Kaho‘okahi Kanuha
1989
Kaho‘okahi Kanuha is a 30-year-old leader in the struggle to protect Mauna Kea an ancestrally, culturally and spiritually sacred site of the Kanaka Maoli (Indigenous Hawaiians) against the Thirty Meter Telescope project. He was arrested in 2015 for his activism, but found not guilty of obstructing work crews in 2016. Kaho‘okahi Kanuha also teaches Hawaiian language and social studies.
“There are two sides, two parties in this issue, who hold kuleana [responsibility], that is us and that is you. We have made our position very clear; we are not compromising on another telescope. We are not giving in and we are not backing down. This is our home and we will do whatever it takes to protect it. Again, to the TMT [Thirty Meter Telescope] board, you have choices. We don't. You have a plan B. We don't. You have another place where you can do what you need to do. We don't have any other place to be Hawaiian. We don't have any other place for our culture to live. This is our plan A and this is the only plan we have. [...] Just because things are legal, does not make them right. I remember a time when slavery was legal. That never made it right. So, you may have the legal right to proceed, but you do not have the permission of the Kanaka who are genealogically connected to this place..”
To learn more about the struggle against the TMT project visit: www.puuhuluhulu.com
Sign the petition: https://www.change.org/p/gordon-and-betty-moore-foundation-the-immediate-halt-to-the-construction-of-the-tmt-on-mauna-kea
#WeAreMaunaKea #TMTshutdown
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