“Something’s happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear….”
Lyrics by Stephen Stills, 1966.
Several people have asked me to comment on the dramatic confrontation playing out from the slopes of Mauna Kea to Hawaii’s State Capitol and beyond.
I’ll start by saying that, in many ways, the current uprising is similar to the movement that grew after the first public protest landing on Kahoolawe at the beginning of the American Bicentennial year of 1976 which aimed at stopping the U.S. Navy’s use of the island as a bombing range.
I found myself among the group of nine people who successfully made it onto shore on January 4, 1976 in a direct nonviolent challenge to the bombing. The protest had been launched by Maui resident Charles Maxwell, who put out a call to Hawaiians across the state to join him in the protest landing.
Dozens of people responded to his call. I described my experience in a column written to mark the 40th anniversary of that first landing (Civil Beat,” Kahoolawe 40 Years Later“).
Here’s an excerpt I feel is most relevant to the events unfolding today.
I recall people gathered at a community center in Waikapu as they arrived on Maui the afternoon before the planned protest. I think there were close to 50 people who spent the night there preparing for a pre-dawn departure to the harbor, and on to Kahoolawe.
Moving between small groups of people talking late into the night, I listened in on their discussions of the issues confronted in their own communities. Some were challenging the closing of traditional access to trails and beaches in the face of unchecked development and the greed of private developers. Many had been part of ongoing challenges to the long failure of the Hawaiian Homes Commission to fulfill its mission of returning Hawaiians to the land. Others organized at the community level against poverty, homelessness, lack of educational opportunities and adequate health care.
Through it all, a common thread, a profound sense that Hawaiians carried more than their fair share of the community’s social burdens, and that something had to be done.
And for that moment, thanks to Maxwell’s initiative, Kahoolawe became the shared symbol.
That initial civil disobedience was followed by a series of protest landings which led to arrests and criminal trials, all of which continued to focus growing public awareness not only of the issue of Kahoolawe, but the broader issues facing Hawaiians.
Just two years later, this public awareness contributed to several dramatic pro-Hawaiian constitutional amendments proposed by the Constitutional Convention of 1978 and approved by voters.
These constitutional amendments created the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to manage and administer resources to be held in trust for the Hawaiian people, including a share of ceded land revenues to be set aside for the benefit of native Hawaiians. A separate provision recognized the inadequacy of funding for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and spelled out a directive that the legislature “shall make sufficient sums available” for the development of lots to be made available to qualified Hawaiian lessees, to carry out rehabilitations programs to raise the status of Hawaiians, and to fund “the administration and operating budget of the department of Hawaiian home lands…by appropriating the same in the manner provided by law.”
And a final amendment called for protection of customary and traditional rights “exercised for subsistence, cultural and religious purposes and possessed by ahupua’a tenants who are descendants of native Hawaiians who inhabited the Hawaiian Islands prior to 1778, subject to the right of the State to regulate such rights.”
Today, after four decades have passed, these lofty goals have not been met, despite being enshrined in the State Constitution, and despite the millions of federal and state dollars invested in Native Hawaiian programs. The long list of qualified applicants waiting for Hawaiian Homes leases has not been eliminated, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has failed to provide the hoped for leadership in developing overall policies to raise the status of Hawaiians, and the state has fought a long-running legal battle to avoid providing those “sufficient sums” to operate the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands without the agency having to lease prime properties to private commercial interests simply in order to provide operating funds.
More generally, Hawaiians continue to trail other ethic groups in income and economic well being. A 2013 OHA study reported that Hawaiians have the lowest median family income of all major ethnic groups throughout the state, with all the problems that engenders. Hawaiians are are also overrepresented among our prison and jail population while face unique health challenges.
So while opposition to the TMT sparked the current demonstrations, the real issues are deeper and broader-based. Like Kahoolawe in the 1970s, Mauna Kea and the TMT have become the symbol of a generalized concern that Hawaiians are still carrying more than their fair share of the community’s social burdens, and that something must be done.
With that said, however, I’ll pull together some of what I’ve written about Mauna Kea and the exercise of Hawaiian rights. Watch for them in a separate post.
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Mahalo Ian. Your perspective is particularly relevant. Looking forward to your next post.
Aloha Ian. Your words echo my recent thoughts. I’ve been comparing Kahoolawe to Mauna Kea. Seeing Walter there. Having just lost Skylark not long ago. She would have been on Mauna Kea. What is most fascinating is that there are now those in their 20s who are passionately involved like we were on the 1970s. It is amazing to see this building. This generation has embraced everything you discussed in today’s blog. We’ll done.
