08-11-2019, 06:21 PM
Just got to read Hokulii's post, and so I am responding directly to that, not the intervening posts.
It sounds like your auntie, her husband, and I are of the same generation, if not exactly the same age. The goal of self-determination is not the issue - how to use your energies to achieve that goal is what is being disputed.
Your auntie saying 'nothing is going be fixed until the Hawaiian people are respected' is very true, and respect is earned, not given. The Hoku'lea earned respect and admiration from around the world. That is is a solid foundation on which to build. Keeping a tool for watching the stars from being built is trying to keep knowledge from being seen and added. ( As I age and my reading glasses have to get stronger and stronger, I think of the telescopes, stronger and stronger as time goes on, as being eye glasses for Pele, so that she can better see the explosions and fires that she enjoys so much . It's like denying your auntie from using glasses when she can see so much more with them. )
I know all too well that it is " easier to fix someone else's life rather than my own " , so I will just give an ( over optimistic ) answer to your rhetorical question of "does anyone here have anything constructive to add to the conversation? Any workable solutions to offer? '
- if the the protestors ( 500 - 2000 on any given day ) would sit in front of, and block, the offices of DHHL and OHA ( and I would add Bishop Estate ) instead of the Mauna Kea road until a very specific, detailed plan on how to get a large number of Hawaiians housed in a real communities within the next 5 years is presented . Now is the opportunity to build self-sustaining Hawaiian communities. The technology is here and available. A re-interpretation of the a'hapuaha: being an ohana in a different shape. (Connecting with a group like Habitat for Humanity would give even more positive publicity for self-determination. Using their templates would help streamline everything form getting permits to buying building materials by using the pathways they have already established.)
- if the current OHA representatives cannot create a plan to actually build communities within the next 5 years, work with all the energy of the protestors to elect those who will. Use the tools you have - vote.
- use the energy of the protestors to improve the lives and existing homes of kupuna while the above communities are being created. Instead of camping on isolated land at the bottom of a mountain road and creating social media posts, co-ordinate and help your ohana.
A side note: if your auntie comes back for another visit, please take extra care on a trip up Mauna Kea. I say this as someone who decades ago would ride to the summit from Hilo without a second thought. When I drove up this past May, I stayed well over the one hour recommend for acclimatization at the visitor's center, and still had a harder than expected time at the summit. I'm guessing that it might have been a several hour trip for your auntie in her earlier years. Way back when, the trip itself would take several days, and becoming acclimatized would happen gradually. Now, when going from sea-level to the summit can be done in an hour or two, it is good to remember that the 'official' recommendation is that people under 16 or over 60 take extra care in watching for altitude sickness.
Spelling/grammar, a few beers
It sounds like your auntie, her husband, and I are of the same generation, if not exactly the same age. The goal of self-determination is not the issue - how to use your energies to achieve that goal is what is being disputed.
Your auntie saying 'nothing is going be fixed until the Hawaiian people are respected' is very true, and respect is earned, not given. The Hoku'lea earned respect and admiration from around the world. That is is a solid foundation on which to build. Keeping a tool for watching the stars from being built is trying to keep knowledge from being seen and added. ( As I age and my reading glasses have to get stronger and stronger, I think of the telescopes, stronger and stronger as time goes on, as being eye glasses for Pele, so that she can better see the explosions and fires that she enjoys so much . It's like denying your auntie from using glasses when she can see so much more with them. )
I know all too well that it is " easier to fix someone else's life rather than my own " , so I will just give an ( over optimistic ) answer to your rhetorical question of "does anyone here have anything constructive to add to the conversation? Any workable solutions to offer? '
- if the the protestors ( 500 - 2000 on any given day ) would sit in front of, and block, the offices of DHHL and OHA ( and I would add Bishop Estate ) instead of the Mauna Kea road until a very specific, detailed plan on how to get a large number of Hawaiians housed in a real communities within the next 5 years is presented . Now is the opportunity to build self-sustaining Hawaiian communities. The technology is here and available. A re-interpretation of the a'hapuaha: being an ohana in a different shape. (Connecting with a group like Habitat for Humanity would give even more positive publicity for self-determination. Using their templates would help streamline everything form getting permits to buying building materials by using the pathways they have already established.)
- if the current OHA representatives cannot create a plan to actually build communities within the next 5 years, work with all the energy of the protestors to elect those who will. Use the tools you have - vote.
- use the energy of the protestors to improve the lives and existing homes of kupuna while the above communities are being created. Instead of camping on isolated land at the bottom of a mountain road and creating social media posts, co-ordinate and help your ohana.
A side note: if your auntie comes back for another visit, please take extra care on a trip up Mauna Kea. I say this as someone who decades ago would ride to the summit from Hilo without a second thought. When I drove up this past May, I stayed well over the one hour recommend for acclimatization at the visitor's center, and still had a harder than expected time at the summit. I'm guessing that it might have been a several hour trip for your auntie in her earlier years. Way back when, the trip itself would take several days, and becoming acclimatized would happen gradually. Now, when going from sea-level to the summit can be done in an hour or two, it is good to remember that the 'official' recommendation is that people under 16 or over 60 take extra care in watching for altitude sickness.
Spelling/grammar, a few beers