DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina | DMZ Hawai'i/Aloha 'Aina

Kulani saved? Possible win for environmental, peace and justice advocates!

Post Date June 24, 2011

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Environmental Impacts, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights, Projects and Campaigns, Youth and Militarization

CORRECTION: I was originally informed that the resolution passed by the Hawai’i State Senate effectively reversed the reset aside of Kulani Prison to the Hawaii National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program. However, I was informed by another source that the senate vote alone may not have been sufficient to overturn the executive order by itself. We’re digging into this to confirm. We know that the intention of the Department of Community Safety and the Department of Land and Natural Resources is to reopen the prison. Stay tuned to what unfolds.

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The Hawai’i State Senate passed a resolution that disapproved of the reset aside of Kulani lands to the Hawaii National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program. This is a big win for advocates of peace, justice and the environment.

The former governor Linda Lingle abruptly closed the Kulani prison, one of the most successful sex offender treatment programs in the country, and transferred the facility to the Hawaii National Guard for its youth program and, we suspected for training purposes:

The state plans to allow the U.S. Department of Defense to begin using the 20-acre Kulani facility at the end of November, he said.

The goal is to turn the prison into a Hawai’i National Guard Youth Challenge Academy for teens ages 17 and 18 who are not going to graduate from high school, Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, the state’s adjutant general, announced in July.

Prison reform activists opposed the closure of this successful prorgram. Native Hawaiians opposed the transfer of the land to the military and sought to create a culture-based pu’uhonua (place of refuge) and healing center for nonviolent offenders. Environmentalists wanted to preserve the 7000 acre forest that surrounded the prison facility. DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina opposed the military land grab.

In 2009, we called the closure a land grab:

Governor Lingle suddenly and unexpectedly closed Kulani Prison, one of the most successful offender treatment programs in Hawai’i. Why? She said it was to save money. She then said that the facility would be turned over to the Hawaii National Guard to convert it into a Youth Challenge military school. However, this article reports that the National Guard has neither the funds nor the plan to implement this convesion. So what’s the real reason for the transfer to the military? Prison reform, environmental, Hawaiian sovereignty and peace activists now suspect that the land transfer may have more to do with the military gaining access to 8000 acres of Waiakea forest for training purposes. Stay tuned…

In September 2010, the National Guard expanded its request to include various types of military training. The community blasted the proposal. The Board of Land and Natural Resources voted against allowing training in the area, but approved the transfer of the Kulani prison facility to the National Guard. DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina, the Community Alliance on Prisons and cultural practitioner Michael Lee petitioned for a contested case hearing to challenge the Board’s decision.

In November 2010, I wrote on this website:

Yesterday Governor Lingle was on hand to dedicate the new Youth ChalleNGe facility at the former Kulani prison site on Hawai’i island. This was reported in the Honolulu Star Advertiser and Hawaii News Now.

But wait.

The Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) decision to transfer the land from the Department of Public Safety to the state Department of Defense is being challenged by three parties: Kat Brady of the Community Alliance on Prisons, Michael Lee, a Kanaka Maoli cultural practitioner and lineal descendant with ties to the lands in question and DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina. Read more here and here

The three parties requested a contested case hearing before the BLNR. This should place a hold on the BLNR decision going into effect. To date, there has been no correspondence from BLNR to the intervening parties.

The Kulani prison lands, which are zoned for conservation, were set aside decades ago by executive order of the Governor exclusively for a prison. No other uses are permitted. When Governor Lingle closed the Kulani prison she announced that she was giving the facility to the National Guard for the Youth ChalleNGe program. The Department of Public Safety and the Department of Defense signed a memorandum of agreement to transfer the occupancy of the facility. But the previous executive order has not been officially terminated. And a new executive order has not been issued nor approved by the legislature. So the the new Youth ChalleNGe facility is illegal.

DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina and the Community Alliance on Prisons issued a statement denouncing the move.

Now Kulani has come full circle. The National Guard will have to pack up and leave the facility. Kulani prison will reopen. And the pristine forest surrounding it will be protected as part of the Natural Areas Reserve. Mahalo to all who testified, educated, lobbied and spoke out against the military land grab at Kulani.

Hawaiian Activists Fight US Military Bases

Post Date June 29, 2007

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Environmental Impacts, Global Justice and Peace Movements, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights, Social and Economic Impacts, The Military in Hawai'i (All Islands)

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/hawaiian-activists-fight-us-military-bases/

Hawaiian Activists Fight US Military Bases

June 29 2007

Two Hawaiian land rights activists visited Sydney in June and spoke to The Guardian about their struggles against US militarization of Hawaii and their support for protests against the Talisman Sabre war games in Shoalwater Bay, Queensland.

Terri Keko’olani and Leimaile Quitevis are Indigenous leaders from the island of O’ahu, Hawai’i. They are both long-time activists who have campaigned tirelessly US militarization, environmental destruction and the decimation of their traditional Hawai’ian culture.

The Guardian: Can you tell us about your organisation?

The group that we are representing is DMZ Hawai’i/Aloha Aina — a network of communities and organizations in Hawai’i, which oppose the occupation of Hawai’i and are opposing the expansion of military forces in Hawai’i. It is a network of organizations and individuals working to counter the US military’s negative social, cultural and environmental impacts in Hawai’i.

In 1898 our country was an independent nation. It was called the Kingdom of Hawai’i. In 1898 the United States participated in the overthrow of our government. Since that time we have been under occupation by the US military in our own homeland.

As soon as the takeover took place the military took root and started to grow. One of the first places that was strategic was Pearl Harbor, which we call Ke Awalau o Pu’uloa

It was the hugest fishery, in the island of O’ahu. The US used possession not only as a commercial port but as a military port. They used our islands as a calling station for war.

