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Mauna Kea Master Plan, testimony for University of Hawaii Board of Regents meeting of January 20, 2022

(c) Copyright January 15, 2022 by Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D.
All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to anyone who wishes to use the contents of this webpage in part or in whole, provided that the URL and Conklin's name must be cited.

On Tuesday January 11, 2022 the University of Hawaii Board of Regents published the draft of a very lengthy and detailed MASTER PLAN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAIʻI MAUNAKEA LANDS E Ō I NĀ LEO (LISTEN TO THE VOICES), calling for testimony to be submitted for the Board of Regents meeting on Thursday January 20. That draft Master Plan by the racially and politically stacked Mauna Kea Working Group occupies the bottom 90% of the notice of meeting and agenda published at
https://www.hawaii.edu/offices/bor/regular/materials/202201200830/BOR_1_20_2022_Materials.pdf

Following is the testimony submitted on Saturday January 15, 2022 by Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D.

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Four Fundamental Principles of Civil Rights in Hawaii

Here are four fundamental principles of civil rights in Hawaii, each stated in a single sentence. Then there are brief followup clarifications of what they mean. After that are more detailed explanations of how these principles apply to University of Hawaii policies for the governance of the Mauna Kea lands that are under UH control. The draft proposal of the Mauna Kea Master Plan openly and shamefully violates the first two principles, and was created by a racially and politically stacked Working Group most of whose members oppose the third and fourth principles.

These principles are easy to agree upon but sometimes difficult to implement when special-interest groups demand special privileges not granted to others. First I will list the principles very briefly; then I will offer a few clarifications of key words or phrases.

1. Equality before God: All humans are equal in the eyes of God regardless of race.

2. Equality under the law: Government should treat all people equally under the law regardless of race.

3. Unity with America: Hawaii is the 50th State of the USA, whose laws rightfully have jurisdiction here.

4. Unity of Hawaii: The people and lands of Hawaii should remain unified under the single sovereignty of the State of Hawaii, not divided along racial lines.

A few clarifications:

1. Those who don’t believe in God, or believe in 400,000 gods, have other ways to say it. The U.S. Declaration of Independence said: "All men [people] are created equal." Don't believe in creationism? Natural law gives every human equal worth and inalienable rights.

A beautiful Hawaiian creation legend says the gods mated and gave birth to these islands as living beings. Later the gods mated and gave birth to the first human from whom we all are descended. Thus humans are children of the gods and brothers/sisters to the 'aina.

Unfortunately some activists twist this legend to say only people with Hawaiian blood have this genealogy; therefore ethnic Hawaiians have a god-given right to rule Hawaii. Using religion or race as a basis to demand political power in Hawaii is just as unacceptable as jihad in the Middle East, fascism in Europe, or white nationalism in South Carolina.

2. Equal treatment under the law means there should be no special rights or government entitlement programs for one race preferentially or exclusively. Hawaii has many hundreds of such programs. They are illegal under the 14th Amendment equal protection clause, and morally repugnant as "institutional racism" comparable to Jim Crow laws in the old South.

For each program, either open it so all races have access or shut it down. If Native Hawaiians are truly the most needy, then they will receive most of the help if help is given based on need alone.

Article 12 Section 7 of the Hawaii Constitution grants special rights to Native Hawaiians for "traditional and customary practices" interpreted to include trespassing for shoreline access, religious practices, or gathering certain materials. The pono way to honor that provision while also honoring equality under the law is to extend the traditional and customary rights of Native Hawaiians to all citizens. In the kingdom, those rights were for everyone regardless of race ("hoa'aina" meant "tenant" not "native tenant"; "kanaka" meant race-neutral "person").

3. The Hawaiian revolution of 1893 was done entirely by local men while 162 U.S. peacekeepers, present for fear of rioting or arson, were never needed or used. Hawaii remained an independent nation until 1898.

The Republic was given full-fledged international recognition as the rightful successor government by emperors, kings, queens, and presidents of at least 19 nations, including Queen Victoria — all personally signed letters congratulating President Dole. In 1897, the Republic, internationally recognized as the rightful government of Hawaii, offered a Treaty of Annexation to the U.S., which the U.S. then accepted in 1898 after lengthy debate.

