Native Hawaiians: Fed. Status Change a Sign of Progress?

A change in federal policy Friday, as the Department of Interior announced that it had finalized a rule that would allow a native Hawaiian government to form a formal government-to-government relationship with the United States.

The rule “provides the Native Hawaiian community with the opportunity to exercise self-determination,” US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said in a statement. It is the result of several years of meetings in Hawaii and across the rest of the US, and takes into consideration over 150 federal statutes that have been established between the United States and the native Hawaiian community in the century since the Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown.