Thread by @ItsIlima

I want to offer two resources for folks to take a little deeper dive into the issue of fed rec. To say it doesn't matter because #nojurisdiction, or to only oppose it based on that, is intellectually and politically lazy, even if we hold no jurisdiction as a truth. 🧵

And yet, "no jurisdiction get outta my face" was the primary oppositional message in the 2014 DOI hearings. I loved it. But folks who came into movement then or by way of one of the Mauna standoffs or something else may not have been exposed to the opposition prior to 2014.

Pre-2014 opposition to fed rec in Hawai'i was largely through the formation of Hui Pū, and their opposition was grounded in study of the political climate in Hawai'i and the US, and of the Akaka Bill itself.

What this study provided was 'ike on a political reality (not just a legal truth) essential to understanding the motivations and material implications of fed rec. Because even without legal jurisdiction, the US has power that it wields daily to grab wai and 'āina.

So for anyone who doesn't yet know but who is interested in developing more context and analysis around fed rec, even for future attempts, here are two good starting points. Kehaulani Kauanui's "Precarious Position" and an interview with Glen Coulthard.

Kauanui: Precarious Positions: Native Hawaiians and US Federal Recognition (2005) drive.google.com/file/d/1GjnChX…

Glen Coulthard interview: uppingtheanti.org/journal/articl… which is a taste of what you should really read, his book, Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition ⏬

upress.umn.edu/book-division/…
In other words, opposition to federal recognition is not just a case of Hawaiian exceptionalism. Coulthard is Dene and analyzes lands in the Nothern Territory in so-called Canada.

The fundamental good faith motive for fed rec is the protection of federal $$ for Hawaiians, the reason right wing racists hate it too. Federal $$ for Hawaiians is the lowest bar for betterment. Land back and independence, potentially further comprised by fed rec, is the call now

Obviously, this isn't meant to be an exhaustive list of texts on the topic, and without overwhelming folks with one, if others have must reads for an introductory deeper dive into fed rec, please share.