[nativestudies-l] Open letter by Kanaka Maoli Scholars Against Desecration

[jkauanui at wesleyan.edu]

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September 12, 2008

Open letter by Kanaka Maoli Scholars Against Desecration

As Kanaka Maoli professors and scholars we write to publicly condemn the
state-sponsored desecration of a Native Hawaiian burial site at Wainiha,
Kaua`i resulting from the construction of a new home at Naue Point by
California businessman Joseph Brescia. For years Brescia has been trying
to build a home on top of our ancestral graves despite a litany of
environmental, legal and community challenges to his construction.  In
2007 Brescia unearthed and then covered over the bones of our ancestors
when he began clearing the area.  The illegal and immoral disturbance and
desecration of our ancestors’ remains must stop now.

The Hawai`i revised statute 711-1107 on Desecration specifically states
that no one may commit the offense of desecrating "a place of worship or
burial," and the statute defines "desecrate" as "defacing, damaging,
polluting, or otherwise physically mistreating in a way that the defendant
knows will outrage the sensibilities of persons likely to observe or
discover the defendant's action."  In complete contradiction to their own
law, the State Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Land
and Natural Resources approved a "burial treatment plan" for Brescia that
undermines both the very concept of historic preservation and the reason
for the founding of the Hawai`i Burials Council: to protect burials, not
"treat" them.  This "burial treatment plan" enabled Brescia to secure
permits to build as long as the graves remain "in place," which in this
case means the burials have been capped with concrete already poured for
the footings of his house.

To date, 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe has denied requests for a
temporary restraining order and has even refused to grant a temporary
injunction to stop further construction until the full civil suit is
adjudicated by the state court. State Historic Preservation Division
archaeologist and Kaua`i County Council candidate Nancy McMahon testified
that the dozens of previously identified burials do not constitute a
cemetery, but should be thought of instead as individual grave sites—a
distinction that is meaningless in the laws against the desecration of
burial sites. An archaeologist hired by Brescia, Mike Dega, told the court
that he would not define the site as a cemetery because for "pre-contact"
burials, he has no standards by which he can say a burial ground is a
cemetery.  In other words, in his view there is no such thing as a
"pre-contact" (by which he means pre-European or pre-Christian) Native
Hawaiian "cemetery."  According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a
cemetery is defined simply as "a burial ground"; within this standard
definition there are no additional historical or cultural qualifications
that need to be met. Dega’s assessments and the court's acceptance of them
shamelessly evade the entire moral and ethical purpose of the legislation
enacted to protect gravesites by playing a deceptive game of words. Let us
be clear: a burial is a cemetery and a cemetery is a burial.  No matter
how they describe the grave sites,  they cannot erase the existence of the
burials; they cannot turn these graves into a "non-cemetery," and they
cannot erase the reality of the ongoing desecration caused by this
construction.

Adding further insult to his desecration of Hawaiian graves, Brescia
recently lodged a lawsuit against six people—all of whom are Kanaka
Maoli—implicated in protecting the burial site from his construction work.
 He has charged them with trespassing, unspecified damages, and even
"terroristic acts." Brescia subsequently filed a motion to identify nearly
a dozen more "Doe defendants" and add them to his original lawsuit in an
attempt to include cultural and religious practitioners from neighbor
islands that came to bear witness to and defend the crimes at Naue.  We
strongly condemn this Orwellian view of who should be defined as
trespassing and causing damage.

We call out to all people of conscience to join in our condemnation of the
desecration of the ancestral remains; to support an end to the illegal
construction supported by the state, and to protest any prosecution of
those who have laid their bodies down to prevent the further degradation
of the bones of our kūpuna.

Signed,

Hokulani Aikau, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Political Science, University
of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Carlos Andrade, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Kamakakūokalani Center for
Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

J. Leilani Basham, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Humanities, University of
Hawai`i at West O`ahu

Maenette Benham, Ed.D., Dean, Hawai`inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge,
University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

J. Noelani Goodyear- Ka`ōpua, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Political
Science, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Lisa Kahaleole Hall, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies, Wells
College

Kū Kahakalau, Ph.D., founder and director of Kanu o ka ‘Āina New Century
Public Charter School

Lilikalā Kame`eleihiwa, Ph.D., Professor, Kamakakūokalani Center for
Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Val Kalei Kanuha, PhD, M.S.W., Associate Professor of Social Work,
University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Anthropology and
American Studies, Wesleyan University

Manulani Meyer, Ed.D., Associate Professor, Education, University of
Hawai`i at Hilo

Jon Kamakawiwo`ole Osorio, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Kamakakūokalani
Center for Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Noenoe K. Silva, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Political Science, University
of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Ty Kawika Tengan, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Anthropology and Ethnic
Studies, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Haunani-Kay Trask, Professor, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies,
University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

-pau-

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