RACE DOES NOT EXIST*
*unless ZOG says it does
HONOLULU (AP) — When the state deemed Leighton Pang Kee ineligible for one of the most valuable benefits available to Native Hawaiians — land at almost no cost — because he couldn't show that he was at least 50 percent Hawaiian, he sued.
Pang Kee knew he was, and needed to figure out a way to prove it. According to his lawsuit, his mother was at least 81.25 percent Native Hawaiian, but his birth certificate didn't list his biological father.
But he knew who his father was. Pang Kee, who was adopted, found his late father's brother, got a DNA sample that showed there was a 96.35 percent probability that Pang Kee and the man were related, the lawsuit said.
While that initially wasn't enough for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the agency eventually settled, and has proposed rules that would allow the use of DNA evidence to prove ancestry.
Those with at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood quantum can apply for a 99-year lease for $1 a year.
After the settlement last year of Pang Kee's 2012 lawsuit, the department agreed to enact the rules. The department is now taking comments from beneficiaries about the proposed rule to allow DNA testing for proof of eligibility.
Patrick Kahawaiolaa grew up on a Big Island homestead, where kupuna, or elders, urged him to not let the Hawaiian race die off. "It was ingrained in me by my father," he said. "You get married; you make sure you marry a Hawaiian."
When he met his wife, he recalled, he confirmed her ancestry with her answer to where she was from: Papakolea, a homestead community in Honolulu.
