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| Bill and Sandra Burgess |
One of Hawaii’s most controversial and most politically effective couples -- H. William and Sandra Puanani Burgess -- is being honored with the prestigious George Washington Award at a Nov. 4, 2005, dinner hosted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii at the Hale Koa Hotel in Waikiki.
The Burgesses co-founded Aloha for All, an organization that seeks to educate the public about special native Hawaiian programs and benefits they believe should be afforded to people of all races in Hawaii.
Bill, a retired lawyer and former resident of North Carolina in Hawaii since 1956, has used his legal background to file lawsuits challenging funding for such exclusive government programs as the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Office of Hawaiian Homelands. His wife Sandra, or "Punkin" as she is nicknamed, joins her husband in being an outspoken opponent of special rights and privileges for native Hawaiians, even though she herself is part-Hawaiian.
The Akaka Bill, now pending a vote in the U.S. Congress, has been a major focus of the Burgesses and Aloha for All. The Akaka Bill, which was scheduled for a cloture vote in the U.S. Senate on Sept. 6, 2005, seeks to afford native Hawaiians even more benefits than now received by native Americans and Native Alaskans, such as government land and subsidies.
Sandra and Bill have passionately fought against the bill, both locally and in Washington D.C., where they went before Congressional Committees to testify against the Akaka Bill. They continue to try and kill the Akaka Bill because they strongly believe the race-based political system is dangerous for Hawaii. They say instead, Hawaii should be looking at ways to create racial harmony.
"We believe in advocating for aloha for all, which means that all citizens, whatever their ancestry, are entitled to equal protection under the law," says Sandra.
Those who know the Burgesses say they have shown great courage in the face of much opposition, backed by tremendous power and money.
Hawaii’s most senior Senator in Congress, Daniel Inouye, is pushing for the Akaka Bill’s passage, as is U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka, for whom the bill is named. Hawaii’s two other Congressmen, Neil Abercrombie and Ed Case support the bill, along with all the other major political powers in the state, including Gov. Linda Lingle, Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, all members of the House and Senate with the exception of Sen. Sam Slom, R-Hawaii Kai.
As former Democrat Gov. Benjamin Cayetano, who opposed the Akaka Bill, says, "politicians support the bill because they want to be politically correct."
In addition to ensuring the Akaka Bill does not pass in its current form, they want to disband what they term the "mothership of government racial discrimination," the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. They currently have a lawsuit pending in federal court challenging government funding to OHA.
The system is a vehicle for transferring vast amounts of public money to one racial group, Bill says. OHA takes 20 percent of the money allocated to the agency for "slick ads that divide the people of Hawaii, legal fees, lobbyists in Washington D.C."
"The money should go to public schools rather than to OHA because many children in the public schools are native Hawaiian and the monies could benefit them and children of other nationalities who are enrolled," Bill says.
Ironically, Bill was one of 100 elected members of the 1978 state Constitutional Convention when OHA was established. Now looking back, he says the formation of OHA is the biggest mistake the state ever made. "We created a bureaucracy whose livelihood depends on keeping native Hawaiians in a permanent victim status."
The Burgesses continue to advocate for the state’s 200,000 acres of Hawaiian Homelands to be distributed to Hawaiians so they can own the land, rather than lease it, and have to return the land when they die, rather than pass on the land to their family.
Sandra and Bill also have faced the rage of a vocal group of native Hawaiians who say Hawaii should not be part of the United States and should become an independent nation where there is no military. Dressed in T-shirts the color of blood red, thousands of native Hawaiians and their supporters recently rallied at Iolani Palace to march to the Royal Mausoleum in defense of Kamehameha Schools’ race-based admissions policy and other Hawaiian subsidies and government-sponsored programs. Signs at the rally read, We are not American; We are not American; We are not American; We will die as Hawaiians; We will never be American!" At the rally, the governor spoke in defense of race-based programs and policies for native Hawaiians as did a number of other community leaders.
Bill and Sandra, who have been married since 1978 and have 5 children and 6 grandchildren between them, say they believe their work will preserve democracy in Hawaii.
Reach Malia Zimmerman, editor and president of Hawaii Reporter, via email at mailto:Malia@hawaiireporter.com
