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About 200,000 acres of land across the Hawaiian Islands are reserved solely for Native Hawaiians. But not all Native Hawaiians, just those with 50% or more Hawaiian blood.
The 1921 Hawaiian Homes Commission Act created a land trust for those who can prove they’re at least half Native Hawaiian. But how do you prove it? And what happens if your kids don’t qualify?
Nicole Bell gave Hawai‘i Public Radio a tour of the Applications Branch that she oversees at the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
“These file cabinets include our genealogy library,” says Bell, “And then these drawers here are vital records, so birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, and so on.”