Broken Promise? Native Hawaiians' Ongoing Feud With Bank of America
Maui County wants Bank of America to live up to a decades-old promise it made to Native Hawaiians when it committed $150 million in loans to help them build and buy homes on lands set aside for them by Congress after the overthrow of the monarchy.
Last summer, the Maui County Council hired former Hawaii Attorney General Margery Bronster to pursue a lawsuit against Bank of America for what many consider to be its failed obligation to the islands’ indigenous people. The council approved paying Bronster’s firm more than $200,000.
But since then, the county and its attorneys have been struggling with how best to take on the nation’s second largest bank, which has more than $2.3 trillion in assets and has orchestrated its own years-long campaign to quiet the controversy. Nearly a year later, no lawsuit has been filed and Maui County has for the most part been keeping discussions about the case in executive session.
Bank of America has said through lawyers and lobbyists that it kept its promise to the islands’ Native Hawaiians, although not as originally envisioned. As proof, the bank points to a letter it received from the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands in 2007 that states it fulfilled the $150 million commitment.
Read more: https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/06/broken-promise-native-hawaiians-ongoing-feud-with-bank-of-america/