quote:
Originally posted by Eric1600
Dr. Ku Kahakalau's testimony can also be found here https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/mk/files/2016/10...akalau.pdf . She didn't provide any specific written sources or oral examples of how the TMT is really not aloha 'aina other than it is tall and somehow threatens the water supply... I felt all of her arguments against the TMT are an appeal to emotion...
Thanks for the link. I found a lot of what Dr Ku Kahakalau said well worth reading, and far from the "appeal to emotion" that has been suggested. Here's another little snippet..
"It is also the essence of our native spiritual expressions, since, as you may know, Hawaiian religion and spiritual practices are land based. This means that sacred places are at the core of our native beliefs. In fact, they are the centerpiece of our creation stories and oral histories, passed down through generations. It is these histories and sacred places that tie each generation to our ancestors and our land and form the central bonds of Hawaiian culture and identity.
Sadly, because our understanding of the sacred varies with our experiences and upbringing, the concepts of aloha and malama aina are often incomprehensible for people with a history of expansionism, fueled by a religion instructing them to “subdue the earth” and use it as a commodity to be exchanged for profit at every opportunity. This explains why those who push for the construction of the TMT and many who currently have decision making powers in Hawaii, like this court, struggle with understanding that for Hawaiian practitioners like myself the aina (the environment) is literally and genealogically ohana, to be loved, to be respected, to be protected and to be cared for at the highest level.
This goes for all land. However, this responsibility to love, protect and take care applies to an even greater extend to aina designated as “special” by our kupuna. Based on a mele hanau, or birth chant for Kauikeaouli, Mauna Kea, Mauna a Kea, or Mauna a Wakea - all of these names can be used interchangeably – is such an entity, a sacred child of the highest birth. The chant states, “O hanau ka mauna a Kea, opuu ae ka mauna a Kea O Wakea ke kane, o Papa, o Walinuu ka wahine. Hanau Hoohoku, he wahine. Hanau Haloa, he alii. Hanau ka mauna. He keiki mauna na Kea.” This primary source substantiates that Mauna Kea is a child of the gods, it’s not just a mauna, or mountain, it is an alii, a chief, it is an akua, a god, it is sacred.
While the entire mountain, as a first born, has a unique, special status for culturally-connected Hawaiians and exudes mana, Mauna Kea’s summit, based on what I was taught, as the highest peak not just in Hawaii but the entire Pacific, is also clearly a Wao Akua. A Wao Akua, versus a Wao Kanaka, is reserved for deities and spirits and should only be accessed for specific, always and only spiritual practices, involving special protocols. On Mauna Kea, some these practices include depositing a child’s piko, or the bones of a beloved person, engaging in the worship of various Mauna Kea deities, and other native Hawaiian spiritual expression.
The special mana of Mauna Kea can be felt by all whose ancestral gauges are calibrated correctly. In fact, this super natural power is acknowledged not just by Hawaiians, but by people from all over the world, who regard Mauna Kea, and other summits of high mountains, as places that bring us more closely into connection with the spiritual world, hence Wao Akua.
So it is ludicrous to claim that because the 5 acre selected site supposedly “has no endangered flora or fauna and no known archaeological shrines or burial sites,” it is ok to build a 180-foot- high observatory along with support buildings, parking, roads, etc. on the summit of Mauna Kea, an area clearly designated as sacred by our Hawaiian kupuna and clearly still sacred today."
* grammatical marks were removed so as to calm the internet ghosts that get so upset by them as to throw up their hands in frustration and spew all sorts of gibberish in their place. No disrespect intended.
