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When the state deemed Leighton Pang Kee ineligible for one of the most valuable benefits available to Native Hawaiians — land at almost no cost — because he couldn't show that he was at least 50 percent Hawaiian, he sued.
Pang Kee knew he was, and needed to figure out a way to prove it. According to his lawsuit, his mother was at least 81.25 percent Native Hawaiian, but his birth certificate didn't list his biological father.
But he knew who his father was. Pang Kee, who was adopted, found his late father's brother, got a DNA sample that showed there was a 96.35 percent probability that Pang Kee and the man were related, the lawsuit said.
While that initially wasn't enough for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the agency eventually settled, and has proposed rules that would allow the use of DNA evidence to prove ancestry.
Hawaiians don't typically fixate on how much Hawaiian blood they have when it comes to asserting ancestral identity.
"A Hawaiian is a Hawaiian is a Hawaiian," said Michelle Kauhane...