Tracking hawaiian islander’s history and development - short review - new developments

doi:10.15406/jhaas.2016.01.00001

Journal of

eISSN: 2573-2897

Historical Archaeology & Anthropological Sciences

Case Report Volume 1 Issue 1

Tracking hawaiian islander’s history and development - short review - new developments

Mary M Dickens Johnson

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Villanova University, USA

Correspondence: Mary M Dickens Johnson, Continuing Studies Faculty, Villanova University Certificate Programs, USA, Tel 954-547-3204, Tel 954-547-3204

Received: October 21, 2016 | Published: November 21, 2016

Citation: Johnson MMD. Tracking hawaiian islander’s history and development - short review - new developments. J His Arch & Anthropol Sci. 2016;1(1):1-2. DOI: 10.15406/jhaas.2016.01.00001

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Case report

The pacific islanders migrated to the shores of Hawaii on their canoes in the 600-800 AD’s history (roughly) according to legend/history. Before that were supposedly the “menehunes” who were unknown “little people” who are credited with doing such things as digging trenches on Kauai near the Grand Canyon of the Pacific (as it is known). A more recent version of the double hulled canoe is winding it’s way around the world on a tour. It is known as the Hokulea and it’s voyage is partially funded by U.S. Congress. When Hawaii became a state in the second half of the last century, many islanders opposed this move and felt their sovereignty had been taken away by illegal overthrow by the U.S government of their monarchy back in early 1900’s. In fact this resulted in Bill Clinton, when he was president, making a written apology to leaders of Hawaiian “independence movement” a.k.a, “Hawaiian homeland” movement or those favoring a “Constitutional convention” etc. The US government does provide funds for the Hawaiian “homelands” and there are lands set aside for development of homes for those Hawaiians who have a certain percentage of Hawaiian blood. The habitat for humanity a volunteer organization is pitching in to help organize home building efforts so more native Hawaiians can have new homes. Despite these efforts, many native Hawaiians are homeless and obesity is widespread as the Hawaiians were moved off their land and their diet changed from the taro and pig diet to one w/ lots of spam and other fattening foods. Also, diabetes is a big problem here as well as homelessness. Education in the state is the worst in the nation although graduation rates are increasing.

Introduce the “save mauna kea movement

For several years, a consortium of international telescope promoters have been negotiating with University of Hawaii to lease land on top of Mauna Kea Mountain on the big island of Hawaii (island of Hawaii) to build the newest, most powerful and most expensive telescope ever built. It will be 18 stories tall and there are many other telescopes up there already. Some of these have seen their usefulness passed but are still remaining for some purposes. In fact, work had already begun to work on mirrors and other aspects of construction prior to installation on the mountain.

When the time approached for nearing installation on the land, a group of native Hawaiians showed up to strongly protest the new telescope. Their motto was “Save Mauna Kea” and started a worldwide movement. Protesters parked themselves and camped on the mountain. When the vehicles of the telescope group were preparing to leave home base and start up the mountain, Hawaiian protesters chained themselves together and put PVC pipes around the chains to block the way. Police officers had to first cut the plastic pipes off the protesters, then the chains to arrest them. The university put a halt to construction and sent the case back to the Hawaii State Supreme court to research whether or not the building permit has been properly made. In order to accommodate the protesters, the University of Hawaii offered to decommission another one of the telescopes at the cost of $1 million. The telescope business consortium offered scholarships to native Hawaiians in science areas and school initiatives. The business community on the island of Hawaii wrote a letter to the governor, David age, urging him to do all possible to get the telescope project back on track to bring business to their island. In letters to the editor of the newspaper, people wrote in ideas such as naming new found stars after Hawaian’s to show that they are giving back to Hawaii rather than just taking from the native citizens.

The State Supreme Court decided to have the hearings coordinated by a special hearings officer. She has been hearing interested parties and fielding all sorts of questions, even those from some native Hawaiian groups which state that the U.S. government does not have authority over sacred Hawaiian land. She simply states that it is outside the realm of her decision making authority to consider this. She is moving forward carefully and judiously. The most recent development is that the Native Hawaiians legal advisor requested a rescheduling of the hearing and a delay because of his schedule. She accommodated him by a two delay (less than he requested) and pressed on. She led the consortium group on a site visit to the site to do a “balloon test” where they elevate a balloon to the height of the new future structure. Hearings are scheduled to resume today. So results are forthcoming. The consortium is advising they need to start construction by early next year because of the financial investments and are exploring other sites such as Canary Islands, India and Chile. Hawaii is preferred because of less light on the mountain and something particular about the air quality there.

Enter the “native hawaiian homeland” offered by president obama

There are many activities of ‘OHA” the native Hawaiian movement. They started a petition signing of native Hawaiian members only to form a constitution and government. This was met by protest of other Hawaiian ethnic groups who said it was discriminatory to them. It went to Supreme Court of the United States, and it was decided that they could have an election but not for officers, but for members committees or group leadership. They could form a constitution if they wish. Some members opposed because they wanted a complete separation from the government of the United States and other members felt they were being treated like a Native American Indian group.

Now the decision is up to them if they accept the offer of the U.S. Government for participation in the decision of certain things about Hawaii and their governorship. To my knowledge, a decision has not been made yet. However, meetings have been convened at Honolulu hotels for members to come together to discuss matters and address certain issues such as homelessness and what they can do to help native Hawaiians. One proposal was to add rental units to existing homes on Hawaiian homeland (already in existence). Also the federal government provides rental assistance and certain housing units for low income or elderly citizens. There are many decisions that should be forthcoming in future months. As well as the return of the Hokulea sailing vessel which is currently traveling the U.S. eastern seaboard after traversing through the Indian Ocean, and Southern Tip of Africa. Stay tuned.