Are native Hawaiians Native Americans?

December 1, 2004 10:41 AM

When applying for college admission, are native Hawaiians considered native Americans?
posted by BuddhaInABucket to Education (24 answers total)

do you mean Native-Americans like Cherokee or Black Foot or do you mean United States citizens?

I don't think they are considered Native-Americans (like the 1st definition) since they aren't. They are citizens, I think there is a option for Hawaiian/Pacific -Islander, or something of that nature.
posted by Julnyes at 10:49 AM on December 1, 2004

Why not the "Pacific Islander" catagory that appears on college apps (which seem to use the same long list of options outside of just black, white, yellow, brown or red that is used by the US Census, etc.)?

There is a semantic argument to be made for "Native American", of course, but checking that box may set you up to be accused of deliberately misrepresenting your "race."
posted by availablelight at 10:52 AM on December 1, 2004

Response by poster: it just seems to me that, having been inhabitants of their land since before it was US territory, how are they really any different than Cherokee or Sioux? Just on terms of ethnicity? Or is there a substantive difference?
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 10:55 AM on December 1, 2004

I remember from my application that if you were Hawaiian, you had a separate box to check. The reason being that their was financial aid specifically designated for Hawaiian students.

However, if your application isn't clear like mine was, then just give the admission office a call and ask.
posted by Stynxno at 11:00 AM on December 1, 2004

Depends on the college. I note that Dartmouth College, which has a longstanding commitment to the education of Native Americans, apparently treats Native Hawaiians as one subset of Native Americans on its application form.

Legally, Native Hawaiians are not Native Americans. Thus, while the government can grant Native Americans preferential treatment in the law, it cannot do so for native Hawaiians.
posted by profwhat at 11:03 AM on December 1, 2004

I believe that if you identify yourself as a Native American, many times a form will ask you for your (recognized) tribal affiliation.
posted by moxyberry at 11:05 AM on December 1, 2004

Many Native American tribes have status under the federal government through old treaties. Native Hawaiians, however, do not have this same kind of federal status.

There are some state agencies that deal with Native Hawaiians, like OHA, an agency that adminsters ceded land revenues to aid Native Hawaiians, and Hawaiian Homelands, which distributes land to people with over 50% Native Hawaiian ancestry, IIRC.

Currently, the Akaka bill aims to give Native Hawaiians some form of federal recognition. OHA has a website on the matter here.

The website is pro-Akaka bill, but it should be noted that some sovereignty activists are against it because they wish to go through the U.N. or for other reasons.
posted by Charmian at 11:08 AM on December 1, 2004

I would check "other" and write in "Native Hawaiian".

If I were Native Hawaiian, I would definitely apply for any scholarship, etc., programs designated for "Native Americans", and list my tribal affiliation as "Native Hawaiian". Let the people in the scholarship office figure out whether or not you're entitled to it.

I would also apply for any scholarship, etc., programs designated for "Asian/Pacific Islanders", because once again, it's not your responsibility to disqualify yourself from things.

This is one of the occasions on which I think that people whose ancestors were discriminated against for generations by my ancestors should at least try to get whatever they can back from us. You can be sure that those of us who had ancestors making big cash from US Fruit have already gotten our fancy edumacations.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:41 AM on December 1, 2004

Interesting question.
posted by orange clock at 11:46 AM on December 1, 2004

Slightly related: I had a friend in high school who was born in Egypt... which is on the continent of... Africa. This young man got into a rather prestegious college by claiming to be African-American.
posted by Hankins at 12:25 PM on December 1, 2004

No.

Native Hawaiins are not Native Americans by legal definition.

The political/historical relations between Hawaiins and the U.S. government is not the same as that of Native Americans.

Personally, I think it's really offensive to "check a box" that does not apply to you just to get funds that are clearly earmarked for someone else.

It's really no different than the thousands of Americans who claim that "my grandma was a Cherokee princess" and now want casino money.
posted by Juicylicious at 12:39 PM on December 1, 2004

And, on every college admission form that I've ever seen there is a box for Pacific Islander, which is the statistical category that Hawaiins, Guamanians, fall under.
posted by Juicylicious at 12:44 PM on December 1, 2004

But it's not a question of "checking a box" and automatically getting funds. Each private college has different endowments, with different rules that govern their expenditure.

It could well be that Dartmouth is not the only college that considers outreach to Native Hawaiians as part of its initiatives targeted at Native Americans; given that there is some difference of opinion on the topic within the US higher education community, I think BinaB should apply for whatever he/she thinks he/she might be eligible, and let the people whose job it is to sort these things out sort them out for themselves.

I've never seen a separate box for "Pacific Islander" on any of the forms I dealt with in almost ten years as a college administrator. I'm not sure that, if I were a Native Hawaiian, I would feel that my ethnic origin was adequately represented by the more standard "Asian/Pacific Islander" box (hence my advice to check "other" and write in "Native Hawaiian", and let the institution decide where it goes).

