Hawaii Land Rights: Commercialism vs Culture
As I mentioned in my last blog post, I am currently in Maui, Hawaii. Every year since I was a few months old, my family has taken a vacation to Hawaii. Part of me feels like I have grown up there, as every year serves as a marker for the passing time. But in the more recent years, our vacations to Hawaii have also served as markers for the state’s growing popularity as a tourist attraction and vacation spot. Alongside the increase of urbanization on the islands, I have also noticed the increase in land-rights protesters at government buildings. In particular, a few years ago, a specific protest about a telescope caught my attention.
Since the beginning of colonial America, Native Americans have been constantly fighting for the rights to their land and people. On the Hawaiian islands, the Indigenous Polynesian people were the islands' first settlers. With the addition of the Hawaiian Islands as the 50th state in America, Hawaii has become one of the most popular vacation spots in the United States. Due to its popularity, Hawaii has also become increasingly commercialized, always under construction with new hotels, shopping malls, and tourist attractions. Thus, the indigenous people of the islands continue to fight for their land today.
In 2019, I witnessed the protest of the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope(TMT) on the Mauna Kea mountain on the island of Hawaii. The TMT, a giant telescope, would be used by research institutes across many countries such as United States, Canada, China, India, and Japan, and could result in significant new scientific discoveries. However, the mountain of Mauna Kea is sacred land for the Native Hawaiians, where the sky meets the earth. But TMT’s location was decided in 2009 because, as Hawaii’s highest mountain, Mauna Kea is the perfect spot for a giant telescope due to its clear skies, dry atmosphere, and elevated location.
First delayed by protests in 2015, the construction was scheduled to resume during July of 2019. As a result of similar protests in 2015, the construction was halted and changes were made to the building plan and nearby telescopes, but the Native Hawaiians ultimately still felt unheard and disrespected when the construction was set to resume in mid-July of 2019. But this plain was soon derailed when protesters went up to Mauna Kea to physically block the construction of the telescope by peacefully placing themselves on the road. Protesters, mainly Native Hawaiians, arrived with signs and posters explaining their frustrations with TMT.
On the first day of the protests, the Native Hawaiians strategically sent their elders to Mauna Kea with the intent of getting arrested. Of course, the protesters did not want to be arrested, but rather they knew what the outcome would be. Sure enough, on the first morning of the protests, 38 elders were arrested by law enforcement with zip ties after a long standoff. The symbolic meaning behind the prosecution of the Native Hawaiian elders definitely fueled the protests as they began to catch national attention. The public attention from other Hawaiians and people from all around the nation helped recognize the protests as a serious force and built respect for the Native Hawaiians as they now had overwhelming support from other Americans. With this newfound support, the protests lasted for months and only dispersed when covid hit in early 2020.
Today, some Hawaiian elders from the protests are still awaiting their trials for protesting and they are fearless. Many have stated that they refuse to accept the dismissal of their cases but would rather fight to win their cases in hopes of changing the future for protesters. Check out this article featuring the stories of arrested protesters from 2019.
Overall, with the protests from 2019 and the continued trials of the Native Hawaiians, there seems to be a common theme that extends beyond the specific incident of the TMT: spreading awareness of the fight for land rights in Hawaii. In particular, many Native Americans have commented on the state’s prioritization of money over their land concerns. But this issue is not unique to Hawaii. Across the nation, Native Americans fight the same battle of being overlooked, ignored, and dismissed when trying to fight for their land. It is important that all Americans educate themselves and support the Native Americans in their fight as our country was built on stolen land. Here are some resources on different land rights dispute across the country:
South Dakota — Black Hills
Arizona — Oak Flat
Nevada — Thacker Pass
New Mexico — Albuquerque