Indigenous Justice

Native Hawaiians are a distinct, Indigenous people whose ancestors were the original inhabitants of what is currently considered the State of Hawaiʻi. Founded by King Kamehameha, the Hawaiian Kingdom held a treaty relationship with the United States which included, among other assurances, the promise of perpetual “peace and friendship.” In 1893, these treaties were violated when the United States, through its military and diplomatic corps, assisted in the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. In 1993, on the 100th anniversary of the overthrow, the United States Congress passed – and President Bill Clinton signed – Public Law 103-150, which admitted wrongdoing on the part of the United States, offered an apology to the Native Hawaiian people, and committed to a policy of reconciliation between the United States federal government and Native Hawaiians.

Since declaring jurisdiction over Hawaiʻi over a century ago, Congress has passed numerous laws recognizing the rights of Native Hawaiians as Indigenous people as comparable to “American Indians and Alaska Natives.” Through statute and regulations, the United States federal government has determined that its constitutional authority to set policy concerning Indigenous people includes Native Hawaiian affairs. To date, Congress has passed over 180 Acts concerning Native Hawaiians and the United States has affirmed the “special legal and political trust relationship” between Native Hawaiians and the United States.

The ACLU supports and may defend the rights of Native Hawaiians under United States law and acknowledges that those rights are based not on race, but on the rights of Native Hawaiians as a unique, Indigenous people who have never relinquished their sovereignty or settled their claims with the United States.

Through the adoption of Policy 313, ACLU National has also committed to promoting and protecting tribal sovereignty, the civil rights and liberties of all Indigenous peoples living in what is now called the United States, and recognizing the unique status of Native Hawaiians.