Funny you mentioned that song! It’s been running (I want to see rampant) through my head too these past few days!
“Hawaiians have the lowest median family income of all major ethnic groups throughout the state, with all the problems that engenders. Hawaiians are are also overrepresented among our prison and jail population while face unique health challenges.”
I have studied these allegations in depth and know them to be examples of statistical malpractice which are knowingly perpetrated by OHA, Papa Ola Lokahi, KSBE research division, and other bureaucracies which have become large and powerful because of racial entitlement programs.
To oversimplify: (1) The median age of ethnic Hawaiians is 26 while median age of everyone else is 42. So of course income is lower while crime is higher — because of the normal troubles of youth, not because the ethnic group is lazy or evil or discriminated against. This is perfectly normal and not to be worried about; and there’s no “fix” for it. (2) We know that most “Native Hawaiians” have most of their ancestry from other ethnic groups, not Hawaiian. But when a “study” is done of disease or social dysfunction, one full tally mark is awarded to “Native Hawaiian” for any victim who has any (perhaps small) percentage of Hawaiian blood, while zero tally mark is awarded to any of that person’s other (often large percentage) ancestries. Academic studies honest enough to include a detailed “methodology” section confess that’s how they do it. So obviously “Hawaiians” turn out looking like the worst victims. The Hawaiian-focused agencies are happy to cite these twisted statistics to apply for more government handouts and philanthropic grants, which they use to hire more staff to do more studies and lobby for more money, without actually solving the alleged problems because the problems are caused by bad data analysis and have no factual causes that can be cured. The correct way to do such studies would be to award a percentage of a victimhood tally mark to each racial component of a victim’s ancestry, equal to the percentage of that ancestry in that victim. But of course it’s politically incorrect to inquire about percentages of “Native Hawaiian” ancestry, and it would be too time-consuming (and most importantly, it would be bad for business for the tycoons of the Hawaiian grievance industry). The situation is even more complex if an issue concerns lifestyle rather than genetics — it would be necessary to quantify the “Hawaiianness” of someone’s lifestyle according to such factors as hula-dancing, poi-eating, hukikalo, etc.; and of course some individuals with no Hawaiian blood would have a higher percentage of “Hawaiian lifestyle” than some individuals with high levels of Hawaiian ancestry.
Anyone who wants to quarrel over these matters should first read my detailed webpage “Native Hawaiian victimhood — malpractice in the gathering and statistical analysis of data allegedly showing disproportionate Native Hawaiian victimhood for disease and social dysfunction. How and why the Hawaiian grievance industry uses bogus statistics to scam government and philanthropic organizations, politicians, and public opinion.” at
https://tinyurl.com/y2hyctdf
Aloha Ian:
I tried to write a reply on my phone while in a restaurant but when I tried to submit, it told me that I had already submitted.
Don’t know if I’ve been repetitious, but I’ll try one more dakine.
Today’s blog echoes my recent thoughts.
I visited Mauna Kea during the 2015 protest so I’m familiar with that struggle.
In the 1970s, I was close to Skylark Rossetti, so I became familiar with that struggle. I watched how it blossomed with our generation.
I agree that is was about more than just the island. You addressed that brilliantly. I’ll look forward to your additional comments. With Walter being at the forefront of this protest movement, and dear Skylark recently passing away, it can’t be overlooked that there is a new generation joining this movement. From every island, and far beyond. 20 year old men and women are being drawn to this with the same passion that we had in the 70s.
As Kihei de Silva and I remarked while on the mountain in 2015, this is their Kahoolawe, their rallying cry. I took a while, but there is now that rallying point that we felt, and this generation is finally becoming impassioned about their race and place and destiny. Well done!
