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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Tuesday, June 17, 2003

EDITORIAL
Agreement on artifacts a winner for both sides

In a time when there has been considerable controversy and even tension about Hawaiian artifacts and items being held by museums, a recent agreement between the Bishop Museum and a Moloka'i group tells a different story.

The agreement respects the cultural feelings of Moloka'i residents, extends the museum's reach to a place where it has not been active and even offers a new historical attraction for Moloka'i.

It's an indication of what can happen when all parties involved work cooperatively on a solution.

The agreement, as reported by Neighbor Island Editor Christie Wilson, would return to Moloka'i three sandstone slabs that legend says foretell the arrival of westerners in the Islands. The slabs contain impressions of what appear to be Western, booted footprints made hundreds of years before the first foreigners arrived.

A prophetess, Kalaina, said the markings were warnings of a day when outsiders would come to the Islands and take the land.

The slabs were cut out of their original site and shipped to the museum for safekeeping years ago. They have now been returned, under an agreement between museum management and Moloka'i caretakers.

They will be respectfully displayed, surrounded by a native plant garden near where they were originally located. The museum will train docents about the cultural significance, who can then share that knowledge with visitors.

This approach should be emulated in future cases.