Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 37, Number 04, 1 April 2020 — The Awakening of Honokahua: Part III [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Awakening of Honokahua: Part III

By Edward Halealoha Ayau While the Honokahua disturbance issue was being resolved, a bill was introduced during the 1989 legislative session to amend Hawai'i Revised Statutes Chapter 6E to establish greater protection for unmarked

Hawaiian burial sites over fifty years old. The intent was to create a legally binding process that would prevent a situation similar to Honokahua from happening again. However, the legislature did not approve the bill that session. Nonetheless, the Chairman of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, William Paty, announced that DLNR would administratively establish five island burial councils to assist the State in its decision-making regarding unmarked burial sites. Interim councils were established for (1) Hawai'i, (2) Maui/Lāna'i, (3) Moloka'i, (4) O'ahu, and (5) Kaua'i/Ni'ihau in an advisory capacity to assist the newly established State Historic Preservation Division.

The councils were comprised of Hawaiian and large landowner representatives. This was a significant development forwaid in the march toward legal empowerment of Hawaiians to speak on behalf of their ancestors in matters involving the proper treatment of unmarked burial sites over fifty years old. In the summer of 1989, efforts were undertaken to consult with Hawaiian stakeholders and large landowner/developers to work out contentious issues contained in the previous legislation. It was no secret that large landowners and developers opposed the bill and unless their concerns were effectively addressed, the fate of the legislation during the next session would be no different. Having graduated from law school at the University of Colorado and just taken the State Bar Exam, I joined the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation. My caseload included representation of a Hawaiian named Kalāho'ohie Mossman on whose behalf amendments to the historic preservation law would be undertaken. Work on re-drafting the legislation was also led by Dr. Don Hibbard, Administrator of the State Historic Preservation Division, and Dr. Davianna McGregor, a professor from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. A critieal issue was the identification of the State agency that would house the program whieh would administer the island burial councils and support the management of Hawaiian burial sites. At that time, there was a laek of faith in the ability of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to do so, given Honokahua. As a result, the revised legislation named DLNR as the appropriate agency through its State Historic Preservation Division. Perhaps, after 30 years, the time has eome to transfer the burial sites program to OHA? ■ Edward Halealoha Ayau is theformer Executive Director ofHui Mālama INā Kūpuna 0 Hawai 'i Nei, a group tliat has repatriated and reinterred thousands ofancestral Native Hawaiian remains andfunerary objects from the collections ofmuseums and institutions worldwide. He trained under the direction of Edward and Pualani Kanahele in traditional protocols relating to care ofnā iwi kūpuna (ancestral remains) and moepū (funerary possessions). He resides in Pana'ewa, Hawai'i.