Mazie Hirono actually said...

"The thing that we should remember is the United States has a special relationship with native peoples, and Native Hawaiians are native peoples."

"The legislature of the State of Hawaii...has time and again passed resolutions in support of this legislation."

"They were a kingdom. We had treaties. The Kingdom of Hawaii had treaties with the United States."

"The Native Hawaiian people are an indigenous people this is not race-based legislation."