tagged w/ Daniel Akaka
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An Open Letter to President Obama
Dear President Obama,
With your inauguration behind us, I would like to share with you one very specific hope (and a corollary fear) I have. Although I did not support your candidacy, throughout the Presidential campaign, I greatly admired your rhetoric on race and race relations.
As the first "hapa" U.S. President, you and I share the experience of struggling with the idea of whether or not we were "half" this or "half" that, or a "whole" something else. I believe the answer we both arrived at is that we are "whole" people. beyond "black" and "white." We are both simply "human."
One of the primary reasons I opposed your candidacy was your support for the Akaka Bill, aka the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. You spoke on the floor before a cloture vote on the Akaka Bill put forth by both Senators Dan Inouye and Dan Akaka, and acting as the "third Hawaiian Senator," you spoke in strong support of their bill.
This, despite the fact the Akaka Bill promises to divide our homeland, the State of Hawaii, into two governments solely on the basis of race. I imagine your support of the Akaka Bill was politically expedient, and I hope it was not based on a thoughtful contemplation of the issue.An Open Letter to President Obama
Dear President Obama,
With your inauguration... more
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Kepano
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added this
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3 years ago
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