2017-04-18 Public Testimony on SMA 16-063 Contested Case

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sacredness. You heard Uncle Mitchell talking yesterday. You guys are being told already the answer that he seeks for, and it is ‘a‘ole. We hear Aunty Gerry Kahulamū on her West Hawai‘i Today – again, listen to these people. She does not want to even give in to this. Neither will I. Today we live in a time of a lot of challenges. Why do we look more? Why do you look more to oppress and not look to the health and the wealth of the people and the generations to come? I had my children here yesterday. I looked to their future. I hear my nieces of the youth quoting poems that you will never hear. But if you could hear, the youth voices of today are written on paper; they are against this. They have a life also and they have a future that they are thinking about. Thank you for your time. Mahalo, Hearing Officer. MAILE LINDSEY: Good morning. My name is Maile Lindsey. Yesterday I observed a lot of really good things and a lot of really bad things as well. Forgive me, I’m not really the public speaker type. So, yesterday you, you asked people to raise their hand and said who here is from Kona. And maybe my perception on that question is different from what you intended it to be, but I don’t have to be from Kona to have a voice and to speak out. Two years ago I started reading about Kahalu‘u. Not really knowing why, it just happened because I was tracing my genealogy. And when you do a genealogy, it comes with stories. And you learn about your kūpuna, the people that came before you. And it ties you to the land. It grounds you. And I’m sitting here today as a result of that, because I’m not from Kona, I’m not from the Big Island, I’m from Waianae, O‘ahu. I was raised in Makaha, a Makaha girl. But my tūtū-s are from here. So now I sit here and I speak, because, ‘a‘ole, they are not okay with this. Yeah? I have a responsibility now to speak up, not for myself but for them and, most importantly, for the children to come, the generations. We are sitting here because entities like Bishop Estates, Kamehameha Investment Corporation, OHA, are not doing their jobs. These lands are in Trust. Money is in Trust for reason, and it is to make sure that these lands are available for our children, that Sandy just spoke about, because it’s true. These children are awake. They know where they come from. They know the mo‘olelo. They know their language. What happens when they cannot come back to these places or go to these places? Because they feel that spiritual tie. What happens? Who is holding these entities responsible? We are. The wagon is before the horse. How long does the wagon have to drag the horse along before the horse actually picks up the reins and moves forward with the rest of the people? We are not here to be a tourist destination. We are not. Look at Honolulu. The reason why I live here, not only because I feel tie to this ‘āina but because I don’t like the development. The place I was raided in is going to be overdeveloped, and my heart goes out to them. We don’t really need 306 timeshares in Kahalu‘u. That’s the land of our ali‘i. Why should the foreigners live in the land of our ali‘i? Why? That should be available to us first, not them. That is my mana‘o. Thank you for your time. CLARE LOPRINZI: Aloha. ‘O Clare Koenoa, my name is Clare Loprinzi. My descendants do not come from this ‘āina, but they come from Sicilia, and that’s an island that’s also a sovereign island; it’s an island that has many of the same problems as Hawai‘i. But I’ve been living here for a long time. And I came here because I was told to come here. So, I am a cultural practitioner; I’m a traditional midwife. What? Oh, you can’t hear me? Oh, usually people say, “hāmau ka leo, quiet your voice down.” Okay. So did you hear anything I said? Okay. So, the reason why I’m here is because there is kuleana and accountability for cultural practitioners. Listening to the kupuna yesterday was an honor, because he has kuleana. He may not have come from the 3 2017-04-18 Public Testimony on SMA 16-063 Contested Case