Hawaii: Discrimination of indigenous people
Written by: Noah Grider
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The issue I chose to write about for this blog discussion post has to do with Native American people of Hawaii who are taking immediate action to try and eliminate racial discrimination. The indigenous people of Hawaii, also known as the Kanaka Maoli, are trying to preserve a sacred mountain known as the Mauna Kea. This mountain is said to be manifested with high ranking gods, spiritual connections, and is a sacred piece of Hawaii for indigenous people. As of October of 2018, the state of Hawaii has declared that Mauna Kea will have a observatory monitoring center installed at the very peak of the mountain. This is sparking major controversy around the community, especially involving the indigenous people of the state of Hawaii. The protesting and resistance has been happening well before the establishment of the observatory.
In April of 2015 over 30 protestors were arrested in denouncing the construction of the state funded project. The indigenous people felt that they were being racially discriminated against and that it was not fair for a mountain with such a long history was being claimed by the state of Hawaii. Mauna Kea was left alone for many years and the state of Hawaii had not performed any advances of altering the sacred mountain. That is until June of 2015, when 15 more protesters were arrested in trying to protect ancient religious alters. This is obviously problematic. The indigenous people of Hawaii should not have to fight over there land that was promised to remain sacred to them. The fact that so many of these people are getting arrested for protesting peacefully just shows how cruel and unjust government officials can be at times just to get something that they want completed.
On September of 2015, a member of the Mauna Kea support services team bulldozed an ancient alter in memory of past Native American tribe members. There were no repercussions for this action and is very frustrating to think about. This is around the time that the construction company decided to continue to move forward on advancing the observatory project.
Although it was looking good for the construction project, the Hawaii Supreme Court finally put a halt on the project in a promising hearing dealing with permit issues. In December of 2015, the Hawaii Supreme Court immediately ordered the project to be put to a stop until negotiations and tensions would lessen, and so that possibly a deal could be reached with the indigenous people surrounding the area. As of October of 2018, the construction has proceeded due to no negotiations being met.
Now that we have discussed what the issues are about, I would like to take the time to discuss my opinions on the issue and how it is still currently affections the native people of Hawaii. Projects like this are not unheard of, as it has been happening over the United States since the founding of the country. I feel that these people have struggled all of their lives to try and preserve there way of living. It is unfair that government entities can dictate what an original native of some piece of land can and can’t do. It is simply cruel and should not be able to happen. The fact that this specific incident dealing with Mauna Kea is occurring is not only disturbing, but also shows the true colors of the United States. The respect they “say” they have is ridiculous and does not live up to what they speak about. Government officials who want to protect the native peoples way of life is little to none, and that is unacceptable in my eyes.
Returning to the primary component of the article, the construction of Mauna Kea still remains underway. I believe that if people all around the United States could sign petitions, peacefully protest, and write to there local congressmen and woman that the hault of the project could be done. If everyone in this country could work together on one specific idea, I believe it could easily be accomplished. Reading about how sacred this mountain and as well as the ancient statues and monuments are is truly mind blowing, and makes you think about how much this could mean to an indigenous individual(s).
Reading this article has made me open my eyes more about the struggles that Native American people who live in the United States have to face constantly. It is depressing to think about, but it gives me hope knowing that people are protesting and trying to put a stop to the destruction and alteration of ancient lands and monuments. No one should have to watch their heritage and history crumble right beneath there eyes. I will continue to follow this issue and update more if I found out anymore information that is current about that situation.
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