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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, February 17, 2003

ISLAND VOICES
There's room for everybody on Mauna Kea

By Michael West
Associate professor of astronomy, University of Hawai'i at Hilo

If Queen Lili'uokalani had lived today, she might have been an astronomer. This thought occurred to me as I spent a few enjoyable hours sailing under the starry skies with a group of Big Island astronomers and Native Hawaiians aboard the Hawaiian voyaging canoe Makali'i.

Lili'uokalani, Hawai'i's last reigning monarch until her overthrow in 1893, was a woman of great intelligence and creativity. She had a passion for poetry. She composed over a hundred songs, including the famous "Aloha Oe." She spoke several languages. She dined with presidents, queens and kings. She fought tirelessly for the rights of the Hawaiian people after the illegal takeover of their kingdom.

But above all, Lili'uokalani had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. As she wrote in her 1898 autobiography, "Hawai'i's Story by Hawai'i's Queen," "the acquisition of knowledge has been a passion with me during my whole life, one which has not lost its charm to the present day."

I imagine that, if she were alive today, Lili'uokalani would feel saddened that two of her greatest passions — her love for the Hawaiian people and her desire for knowledge — should have so much difficulty coexisting on the summit of Mauna Kea. The many amazing discoveries about the universe that are made by the telescopes on the "White Mountain" would surely have fascinated her.

And who knows, perhaps as a young girl Lili'uokalani might even have been inspired to pursue a career in astronomy.

As the Makali'i glided across the water, I thought about how we're all explorers of one sort or another. It's part of our human nature. The same curiosity to find out what lies beyond the horizon that inspired the ancient Polynesians to set sail for new lands is what inspires astronomers today to search the heavens to learn about distant worlds across the cosmic ocean.

So why is there so much controversy surrounding Mauna Kea today?

Much of the blame belongs to astronomers. For many years, the astronomy community was, through ignorance or arrogance, insensitive to the sanctity of Mauna Kea to some Hawaiians. In their eagerness to build bigger and better telescopes, astronomers forgot that science is just one way of looking at the world, and that we must be respectful of world views that differ from our own. Mauna Kea was a sacred site to the Hawaiian people long before there were ever telescopes there, and so astronomers have a moral obligation to help preserve the dignity of this holy place.

But sensitivity to other cultures is a two-way street. Science, too, is a culture, an ancient one whose roots go back to the dawn of human civilization. Today the science of astronomy transcends race, religion and language. Calls from some Native Hawaiian and environmental groups for the dismantling of telescopes on Mauna Kea or banning future development there are also culturally insensitive because they ignore the kinship astronomers feel with the mountain as they explore the cosmos in what is ultimately a spiritual quest for them, too.

Sure, there will always be some astronomers who view the Hawaiian reverence for Mauna Kea as merely a quaint relic of an ancient belief system that is out of place in the modern world and who believe that astronomers should be allowed to build whatever telescopes they wish on Mauna Kea.

Likewise, there will always be some Native Hawaiians who view the presence of astronomers on Mauna Kea as a very visible example of the continuing occupation of their nation by foreign invaders, and who will settle for nothing less than the removal of all the telescopes and a return of the mountain to its original state.

But between those two extreme views lies the common ground occupied by most of us. There's enough aloha spirit in these Islands to ensure that our keiki, whether of Hawaiian or non-Hawaiian blood, will always feel welcomed on Mauna Kea to worship as they wish, to practice their cultural heritage, and to study the stars. We can't live in the past, consumed by anger or guilt over earlier injustices.

As Queen Lili'uokalani said herself, "The world cannot stand still. We must either advance or recede."

As the Makali'i docked in Hilo Bay and we returned to shore, Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians, astronomers and non-astronomers, I thought to myself that if Lili'uokalani were alive today, she'd surely say that there's room for everybody on the summit of Mauna Kea.