Some Senators complained that ratification by both House and Senate was not correct procedure for a treaty, but they lost. Neither Hawaiian secessionists nor U.N. has standing to overrule the method chosen by the sovereign U.S. to make its internal decision to ratify what the Republic of Hawaii offered. Yes, we are Americans.

4. What Kamehameha hath joined together, let no politicians rip asunder. The people and lands of Hawaii should remain unified under the single sovereignty of the State of Hawaii, not divided along racial lines — no race-based government recognized as though it is an Indian tribe.

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Mauna Kea Sacredness: Debunking the assertion of religious sacredness as a cynical ploy by activists seeking race-based political power and money for racially exclusionary government handouts.

During Summer and Fall 2021 there were several calls for supporters of the Thirty-Meter Telescope project on Mauna Kea to submit testimony to various institutions in Hawaii and mainland USA. Following is a consolidated version of Ken Conklin's testimony.

Aloha. I am Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D., retired professor of Philosophy. I have lived in Hawaii permanently since 1992, speak Hawaiian with moderate fluency, and have developed considerable expertise in Hawaiian history, Hawaiian culture, and especially the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. My testimony about Mauna Kea focuses mostly on debunking the disrespectful assertion of religious sacredness as a cynical ploy by activists seeking race-based political power and money for racially exclusionary government handouts.

1. Activists seeking political power are (ab)using Mauna Kea as a pawn in their political game. They illegally block the access road, literally holding the summit as a hostage. They hope to either secede from the USA and re-establish Hawaii as an independent nation, or else obtain federal recognition for a phony Hawaiian tribe. The state government agency Office of Hawaiian Affairs demands megabucks in "rent" [bribe] for the telescope campus -- money to be spent on racially exclusionary projects. Both varieties of activists want to control access to the telescope campus and the summit, and the kinds of activities permitted there, so they can force visitors to comply with cultural/religious protocols and listen to propaganda about Hawaii's history. If you decision-makers withhold funding or political support for the telescopes, of if you cater to activist demands for control over visitors, including activist requirements for visitor orientation and protocol, you thereby enroll as their accomplices.

2. Extremely few people truly believe Mauna Kea is "sacred" in a religious sense. Everyone appreciates the beauty and majesty of Mauna Kea. The activists regard it as "sacred" in the sense that controlling it is essential to their political and financial success, in the same way as a football quarterback is sacred to the team, or teenagers' weekly allowances are sacred to them. By using the word "sacred" they expect that the warm-hearted and generous people of Hawaii will step back in awe and give deference to what is falsely portrayed as their religion. The activists have a long history of claiming that every square inch of land in Hawaii is "sacred" because of a beautiful creation legend that they twist to say that anyone with even one drop of Hawaiian native blood is genealogically a child of the gods and a sibling to the land in a way nobody else can ever be who lacks a drop of the magic blood. Every location is "sacred" because chiefs, gods, or plants/animals who are body-forms of the gods lived there or did actions there. In bygone centuries Hawaiian natives buried family members or fallen warriors in shoreline sand dunes, back yards, or under their houses; thus ancient bones are found everywhere. Nowadays if a single bone is found at a construction site the whole project must be halted until a committee decides whether to spend lots of money to ceremonially protect and rebury it in place and leave a vacant perimeter around it, or whether to move it somewhere nearby. Claims of places or bones being sacred are asserted everywhere, thereby giving the activists a race-based permanent property-rights easement on all the lands of Hawaii, along with political power, and basis to demand compensation. Today's activists have been known to bury some human bones or erect small structures either to claim that they are ancient artifacts or to claim that the Hawaiian religion is alive and therefore the artifacts newly created by its practitioners must be treated as sacred.

