Aloha Kakou,
I just wanted to vent and possibly get some feedback or comments relating to an important issue that occurred the weekend of July 8th, 2011. My friend and his entire family including Kupuna, parents, aunties, uncles, cousins, keiki and the entire 'ohana consisting of about 30 some (10 of which were over 50 years old and pure koko) Hawai'ians set out for a long day of collecting bamboo shoots and hunting for fresh waster prawn in the 'Ohe'o district Ahupua'a. The elders had not done this in many years and were super excited about passing the knowledge handed down by their own Kupuna to the younger generation.
Also 4 people in our group actually work for the National Park so we did the proper protocol and went and asked permission to access and gather, informed them of how many were in our group and what exactly we would be doing that day. At first Dino Brown who has worked for the park for many years told us to access the area through Kipahulu Living Farms side coincidentally this is not even National Park land. We had noticed that the law enforcement unit was parked about 100 feet away from Dino when we asked for entry and they just parked there and created a sense of unease....the vibe was ugly and we did not think they would let us go but they said nothing at the time and just watched us hungrily.
Once we reached the Pipikwai stream trail head we parked the vehicles and proceeded to get our group into the forest. It took time because of all the ages and people we had; all of a sudden here come Ranger Rick and his partner Peter in the law enforcement unit. While one came to tell us that we were not allowed to go any further the other kook ran all of our license plates and basically these guys had the full on Fed attitude with absolutely zero aloha and wanted to jack us all up and ruin our day no matter what. I was the only white person there besides officer Dick and Peter and it literally brought tears to my eyes, and Alohikea's eyes to witness and receive the disrespect to parents, elders, and everyone there from these federally paid employees.
We did not want to cause a confrontation in front of the children or Kupuna so we just told the officers that we would leave because it was not worth arguing and honestly we were stunned and did not know our rights well enough to go at it with them. Also the elder's just humbly shut down and told us guys "neva mind we go"
So with the entire family ready for a day of culture and lessons passed down decided lets go to Hanawi side so the kids can play and stuff. Anyway we all went down about 4 miles past 'Ohe'o and regrouped. Of course we were all disappointed and all of us were talking about what had just occurred and how lame it was and we should find out our legal gathering rights....blabla and then I told Alohikea, eh no open one beer cause these guys going come down and try jack us up over here....I can feel it in my na'au! Right then here comes the kooks for more harassment, racial discrimination, and mainland fed mentality! Serious, these guys pull up and do not say anything to the two fishermen in the kahawai but come directly to us and start up with do folks have a leash for the dog? By now Alohi cant take anymore and just grabs the dog by the caller and drags him past Ranger Rick towards the truck telling him "why you gota chase me and my family down here? You already ruined our day and we left peacefully, this is Maui what the f--- and then Ranger Rick UNSNAPS HIS GUN HOLSTER AND PUTS HIS HAND ON HIS GUN IN AN AGGRESSIVE STANCE!! Immediately, I jump up and go in between Rick and Alohi and tell him, look we have not broken any laws, we have a leash for the dog, all our cars are legal, and is there anything else? These guys did not want to leave but had too cause they had no merit what so ever treating us the way they did. We all talked about the incident for days, all of Hana....Terry Lind(works for National Park), John and Tweetie Lind(Living Farms), and so many others who work/worked for the National Park as well as numerous people in the community were/are disgusted and not happy with the "law enforcement fed mentality" that we and other Hawai'ans have received at 'Ohe'o.It is our right to go and collect, gather and hunt.
Honestly I think that we could have a case of harassment because these guys intentionally followed us with intent to give us citations or whatever they could. I was advised to write a letter to Senator Inoye and get every one to sign it for possible change to the attitude towards Natives and Hawai'ians by the Federal officers. The fact that the teaching by the elders of the cultural knowledge was shut down that day, that we were racially discriminated against, that we were in fear from officer Rick and his hand on his gun (who is payed to protect us not harass us). I cant put into words how angry I am about this kind of crap that goes on day after day. If you no more ALOHA IN HAWAI'I THAN GO HOME and take your mentality with you.
ps: no offense to any law enforcement I just want Hawai'ian people and community to be treated with care and respect not discrimination and harassment. the culture of the mainland is clashing with that of Hawai'ian.
mahalo,
annjulie
resources :related issues or articles.
www.kalaupapaohana.org/position.html
http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Wao_Kele_O_Puna
http://www.pacifichealthdialog.org.fj/Volume%2010/No2%20Pacific%20Public%20Health%201/Viewpoints%20and%20Perpectives/An%20Ecological%20Model%20for%20Native%20Hawaiian%20Well%20Being.pdf
http://www.nps.gov/hale/index.htm
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