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We are Mauna a Wakea (Mauna Kea)
“It is not about the mountain but Indigenous people’s lives. We have been silenced far too long.”
If you have been following my writing for a while now, you will know that I am a Native American and a writer for the voiceless. I came across what is happening in Hawaii on facebook because unfortunately, not too many news outlets are yet covering it. So I reached out to a Native Hawaiian (Kanaka Maoli), Tiaree McDonald-Agazaryan, for an interview and asked her about the protesting, which I will refer to as the protection they will be doing in Stevens Point, WI, this Sunday, July 28th, Downtown on the square at 1 pm.
I am referring to them as protectors because like McDonald-Agazaryan pointed out to me, “they are protectors and not protestors because they are not against science or the telescope.” They are for protecting the Mauna (Mountain) a Wakea or “father sky” and they are anti-location because the mountain is important to the native Hawaiian people and their culture, it also has the utmost sacred significance to the Hawaiian indigenous peoples.
McDonald-Agazaryan continues, “the reason for the significance of this mountain is because of Native Hawaiian’s look to this mountain for guidance and as an elder who they learn from. The Kanaka Maoli believe it to be the realm of god’s. And to indigenous Hawaiians, it is the burial grounds for their ancestors and chiefs.”
Another reason they are against it is that “the United States government already has 13 telescopes on top of the sacred Mountain but only two are working. The government promised that they would take down the non-working telescopes before they set up new ones. Now the government wants to put up a 30-meter telescope, the largest in the world, on the mountain. This will ruin the water supply that can provide clean water to Hawaii for up to 100 years.”
I hope this article sheds light on what is happening in Hawaii and brings awareness to it.
Follow #kukiaimauna, #wearemaunakea, #alohaaina, #kapualoha, on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
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