Navy Refuses Recognized Native Hawaiian Cultural Practitioner Rights In Secret Land Transfer
Complaint Filed With State And Federal Agencies
FROM: Michael
Kumukauoha Lee
Native
Hawaiian Cultural Practitioner
Recognized
Cultural Descendant in ‘Ewa
Re:
Naval facilities Commander, US Navy Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii
Aloha
e,
With regards to the secretive Navy land transfer of
many parcels of lands which exist on the plain of Kaupe’a and Kanehili,
Honouliuli ahupua’a moku of Ewa, identified previously as the former Navy
Barbers Point Air Base and today is called Kalaeloa.
As a recognized Native Hawaiian cultural
practitioner in Honouliuli, Ewa, by the Board of Land and Natural Resources, the
1st Circuit Court, Intermediate Court of Appeals, as a HART Programmatic
Agreement Consulting Party, as a Navy KREP PV Farm Consulting Party, as well as
a recognized cultural descendant on April 14, 2010 by the O’ahu Island Burial
Council to ancestral native Hawaiian remains within and surrounding the Navy lands
of Barbers Point, Iroquois Point and West Loch, I provide the following
statement:
I must rely upon vigilant protection of my
religious, traditional and customary Native Hawaiian practices, cultural and
natural resources or I and the Hawaiian people will lose them forever. As the
kahu, or keeper, of the iwi kupuna in this area, as recognized by the Oahu Island
Burial Council and State of Hawaii Historic Preservation Division, it is my
responsibility to ensure the protection and safety of all the ancestral bones
and funerary objects within in this area of my responsibility. I can and have
filed lawsuits and won when my cultural rights have been damaged and violated.
I have to ask: Why was I not consulted in this land
transfer which directly concerns my cultural practice and the tens of thousands
of iwi kapuna in the Leina a ka uhane that I have responsibility to protect?
I am also an Hawaiian astronomer or star priest
called Papakilohoku recognized by the Honolulu City Council with an Honorary
Certificate and also very recently consulted by astronomy organizations on the
Big Island regarding native Hawaiian astronomy. All this background gives me
standing concerning the Federally recognized Hawaiian Traditional Cultural
Property (TCP) in Honouliuli called the Leina a ka Uhane, a very sacred
spiritual leaping place for souls of the deceased returning to their ancient
homeland. This major wahi pana (sacred place) was Federally recognized by the
HART Rail Project in a 2012 published series of documents as a Section 106 requirement
to identify Ewa Plain Honouliuli TCP’s.
The Leina a ka Uhane TCP is clearly within the same ancient
area known as the Plain of Kanehili and Plain of Kaupe’a, connected by the important
ancient Hawaiian trail system within Honouliuli-Ewa identified by the 1825
Malden Trails map. All of this was also well identified in numerous Navy base
closure documents and maps produced in 1979 through 2001.
Leina a ka Uhane in Kanehili is a sacred burial area
for iwi kupuna in the tens of thousands. There is no excuse for the Navy land
transfer to completely ignore all of this Federally produced Leina a ka Uhane
TCP documentation and not consult with the most qualified and widely recognized
resident Kahu in Honouliuli, Ewa. The Navy lands being transferred are only minutes away from where I live and I
have walked through it many times. The
presence of burial sites, ancient habitation sites and the spirits of my
ancestors is very real there and these spirits of the iwi kupuna call to me for
their protection to prevent their desecration.
Burials in the Plains of Kanehili and Kaupe’a areas
using the native Hawaiian Trails drawn by Malden in 1825 and subsequently
documented by archeologists for the Navy in detailed archeological reports as
on the Barbers Point Navy Base and Ewa Marine Air Base cannot be denied. These
are facts but the Navy is intentionally ignoring them in the land transfer.
The ancient Hawaiian trails running from Honouliuli
to Ewa, Palehua, Kualaka’i and One’ula are very key components for
understanding the cultural history of the Honouliuli ahupua’a. Portions of
these trails still exist through the Plains of Kaupe’a and Kanehili, in the
foothills by Makakilo which was a major Papakilohoku star priest observation
place, and in the documented archeological trails and iwi kupuna Karst burial
areas which exist in the Barbers Point Navy lands being transferred.
This Navy land transfer is an attempt to evade
native Hawaiian cultural rights as specified in numerous State and federal laws
protecting native Hawaiian culture. The US Navy is intentionally allowing, by
their secrecy and lack of consultation with the most qualified local native
Hawaiian residents, this most significant sacred cultural landscape in the
Hawaiian Islands. This lack of cultural respect has and will cause great emotional
and spiritual harm to not only myself, but to thousands of the cultural descendants
of the iwi kupuna buried in there. This harm extends to the spiritual
well-being of the entire Native Hawaiian lahui as well.
As a long time kahunalapa’auokekaiolimu, or Native
Hawaiian practitioner of limu medicine, I have standing under Hawaii law
protecting Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners and I am recognized in the
Hawaii First Circuit Court in cases for the Honouliuli area and in Federal
Court as the Hawaiian Cultural Practitioner of sea medicine on the Big Island
in Kohala in the Kona Blue v. Kahea Kohala fishery's case in 2011.
The entire Plain of Kaupe’a and Kanehili are
entirely ancient coral limestone reef with thousands of caves and sinkholes.
This is a well documented fact by the Navy’s own base closure archeologists. Fresh
water flows through an extensive network of underground interconnected Karst
caverns and channels from the mountains to the sea in the Plain of Kaupe’a and
Kanehili which contains the nutrients that feed our eco-system food chain.
The Honolulu City Council passed unanimously in 2012
the Ewa Plain Trails resolution giving my cultural practice further standing in
Honouliuli by advocating the protection of the 1825 Malden Trails (ancient
Hawaiian trails) and Ewa Karst water system which is an ancient limestone reef
wetlands water system.
I believe it is my duty as a native Hawaiian
cultural practitioner to state that we cannot afford any more of these losses
and developments must adhere to state and federal laws. This is also a Hawaii Public
Trust Interest as stated in the Hawaii State Constitution. The State of Hawaii
is mandated to protect this resource- caves, karst, underground streams and
rivers under Statute 6D 1-10, Article 11, Section 7 State Constitution.
Native Hawaiian TCP’s do not follow any exact
linear, circular or simple place box format like a TMK. They can cover a large
area, vary in depth and width and are often linked together by trails, caves,
ponds and canoe landings. The land and the people are one. Access to and protection
of native cultural sites and ecosystems is a cornerstone of recognized cultural
practice in Hawai‘i. When a sacred place, native species or critical ecosystem
is lost, a wahi pani or wahi kapu is erased from the landscape, the words and
traditions associated with them are also lost.
Native Hawaiian rights: Article XII Section 7 of the
Hawaii Constitution states, "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 prior to 1778."
Michael
Lee
91-1200
Keauniu Drive, Unit 614,
Ewa
Beach, Hawaii 96706
Please see attached Addendums:
Various
City and State resolutions I and KCH have advocated for
Recognized
Native Hawaiian Cultural Practitioner, Hoopili Case - ML
BLNR
Dec. 12, 2008 Item K-3 Contested Case Hearing Request – ML
April
7, 2010 OIBC for TMKS of Honouliuli
HCDA
and HUNT Corp recognized Native Hawaiian Cultural Practitioner