The existing US Census categories are woefully inadequate in describing people's racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds. One might as well strive for personal clarity and accuracy, and let the people whose job it is to decide where you "fit" do that.
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:26 PM on December 1, 2004

Also, the US government itself is inconsistent about whether or not Native Hawaiians are governed by laws applying to Native Americans. For example, Native Hawaiian artifacts are covered by NAGPRA; Native Hawaiians are included in Title VII of the Older Americans Act.
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:32 PM on December 1, 2004

Checking a blank box and writing in Native Hawaiian is entirely different than checking a box that does not apply to you.

I stand by my earlier statement that it is unethical and really offensive.
posted by Juicylicious at 1:46 PM on December 1, 2004

I work for a college and have a hand in state and federal reporting. The rules are basically that individual colleges can put as many ethnic categories as they want on an application. Students select whatever group they feel most accurately describes them, and colleges will not generally challenge self-selected ethnic categorizations.

When reporting data to the U.S. Federal government, native Hawaiians should be counted in the "Asian/Pacific Islander" category. States vary in ethnic categories they track, but probably only Hawaii tracks Native Hawaiians separately. In terms of the benefits exclusively available to the "American Indian/Alaska Native" group, you'll need to be able to prove you belong to that group to whoever is providing the benefit, which is often the Financial Aid office. Otherwise, your answer doesn't matter much.

What I personally find odd is the lack of a Federal category for Arabs, Persians, and sub-continental Indians. The Federal guideline is to call them all white. That said, it will be a bad sign when the Feds mandate reclassifying all the Arabs.
posted by McGuillicuddy at 2:00 PM on December 1, 2004

But, Juicylicious, nobody on this thread suggested that BinaB "check the Native American box". Rather, some of us suggested that he/she should apply for programs targeted at Native Americans, openly stating "Native Hawaiian" as his/her tribal affiliation, and let the colleges decide for themselves whether they considered Native Hawaiians within the program's scope.

And, of course, the Akaka bill would make the whole question moot if it is made law.

McGuill, I agree about the challenges the existing "ethnicity" categories pose to South Asians (Indians, Nepalis, Pakistanis) and Middle Easterners. At the college where I used to work, I often got questions about this from faculty as well as students. My sense is that many folks checked "other" and wrote in their own sense of their ethnic identity--when doing reports, we tended to lump South Asians into the "Asian/Pacific Islander" category and Middle Easterners into the "white, non-Hispanic" category.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:16 PM on December 1, 2004

Response by poster: McGuillicuddy- Persians aren't Arabs. The reason we're (yes, I'm persian, not native hawaiian- I was just curious when I asked this question, not actually applying to college) all classified under white is because, even though we tend to be darker, we're caucasian. Go to Iran and you'll see plenty of naturally brown/blond hair and light eyes. I'm paler than most of my european caucasian friends, myself.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 2:18 PM on December 1, 2004

Buddha, I remember you saying that you were Persian in another thread. Interesting how so many assumed that you were referring to yourself.
posted by Juicylicious at 2:31 PM on December 1, 2004

Whoops, my bad! I guess I thought it was being asked out of self-interest because a) it's an awfully arcane question, and b) I can imagine "BuddhaInABucket" being a name that a young Native Hawaiian person would come up with. For some reason, it resonates with the sense of humor of the (two) Native Hawaiian people I know.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:37 PM on December 1, 2004

Personally, I think it's really offensive to "check a box" that does not apply to you just to get funds that are clearly earmarked for someone else.

Dartmouth's financial aid is 100% need based, so ethnicity (or merit, for that matter) isn't taken into account.

It's a relatively small school, too (~4000 undergrads), so there is no separate program for Pacific Islander outreach/support like there is for the Native Americans and the larger minority groups on campus (African American, Latino, etc).
posted by strikhedonia at 4:27 PM on December 1, 2004

In the California educational system, "Native Hawaiian" is a subgrouping of "Pacific Islander." I expect most American colleges and universities will define this the same way.
posted by SPrintF at 8:44 PM on December 1, 2004

I personally think racial/ethnic/etc. classifications are dumb so I'd encourage you to check whichever box you feel is most appropriate or to leave it blank. If you feel you are best described as "native American" then select it, regardless of what other people might feel "native American" to mean.
posted by gyc at 9:08 PM on December 1, 2004

I have to correct my earlier statement, subcontinental Indians should be categorized as Asian according to federal standards, while Middle Easterners are white.

I am aware that Persians are not Arabs, my point was the for the purposes the government collects ethnic data, it would make more sense to count Middle Easterners as a minority. I think that because Middle Easterns face many of the same obstacles as blacks and latinos in US society. Skin color is not a determining factor in these classifications.

An example of the ridiculous nature of modern ethnic classifications is that Vincente Fox and Jennifer Lopez are not white, but Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah and Osama bin Ladin are white (preceding links are to jpegs).

I always choose "Other" or "Unknown" as a small protest to the entire question.
posted by McGuillicuddy at 9:23 AM on December 2, 2004