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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, November 14, 2003

'Aina still losing with every gain

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

On the same day the formal ceremony was held to mark transfer of control of access to Kaho'olawe from the military to the state, the U.S. Marine Corps announced that Waikane Valley on O'ahu would not be used for military training because it is not safe, after 33 years of live-fire training there by the Army and the Marines.

The 2000 acres had been leased from a Hawaiian family in 1943. The military promised to clean up the place when they were pau, but military officials later said no, that would cost too much, so the land was condemned and fenced off.

On the same day control of Kaho'olawe was formally passed from the Navy to the state, the U.S. Senate gave final approval to more than $700 million in defense spending in Hawai'i — more than $89 million more than last year, which includes money for the huge Stryker Brigade that would require the acquisition of 1,400 acres on O'ahu and 23,000 acres on the Big Island, almost as much as Kaho'olawe's 29,000 acres.

And at the ceremony at 'Iolani Palace where control of Kaho'olawe was passed from the Navy to the state, Gov. Linda Lingle included these words in her remarks to those gathered: "Hawaiian people are a forgiving people; they are an understanding people."

Isn't that what adults say to children to keep them under control? "Oh, you're a sweet little girl, and sweet children don't get angry."

Not to attack the governor, but the idea expressed in those words, an idea that gets tossed around like a kind of label for the Hawaiian people, is more of an insult than a compliment.

There are things that are unforgivable, especially when they keep happening. There are things that no rational person could understand.

Lingle went on to say, "It's clearly understood that the decisions that led to the bombing of Kaho'olawe made after World War II were made by people long ago who never set foot here."

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The book "Ho'iho'i Hou" edited by Rodney Morales contains George Helm's journal entry dated January 30, 1977. In it, Helm writes about his reasons for the fourth occupation of Kaho'olawe:

"What is national defense when what is being destroyed is the very thing the military is entrusted to defend, the sacred land of (Hawai'i) America. The spirit of pride is left uncultivated, without truth and without meaning for the keiki o ka 'aina, cut off from the land as a fetus is cut off from his mother. National defense is indefensible in terms of the loss of pride for many of the citizens of Hawai'i-nei. Call me radical for I refuse to remain idle.

I will not have the foreigner prostitute the soul of my being, and I will not make a whore out of my soul (my culture)."

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.