Open letter to Governor David Ige, State of Hawaiʻi

On behalf of ʻĪlioʻulaokalani, we, the undersigned kumu hula and practitioners of hula and other forms of Hawaiian knowledge and culture, descendants of Wākea and the lands that comprise the pae ʻāina of Hawaiʻi, we do vehemently assert our ancestral rights to these lands, as well as our continued opposition to the construction of the TMT.  We also protest and disavow your “legal” unleashing of violence against Kānaka Maoli through your declaration of a State of Emergency.

As you are (hopefully) aware, but perhaps haven’t fully realized the irony as yet, the people who overthrew the Hawaiian Kingdom back in 1893 did the exact same thing—they deployed military troops and power in the name of “maintaining peace.” In reality, they did it, as do you, in order to maintain power so that you can continue to subjugate and oppress our people and our ʻāina, all the while speaking of the greater good—of capitalism, of Christianity, of codified law, of land as private property, of your so-called civilization, assimilation,... and now, astronomy.

We want you to know that we are not fooled by your statements, now or previously, about the “legality”of the TMT. When you create the system that creates the laws and also interprets and adjudicates them, then your version of “legal” sometimes has nothing to do with any version of “pono.” The TMT decision is a prime example of that and rests on a very tenuous legal interpretation (as acknowledged by Hawaiʻi Supreme Court and many others) and yet you persist because it is “legal.” To this we cannot, and we will not ever, agree.

We want you to know that we are not fooled by your statements about the need to declare a “State of Emergency.” We clearly recognize and will educate others to recognize this as an excuse for you to unleash sanctioned, legal violence against peaceful citizens of Hawaiʻi—both young and old, Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian—who feel so strongly that we risk our physical, emotional, and spiritual—and economic—health and well-being of ourselves and future generations in order to stop this.

Know that we are not fooled by your statements of concern for the safety and well-being of we, the protectors. We know and will educate others to know that you are the one putting our lives at risk solely in order to protect the economic and political interests of the state, the university, private corporations, and no doubt, yourself.

As some of our kiaʻi leave the mauna, others will go to it. As some step aside, we will fill in... and so on... and so on... and on... a mau loa aku.

We are Hawaiʻi. We are Maunakea. We are ʻĪlioʻulaokalani.

Note: we released initial letter with names that Auntie Vicky and I (Leilani Basham) could think of in the (literally) 30 seconds we had to add names to the document before heading out to rally. Purpose of this doc is to be sure to include as many names as possible and to expand signatures to include final line above with an inclusion of as many individual names and identifying practices as possible). So please do share widely.