Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 37, Number 3, 1 March 2020 — The Awakening of Honokahua: Part II [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Awakening of Honokahua: Part II

By Edward Halealoha Ayau

In 1988 Edward Kanahele (pietured) wrote a letter to the editor bringing attention to the dire situation at Honokahua and media coverage swelled placing Honokahua at the forefront of the thoughts and conscience of many throughout Hawai'i. Dana Nāone Hall describes this situation: "Disturbing and displacing Native Hawaiian iwi was not new. What differentiated Honokahua was a drawn-out excavation process that occurred over many months, not a quick unearthing and scattering witnessed by a few. It provided the time necessary for people to comprehend the magnitude of what was happening and, most importantly, to reflect on the spiritual and moral dimensions of such actions. Onee the reality of Honokahua pierced the puhlie eonscience, the digging had to stop." Community members throughout the islands were outraged by the news coming out of Honokahua, with the disinterments numbering 791 individuals by October 1988. What followed was an outpouring of disbelief, eoneem, anguish and sheer determination to halt further excavations. OnDecember 11, 1988 a protest was held at Honokahua and

some placed blame on Hui Alanui o Mākena and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, while others recognized that the responsibility lay with the County Planning Commission for granting the SMA permit for the development without meaningful consultation with the Hawaiian community. There simply was no legal authority to protect unmarked Hawaiian burial sites at that time. Emotions were running high. On December 22, 1988, a vigil was held at the State Capitol and 'Iolani Palaee to protest the excavations at Honokahua. Immediately following that, Governor Waihe'e met with concerned Hawaiian activists, calling the matter a "moral issue" and stating that the digging "must stop." Hui Alanui o Mākena ceremonially reinterred the 1,100 iwi kūpuna and their moepū and were able to protect in plaee approximately half of the iwi kūpuna and moepū buried at Honokahua while reburying the other half. The circle was now eomplete and at the time Hall described the situation as follows: "During negotiations regarding the Honokahua Site, Colin Cameron stated that what he and his partners sought in the resolution of the issue was to be 'made whole' again. I might add that our cultural desire as Hawaiians paralleled that eeonomie desire, and by the end of April of this year (1990), the site was made whole again with the reinterment of the iwi." The momentum created by the events at Honokahua carried over into the legislative realm. ■