Since you will be in Honolulu, August 13, 2014, I ask whether you would be willing to meet with the Hawaiian community. The purpose of this meeting would be to clarify a legal issue of foreign relations that has become of critical importance to all in Hawaii these past months.<\/p>\n
The Department of Interior, in June and July of this year held 15 statewide hearings as to whether to proceed with rulemaking that would result in administrative action recognizing Native Hawaiians as a federally recognized tribe. The testimony taken revealed that the single most important issue to the \u00a0hundreds testifying was whether the United States has sovereignty over the Hawaiian Islands and whether the Kingdom of Hawai\u2019i, a sovereign and independent nation\u00a0 continues to exist. This is a legal, not a political issue. We seek that you ask the Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, to opine on whether the Kingdom of Hawai\u2019i, as a subject of international law, ceases to exist in light of the international rule of law regarding the presumption of continuity.<\/p>\n
The continued existence of the Kingdom would render the Department of Interior\u2019s proposal legally questionable. The existence of the Kingdom raises the question that Hawai\u2019i is occupied by the United States in violation of international and United States law. As a result, such occupation has extraordinary ramifications as to current United States foreign policy around the world because of the Kingdom of Hawai\u2019i\u2019s treaties with other independent nations. \u00a0\u00a0Officials of the Departments of Interior and Justice who represented the United States at these hearings did not answer these questions deferring to the Department of State as the appropriate agency.<\/p>\n
These issues were also raised by a State official, Dr. Crabbe, Chief Executive Officer of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, an agency of the State of Hawai\u2019i, in a letter, made public, to you. Although that letter was withdrawn by trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, its relevancy was affirmed by hundreds of those testifying who cited to it. It contains a more detailed explanation of points raised herein. A copy of Dr. Crabbe\u2019s complete letter of May 5, 2014 can be found at: http:\/\/www.oha.org\/news\/oha%E2%80%99s-top-executive-makes-formal-request-us-department-state-legal-opinion-current-status-hawai<\/a>\u00a0 (last checked August 4, 2014 4:10 PM.)<\/p>\n Moreover, a more detailed letter of mine, further discussing these issues, is being sent to your office in Washington D.C.<\/p>\n I can be reached through my offices at the University of Hawaii. Mahalo and Respectfully yours, Professor Williamson B.C. Chang, William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii at Manoa.<\/p>\n Williamson Chang, August 11, 2014 Dear Secretary Kerry: Aloha and welcome to the Hawaiian Islands. I am a Professor of Law at the University of Hawai\u02bbi William S. Richardson School of Law.\u00a0 I am writing in my individual capacity and on behalf … Continue reading
\nProfessor of Law, University of Hawaii<\/p>\n![\"Bill](\"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Bill-Chang.jpg\")
<\/a>Professor Williamson Chang was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai\u2018i. He graduated from Princeton University with degrees in Asian Studies and from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Thereafter, he attended the University of California, Berkeley [Boalt Hall] where he was an editor of both the California Law Review and the Ecology Law Quarterly. He clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Dick Yin Wong in Honolulu and began teaching at the University of Hawai`i the following year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"