The Japanese American Citizens League is circulating the following email to garner support for the Akaka Bill, coming up for vote in the US House tomorrow.

The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2007 (NHGRA) is scheduled for a vote before the House of Representatives tomorrow! (Wednesday, Octover 24) The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) is calling on your support to contact your Congress Member before the vote tomorrow morning and urge passage of this bill.

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JACL, the nation’s oldest and largest Asian American civil rights and human rights organization, fully supports the right of the indigenous people of Hawai’i to seek federal recognition. Native Hawaiians should have a say in how to best address issues in their own community.

The gesture of support for Kanaka Maoli is correct and is appreciated. But the JACL should not be deciding for Kanaka Maoli – and for Hawaii as a whole – about the form or content of Hawaiian sovereignty. Doing so violates two important ethical principles: self-determination and solidarity.

Self-determination is the human right for a people to decide their relationship with another country, in particular a colonizing empire. All peoples have that right – it is the basis by which the peoples of Africa, Asia, and most of the Pacific achieved political independence in the last five decades.

That right should also be available to the peoples of Hawaii. It is a complex and sometimes uncomfortable topic, but it should be discussed (and should not be predetermined or occluded).

By solidarity I mean an unprejudiced and fraternal support for another person or peoples. Solidarity requires a subscription to a higher value than that heard in the halls of day-to-day politics. It is a trusting commitment to the other, and an affirmation of the need for peoples to come together across difference and diversity.

I urge the membership and leaders of the Japanese American Citizens League to engage in a selfless solidarity with the Hawaiian people, and to allow self-determination to run its course. Have the courage to stand with us, and to stand for the higher principle of self-determination.

Mahalo nui.