3. The ancient Hawaiian religion with centuries of tenure was permanently abolished in 1819, the year before the first Christian missionaries arrived. It was abolished by the four top political and spiritual leaders of the Kingdom in a public display in front of perhaps a thousand important people. They broke an major taboo whose violation normally carried the death penalty, and then gave a short speech proclaiming that the old religion was now overthrown, and ordering the destruction of all the stone temples and burning of the idols throughout all of Hawaii. The four leaders were the young King Liholiho Kamehameha II, his biological mother Keopuolani (sacred wife of Kamehameha The Great) who had the highest mana (spiritual power) in Hawaii, his regent (co-ruler) stepmother Ka'ahumanu ("favorite" wife of Kamehameha The Great among more than 20 official wives and numerous unofficial concubines), and Kahuna Nui (High Priest) Hewahewa. These leaders freely exercised self-determination on behalf of the entire nation. Soon thereafter came a short civil war. High chief Kekuaokalani, to whom Kamehameha The Great had entrusted the war god Ku, and his army, fought to preserve the old religion but were slaughtered in the Battle of Kuamo'o. Some ethnic Hawaiians today seek to revive the old religion as a political power-seeking ploy, thereby disrespecting the freely-chosen self-determination of their ancestors, and also disrespecting the Christianity practiced by most ethnic Hawaiians today. Many ethnic Hawaiians today claim to embrace both Christianity and the ancient religion, and pray or chant to the god(s) of both. There are even a few left-leaning Christian pastors who tell their flocks it's OK to embrace both; but the Protestant missionaries of the 19th Century and the Catholic hierarchy of today reject such syncretism. One thing that makes Kauikeaouli Kamehameha III famous among historians was his gut-wrenching public vacillation between the two religions: He dearly loved his younger sister Nahi'ena'ena (same pair of parents) and made a baby with her (especially for love and also for politically-expected genealogical enhancement of mana in the royal family) even while periodically repenting and trying to be a good Christian when the missionaries warned him.

4. An essay drafted by 7 Native Hawaiian leaders in July, 2021 is entitled "The Historical Context for Sacredness, Title, and Decision Making in Hawai‘i: Implications for TMT on Maunakea." It points out that the ancient Hawaiian religion and its gods had no objection to using areas near the summit of Mauna Kea for commercial and industrial purposes which included living and working there, digging into the ground to quarry rocks for sale or barter, and leaving their trash behind. It is not "Wao Akua" (the realm of the gods where ordinary people are not allowed to live or work). "Archaeological evidence demonstrates that, while the kapu system was in effect, Hawaiians utilized Maunakea as a valuable resource for industrial activities for over 500 years until the time of western contact. Hawaiians excavated the upper slopes of Maunakea for stone of exceptional quality to make tools. As described by Hawaiian cultural practitioner and master navigator Kalepa Baybayan during the TMT contested case hearing, “[t]hey ... shaped the environment by quarrying rock, left behind evidence of their work, and took materials off the mountain to serve their communities, within the presence and with full consent of their gods.” This adze quarry complex covers an area over 900 times the size of the permitted TMT site, which itself is small compared to the entire astronomy precinct"

5. Hawaii is multiracial, with many different religions. No individual race or religion should be allowed to dictate to everyone else what will be the decisions of the government. The Constitution, First Amendment, says there shall be no "establishment of religion" by the government, meaning that government must not adopt any particular set of religious beliefs as the primary basis for making decisions that affect all people of all different religions. That Amendment allows "free exercise" of religion by any religion, so long as it doesn't force itself on anyone who is not an adherent of it. It would be both legally and morally wrong for any government agency to award custody of Mauna Kea to any racial group or to adopt decisions or regulations establishing the ancient Hawaiian religion as the primary authority. The Constitution of the State of Hawaii, Article XII, Section 7 declares that the State "reaffirms and shall protect all rights, customarily and traditionally exercised for subsistence, cultural and religious purposes and possessed by ahupua‘a tenants who are descendants of native Hawaiians who inhabited the Hawaiian Islands prior to 1778, subject to the right of the State to regulate such rights.” Subsequent court decisions have ruled that those rights extend to ethnic Hawaiians beyond the borders of any particular ahupua'a, and apply to shoreline access and gathering of certain plants for subsistence and cultural practices. To avoid imposing racial exclusivity, all such rights should be allowed to every resident of Hawaii. We would thereby ensure that all Native Hawaiians would be protected as required by the Constitution, while also manifesting the Aloha Spirit and the value "ho'okipa" as we avoid racial supremacy or exclusivity.

In conclusion: The thirty-meter telescope project will bring jobs and economic development sorely needed in Hawaii. Objections based on culture or religion are unacceptable both legally and morally. Mauna Kea is indeed a sacred place -- not only for Native Hawaiians, not only for all the people of Hawaii, but for the entire human race. It will help us explore and understand our origins and the beauty of the cosmos. It will bring us knowledge to guide our descendants as they navigate among the stars, just as ancient Hawaiians used the stars to navigate across the ocean.