A Hawaii resident has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Hawaiian Home Lands program’s requirement that applicants prove at least 50% Native Hawaiian ancestry to qualify for homestead leases. The class action suit argues this blood quantum requirement violates constitutional equal protection rights.
- Plaintiff argues the 50% Native Hawaiian ancestry requirement constitutes government-sanctioned racial discrimination.
- The Hawaiian Home Lands program offers 99-year leases at $1 per year on 200,000 acres of public land with over 30,000 people on the waiting list.
- The lawsuit targets both state and federal defendants since Congress enacted the program in 1921 and Hawaii cannot unilaterally change eligibility requirements.
- The program currently has more than 10,000 active leases with some applicants waiting decades for approval.
Source: Hawaii Free Press
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