ANAHOLA – Kanaka maoli and supporters of independence yesterday proposed setting up either a toll-informational booth or staging a demonstration on Kuhio Highway to inform motorists about efforts to re-establish the Kingdom of Hawai’i. No specific date for the actions
ANAHOLA – Kanaka maoli and supporters of independence yesterday proposed
setting up either a toll-informational booth or staging a demonstration on
Kuhio Highway to inform motorists about efforts to re-establish the Kingdom of
Hawai’i.
No specific date for the actions was set because the group is
still discussing which option to pursue.
At the home of independence
advocate Butch Kekahu, he and others said if a toll booth is put on the
highway, a fee may be assessed motorists who drive through Anahola.
“We
need to come out there to explain to them what we are doing,” Kekahu said.
“This highway belongs to us (the Kanaka maoli, the aboriginal people of
Hawai’i). We are the beneficiaries of this highway and highways throughout the
state.”
The highway is the only road that runs through Anahola, the largest
residential and farming development on Kaua’i managed by the state Department
of Hawaiian Home Lands.
Kekahu and others said the Kanaka maoli have a
right to charge a toll fee because the road sits on land that is part of the
kingdom.
The kingdom remains intact because the U.S. overthrow of the
Hawaiian monarchy in1893 is illegal, Kekahu contended.
Some area
residents, however, said the plan to assess a toll would be illegal because the
road is part of the state highway system.
“I generally support what the
Hawaiians want to do, but in this case, they have lost my respect,” said one
resident who asked for anonymity.
Kaua’i Police inspector Paul Hurley, who
attended the meeting, said he interpreted the proposals to mean the Kanaka
maoli and supporters would stage an event to slow down traffic through the
town, and that not one plan was being pushed ahead of the other.
“What they
plan to do is still in discussion,” Hurley said after the meeting.
He said
he hopes that whatever action is taken “will be peaceful” and that
demonstrators respect the law.
Kekahu said no plan will be implemented
until after a Sept. 30 memorial service at Aliomanu River for Henry Smith, a
longtime Anahola resident who supported independence. Smith died last week
after suffering an aneurism attack last month. Kekahu also said he will be in
continual contact with the police on the progress of any plans.
No one
took a formal vote on whether to go ahead with any plan, but many audience
members said would favor some action.
Marj Dente, Waipouli resident and a
non-Hawaiian, said the proposals go beyond “whether you are Hawaiian or
not.”
“It is a global issue,” she said. “Many indigenous cultures,
including the Hawaiian culture, have been virtually annihilated from our planet
because of opportunists, those wanting to make money from the
land.”
Missionaries came to Hawai’i to spread Christianity, but it was
their descendants “who could see the profits that could be gained at the
expense of Hawaiians and their culture,” Dente said.
Anahola resident
Michael Grace, an advocate of independence, said it is up to the Kanaka maoli
to take a stand.
“Nobody can do something for us, but us,” he
said.
Moki Koani, Kekahu’s uncle, said no formal vote is necessary for the
Kanaka maoli to take action.
“People are going to go do it,” he
said.
Kaua’i County Councilman Gary Hooser, council candidate Rhoda Libre
and a representative for council candidate Kauilani Kahalekai attended the
meeting but didn’t take positions on any options.
Hooser said he was
invited to the meeting and came with the intentions to “listen and
observe.”
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext.
225) and [lchang@pulitzer.net]
