Nov 8, 2015 | Essays, Mauna Kea, Poetry
Recently, I’ve read about the devastating fires in Indonesia. Now, the destruction itself is horrific, but I am also deeply troubled by the relative silence from the media and just about everyone else. I’ve been asking myself why people are not more alarmed by what is...
Aug 19, 2015 | Analysis, Essays, Mauna Kea
When I am in Hawai’i, I ask everyone I meet if the United States will ever voluntarily de-occupy the Islands. No one ever says yes. Usually, before I can say anything else, people hurriedly start talking about the lack of a valid treaty or that the American occupation...
Aug 12, 2015 | Analysis, Essays, Mauna Kea
Resistance to the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project on Mauna Kea has re-ignited the Hawaiian de-occupation movement. Since 1893 when John L. Stevens, other non-Hawaiian plantation owners, sons of Christian missionaries, and the US Navy forcefully overthrew the...
Jul 24, 2015 | Analysis, Essays, Mauna Kea, Unist'ot'en Camp
All nations are not created equal. Understanding this is a prerequisite to effectively stopping the colonial forces destroying the world. I’ve been thinking this for the last few days watching members of two First Nations I love – the Unist’ot’en Clan of the...
Jul 21, 2015 | Analysis, Essays, Mauna Kea
Many view the debate surrounding the Thirty Meter Telescope’s proposed construction on Mauna Kea and Kanaka Maolis’ opposition to it as fundamentally a question of science versus culture. On the benign end, the word “science” has come to connote something close to...
Jun 29, 2015 | Essays, Mauna Kea
The pohaku stopped the Thirty Meter Telescope construction last Wednesday. They began appearing on the Mauna Kea Access Road like raindrops. First, they were sprinkled lightly underfoot. A small rock here. A larger one there. The cops cussed and swore as they tried to...