Conservatives target indigenous rights

Rolling Back Indigenous RightsFresh from state ballot victories that roll back the clock on affirmative action and restrict marriage rights, conservatives are opening a new front in its battle against human rights—an offensive against the rights of the country's indigenous peoples. Representatives of major neoconservative think tanks and their media outlets have joined with prominent neoconservative congressional leaders to target the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act.

The NHGRA is a modest proposal to provide federal authority for the native Hawaiian community to choose a method of self-government within the parameters and limitations of the federal law that applies to U.S. Indian tribal nations. It was introduced with unanimous support of all members of the Hawaiian congressional delegation, the (Republican) state governor and attorney general, and is supported by nearly three-fourths of the state.