Eni Faleomavaega

I do admire your consistency. You have never wavered once for the last 30 years or 40 years in being a strong advocate of statehood.

I will be glad to yield him a portion of my time for any other questions.

You cannot choose to be undemocratic. You cannot choose yourself out of self-determination.

I never forget what the former delegate from Guam had said, the Brigadier General retired Marine Corps former member of the House, our good friend, Congressman Ben Blaz, he said, we are equal in war but not in peace, and he could not have…

The people of Puerto Rico must make this decision independently, not from any pressures.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

American Indians and the Native Alaskans fully support this.

The 200,000 acres were the worst portions of the land given to the Native Hawaiians supposedly to get them back to agriculture.

Wasn't Hawaii a U.S. Territory from 1900?

I urge your support of H.R. 2314.

But one of the great attributes of America has always been the ability to look objectively at our history, learn from it, and when possible, to make amends.

They just want to be treated fairly as other indigenous native peoples.

Our first national policy was to kill all the Indians. That was our national policy. Get rid of them. Then the next national policy was to assimilate them, make them as part of America. Then the third policy was to terminate them.

This just blows my mind to hear from the highest authority of our country saying that Native Hawaiians don't exist anymore.

The Supreme Court purposely narrowly defined the whole race issue under the 14th and 15th Amendments requirement as being race-based but totally ignored anything having to do with the history in terms of how Native Hawaiians are being…

Our position is we are native, aboriginal indigenous people to Hawaii.

If Congress had acted earlier, if this legislation as authored by Senator Akaka and Congressman Abercrombie had been in existence at the time, I submit there would have been a completely different analysis of it.

The people of Hawaii who support this bill came out during the hearings and made it very clear that this was not something they wanted the Hawaii State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to do.

Wasn't one of the requirements of the Admissions Act that something had to be done for the Native Hawaiians?

To be a Native Hawaiian, you have to be 50 percent or more.

You cannot, in my opinion, turn off that political relationship when it is convenient to your argument.

I sincerely hope that she will join us in appreciating what these native peoples have had to endure.

The missionaries came to do good, and they did very well.

The sad story to say, that was the Hawaiians trail of many tears because they continue to suffer.

I want to associate myself with the most eloquent statement presented by Ms. Hirono before our Committee.