About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

46 Am. Indian L. Rev. 1 (2021-2022)
Belated Justice: The Failures and Promise of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act

handle is hein.journals/aind46 and id is 9 raw text is: BELATED JUSTICE: THE FAILURES AND PROMISE OF
THE HAWAIIAN HOMES COMMISSION ACT
Troy J.H. Andrade*
In July 1921, the United States Congress enacted and President Warren
G. Harding signed into law the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of1920,
establishing a land trust of approximately 203,500 acres offormer Crown
and Government Lands to provide homestead leases at a nominal fee for
native Hawaiians, those individuals of Jifty percent or more Hawaiian
blood. At present, the Hawaiian Homes Commission oversees the State of
Hawai 'i's Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which administers the
HHCA and manages the lands set aside for the program. Although steps
have been made to put beneficiaries on land, the history of the HHCA
demonstrates the failure of the federal and state governments to live up to
their promises ofjustice for Hawaiians.
Table of Contents
I.  Introdu ction  .................................................................................... . .   2
II. Land, Power, and the Guise of Rehabilitation: Analyzing the Origins
of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act................................................ 6
A. Justifying the Seizure of Crown and Government Lands ............... 8
B. Racialization and the Division of Hawaiians ................................ 18
III. Enough Is Enough: Analyzing the Government's Continued Breaches
o f  T ru st  ............................................................................................. . .   2 9
A . Resolving  Breaches  of Trust ........................................................ 35
1. Settling the State's Pre-1988 Misuse of Trust Lands ................. 36
2. 1991 Individual Claims Resolution Under the Hawaiian Home
L ands  T rust  A ct  .........................................................................   37
B . Insufficient  Funding...................................................................  44
IV . B elated  Justice............................................................................ . .   53
* Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Ulu Lehua Scholars Program,
William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Ph.D. 2016,
University of Hawai'i at Manoa. J.D. 2011, William S. Richardson School of Law,
University of Hawai'i at Manoa. This Article is dedicated to the lawyers that have fought-
sometimes for decades-to ensure justice for Hawaiian homestead beneficiaries, including,
but not limited to, Thomas Grande, Robert Gil Johnston, Melody Kapilialoha MacKenzie,
and Carl M. Varady.

1

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most