniel Inouye, who passed away in 2012) who represented Hawaii in the U.S. Senate.
Whereas Dan Inouye was known as the grumpy guy you dare not cross, Dan Akaka was known as the epitome of the Aloha spirit. He was a soft-spoken person who can forgive even the nastiest of critics.
Whereas many politicians in Congress use their position to grandstand on national issues, Dan Akaka worked quietly behind the scenes and focused on issues related to Hawaii.
One of the major issues associated with Dan Akaka was the so-called Akaka Bill, a proposed law that set up a tribal government for Native Hawaiians, similar to what has been set up for various Native American tribes in the US.
That proposed law remained that, a proposed law.
There wasn't unified support in Hawaii for it. Some Native Hawaiians who wanted total independence felt that Dan Akaka was a "sellout" for compromising Native Hawaiian rights under the federal government. Meanwhile, conservative-leaning activist Ken Conklin felt that the Akaka Bill would bring an apartheid system to Hawaii where Native Hawaiians would get special treatment over the non-native majority.
Well, both the Hawaiian independence activists and Ken Conklin were correct.
Native Hawaiians don't need a semi-independent tribal government that is submissive to the United States. What Hawaii really needs is total independence.
Hawaii was under Native Hawaiian management until 1893, but even then, the non-natives were allowed to earn full citizenship rights. The Hawaiian monarchy hired those of European ancestry (and other non-native ancestries too) to various official positions in the government. The Hawaiian monarchy did NOT have a racial caste system. So there's no reason to have a racial/tribal government in Hawaii in the modern era either.
As far as I'm concerned, Hawaii needs to regain its independence under the mold of Nelson Mandela's South Africa. Yes, recognize that the Hawaiians deserve to be independent again, but also recognize that the non-native majority should also have equal rights under the independent government.
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Dan Akaka was under target by Time Magazine in 2006 when he was labeled as one of the least effective senators. But there was a conflict-of-interest for Time Magazine, which was under AOL Time-Warner. The CEO of the company was Steve Case. His cousin, Ed Case was running against Dan Akaka for his Senate seat that year. Akaka won. So much for "least effective".
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However, Ed Case was correct that the Jones Act was harming Hawaii. The Jones Act is a shipping law that banned non-US ships from going from one US port to another. In other words, no non-US ship can go from Hawaii to California. For an island state that desperately needs access to international trade, this law has constricted that access. For an island state that has already have a cost of living due to the very limited land available, the Jones Act make it even worse by forcing Hawaii residents to rely on US ships which are very expensive to build and run.
It is the Jones Act (and the federal government's reluctance to abolish it) that makes me think that Hawaii would be better off independent. The Jones Act was passed with the continental US in mind. It doesn't take into account the hardships that US occupied islands (ie Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, Saipan, American Samoa, Virgin Islands and more) face when their access to international trade is resticted by that stupid law.
Sadly, the 2 old Dans supported the Jones Act. Shipping companies Matson and Sealand pay local politician's campaigns to preserve their monopoly. And being that shipping is considered a "boring" issue by the general public, the 2 old Dan's got away with supporting that law.
However, the general public is eventually becoming more aware of the Jones Act. The fact that Donald Trump was pressured to temporarily suspend the Jones Act for Puerto Rico after last year's hurricane made the public aware of how that law prevents access from necessary supplies in times of emergency.
People of Hawaii need to hold our politicians accountable for this. We need to tell them that it is no longer acceptable for them to be more accountable to the shipping company than to the general public.
If it takes independence for us to be free from the Jones Act, then so be it!
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As mentioned earlier, Dan Akaka was known as the nice guy and Inouye as the grumpy guy that you dare not cross.
It's great that Akaka was a nice guy. There has been no sexual harassment scandals, no other abuse scandals associated with Dan Akaka.
Dan Inouye, however, was a sexual predator protected by the statute of limitations, slut shaming, and the "no make waves" culture that kept his victims from coming forward until they can no longer take being silent anymore. Sadly, the "can't take being silent anymore" came after the statute of limitations expired.
I mentioned the issue at
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2018/03/dan-inouye-was-rapist.html
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2018/02/comments-on-metoo-al-franken-and-dan.html
https://youtu.be/C1fyXrsODhE
Also sad to say, Dan Akaka didn't confront or criticize his fellow Dan about the issue.
It would've meant a lot if Dan Akaka was to go on record to say that Dan Inouye's actions and evasiveness was not acceptable.
It would've meant a lot if Dan Akaka was to show his Aloha spirit and meet with Inouye's victims to comfort them.
Dan Akaka's reluctance to confront Dan Inouye was a problem. Maybe it was not in his nature to "talk stink". Maybe he didn't want to believe the worst about his friend.
But Dan Akaka missed a chance to be even more legendary by going public, and at least kindly express that Dan Inouye needs to be honest about what happened and that Inouye should apologize.
