TMT Work to Resume Says Ige!

[Chunkster]

Opihikao, if any of my posts have come across to you as racist, I'm truly sorry. When it comes to this subject, both your tone and mine have changed over time, and not for the better. I take ownership of my part of that, but there are reasons.

I, along with a lot of others, have lost patience with a Hawaiian "leadership" that can't bring itself to confront the extremist elements who are increasingly dominating all discourse on things Hawaiian. I put leadership in quotation marks not to be insulting, but more to point out that it has been lacking. You have agreed with me in the past that it is a grave mistake to allow your most radical elements to define what you stand for, but that is exactly what is happening. I know that open confrontation is not a valued Hawaiian cultural concept, but sometimes exceptions need to be made to save the bigger goal. Rigidly clinging to tradition sometimes is counterproductive.

You have repeatedly said that this is about much more than the TMT. I agree completely. That's why I keep saying that Hawaiians need to define what it is that they want in the way of a nation and develop a step by step plan to achieve it. Depending on how that process goes, I could even see myself supporting it. A tremendous amount of good will has been lost due to the protesters' approach. Again, I'm not trying to be insulting when I say it resembles a temper tantrum more than a plan to redress legitimate grievances. When that happens those grievances get thrown out with the bath water, so to speak.

I'll close by saying that sometimes a friend asks hard questions and calls a spade a spade. Sorry if it hurts, but that is not my intent.