Remember the ‘no vote, no grumble’ slogan? Now though it’s true many politicians (mostly those ‘on the make’) have been jumping to the forefront of the TMT protest/protect event, the fact is, many many citizens in Hawaii do not vote…about 2/3 of eligible voters. I don’t have the stats but in informal conversation it appears to me that those considering themselves primarily Hawaiian in ancestry, whether it’s their highest % of inheritance or not, are over-represented among those not voting. Remember when one Big Island legislator speaking olelo on the legislative floor was virtually run out of the place? Politicians will give lip service only when neither money nor votes come from a particular constituency. Recall the change in law allowing those naturally incapable of siring and bearing children to become married? Over 5,000 people went personally to the legislature to testify on the matter. The legislators listened for tens of hours, often inattentively but dutifully, then voted against the 5,000 (and innumerable others e-mailing and calling). Upon a close look at those so openly opposed it was found that more than half were not registered to vote! ….. Native Hawaiians and their supporters need to understand: we are sovereign already, as a mixed-ethnic republic; we are ruled by elected representatives; they will rule in the interests of those who elect them and who fund their campaigns. An enthusiastic group that can demonstrate and wave flags but cannot vote in their precincts and districts for candidates loyal to their vision….will get publicity, and can ‘jam up’ the works for awhile….but they will not (and, by rights, should not) get their way by protesting. If a solid block of 1/4 or 1/3 of the legislature (8 senators or 19 house members) owed allegiance to native Hawaiian constituencies….they could get State money put to the priorities listed so succinctly by Ian in the post above….but they don’t, and so the State won’t. Constitutional directives must be implemented by the people and their representatives…people who don’t vote cannot implement. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people depends on ….the people, …. doing what they have the power to do. ……
Oh, and remember, it was Republican Pat Saiki who was primarily responsible for President G. H. W. Bush ending the Kahoolawe bombing. Hawaii’s voters need to realize that a small state would be wise to hedge its bets and put Congressional and Senate leadership in the hands of BOTH major parties so we can have a seat at the table of power no matter which of way the pendulum of national politics is swinging. Despite my last comment some politicians do, at times, respond to public opinion even when their voters are not the primary push….but you need honorable politicians of independent-enough mind to take action when it needs to be taken. That is more likely when there is real competition for office among the parties.
I just cannot relate the bombing of an island to construction of the worlds best telescope. A recent poll showed that 77% of Hawaii’s citizens approved of the project and 72% of native Hawaiians approved of it. It is a wonderful project that will benefit Hawaii and the world in so many ways. Hawaiian leaders have stated that the mountain should benefit all the people of Hawaii and not just a few cultural practitioners. We must get behind TMT and get this wonderful project completed!
Hey, David Hinchey is my husband.
Both the bombing (a normal part of military preparedness exercises at the time) and the telescope are desecrations if land is considered sacred. Both are long established, implemented programs of ruling elites. Both require action at the highest levels of government to change, or halt. The telescope difference is that it’s construction is a widely publicized, completely litigated action by the civil authorities and non-military partners, the other was a continuing command-executive action, by military authorities not related directly to any civil political/legal-discursive oversight ….until Ian and others initiated and carried on with noble civil disobedience activity. Yes, one is military and inherently destructive (they kill people and break things so when they practice it’s dangerous), the other is for scientific knowledge of the universe. But the political parallels are what I’m highlighting. Our body politic is confronted with decisions in both circumstances. The ‘protectors’ or ‘protestors’ as you choose, are attempting political change without organized persistent voting constituencies, and hence, without legislative caucus support.
The most intriguing thing about the TMT protest may be the disappearance and silence of the previous generation of leaders of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. In the 1990s, the movement began to fizzle out, and the leadership admitted that a new generation of leaders had not emerged. In fact, there are no leaders on Mauna Kea, there seem to be different leaderless factions trying to work together. Political protests have been like this since the Occupy Wall Street protest, with different small groups coordinating on the web. This makes negotiation and compromise more difficult when there are no leaders or coherent ideology, just a mess of often contradictory complaints. Importantly, this may no longer the Hawaiian sovereignty movement as it was understood. Sovereignty is now impossible without an overall organization, plan or framework, and it might not even be a goal anymore.
“Political protests have been like this since the Occupy Wall Street protest, with different small groups coordinating on the web.”
Yup, this sounds much like the Democratic Party’s “The Squad” infighting on the national level. A group has 1000 followers on social media, so it must represent all Democratic voters and reject any criticism. And this plays right into Donald Dump’s tiny hands. Donnie never should have become President of the US. And yet he did. What will impeachment do? It would fire up his idiot base even more. Pelosi already figured that out.
I like the “however” and am looking forward to your further thoughts on the subject. I’d like to see Hawaiian empowerment AND the telescope, but friends and family tell me gently that I’ve got it wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.
We want to do right by indigenous peoples and protect their culture. But in Hawaii, that culture and religion disappeared two centuries ago, mostly because Hawaiians themselves (especially lower-class women) cast it off as oppressive. The TMT protests have less to do with American imperialism and are more about unemployment and resemble Trump supporters calling for a border wall with Mexico.