Once the Spanish were kicked out the Americans then had a war with the Filipinos and they sustained that war from our islands.

World War II came along and their ships are there in Pearl Harbor. The Japanese attacked and then several ships went down, big fires, and today Pearl Harbor is one of the most contaminated naval sites in the world — there are about 800 contaminated sites in the Harbor.

The US military owns about a quarter of the island of O’ahu and it has control over it — the army, the Marine Corps, the navy and the marines.

Since 9/11 there has been the biggest build-up of military expansion. Right now the army has proposed bringing in 300 Striker 20-ton tanks and there is a very big campaign among people to stop the Strikers from being stationed in our islands.

We are really experiencing a lot of pressure and also a lot of money is coming in to expand not only the bases but life on the bases.

The army intends to seize an additional 25,000 acres of land on O’ahu.

The US military in Hawai’i is the largest polluter of our land. In total there are about 1,000 identified contaminated sites.

These are some of the messages we are trying to convey to the people of Australia — if you allow the US military to come into your country, which is a sovereign country, you are allowing this type of experience. It’s no good. It’s going to bring a lot of toxicity, a lot of contamination. You will not be able to access these lands.

We had an experience with the army as well. They don’t tell you the truth. I personally asked the army whether they used depleted uranium. They said no. But just a year ago we found in army communications and memos, a memo which stated that they had used depleted uranium in an army training area.

Our movement in Hawai’i as such, has been non-violent. We have an issue of taking non-violent resistance but we have not gone to the streets.

We are very firm and we are moving forward to reclaim and to reinstate our government that represents our interests as native people.

Hawai’i now is under US occupation. We are a state of the United States. But there is an undercurrent of native people in the midst of nation-building right now. There are people who have already had plans to reinstate the Kingdom of Hawai’i. There are people who are thinking along the lines of creating a new constitution.

The main idea I want to get across is that our people are moving forward in building a nation.

When it comes to the militarization of our lands we are totally opposed to it. There are people in our community who were for it because they believed that it would provide us with income and they became addicted to that kind of money.

The military economy is not sustainable to an environment at all. These are some of the contradictions we are talking to our people about.

We have to get out of a dependency on a military economy.

The Guardian: How has emigration impacted upon Hawai’i?

White people have a lot of land. We had in our history missionaries who came from the east coast of America — they were American missionaries, Calvinists who settled and actually taught our chiefs their economic system and language.

They translated our language into a written form and gave us Bibles.

We have missionary families who actually became capitalists. Their missions were cut off from getting funds and they had to learn how to survive in our country without the mission funding.

So they emigrated, some of them married but they began to actually help put the laws together for land ownership and eventually became the land owners.

So they had a huge part to play in the imbalance that took place in our system — introducing private property, registering private property and holding a lot of that private property such as running sugar and pineapple plantations.’

The Guardian: What is the meaning of Land to the Indigenous population?

We are the land. There is really no separation. When you look at the lot of the places where the bases are — that’s where some of our most secret sacred sites are too.

There is no separation. Our elders, our ancestors are buried in that land which gives us guidance to do the things that we need to do.

A lot of it has been damaged and destroyed. At the same time we have a very strong movement to rebuild things that have been damaged by reclaiming our ancient fish ponds.

The two biggest challenges are the developers and the military. We have a strong will and a lot of people are committed to the land and do the work that is needed in our communities.

The Guardian: Has this been a long struggle?

Before the 1900s, the land Commissioners mostly came from missionary families. Land commissioners held a very important position and were in charge of all the land titles.

So there was much arguing with the titles and the deeds and the land commission awards for each lot of the land.

Missionaries actually introduced the concept of private ownership to our society. Prior to that there was no such concept.

A lot of our culture today is based on a communal idea, not only of the land but of our society.

It’s something similar to the [Indigenous] people here — you cannot own land. It’s part of who you are. There is always a conflict between native land and environment and ideas that were introduced from a Western capitalist point of view.

Even though we have that part of our history where there was conflict, our chiefs in the 1800s knowing that we were getting pushed into a very modern world … began to think about how they were going to use their lands in order to help our people. There were chiefs who put aside their estates for the benefit of our people. For example, there was a Bernise Pourheepship, she put aside her lands for the benefit of education of native Hawai’ian children. Luna Leelo his lands for the elderly; Hono Colondily for orphans; …

Today there is a movement in Hawai’i by right-wing Americans to break the estate saying that we are ALL Americans now and that these estates are based on ethnicity of a people should not be legal.

Hawai’ian homelands are lands that are set aside for the use of our people. In order to qualify you have to have 50 per cent blood, there is a blood content. You have to prove through birth certificates etc that you have 50 per cent — not 49 per cent.

For many of us, we definitely want to keep these estates alive but at the same time we realize that our goals are higher and that is to reclaim our actual government as a nation.

The Guardian: Can you please tell more about your experiences?

When we are going to community meetings and I tell them about the possible contamination of depleted uranium and other toxins, people are appalled. Nobody knew.

In the beginning they don’t really want to hear anything because they have had a long history of association with the military.

Now people are just starting to open their eyes.

In November 2006, some of the military contaminants found in O’ahu, Hawai’i’s largest island included: depleted uranium, phosgene, TNT, lead and trichloroethylene.

Ongoing military expansion in Hawai’i also currently threatens a number of traditional cultural and sacred sites including the birthplace of elders and ancient temples. Fires, toxic chemicals, unexploded ordnances and destruction of endangered species on the islands are a major crisis.

More than 25,000 acres of land is also earmarked to be seized at Phakuloa and Honouliuli. Plans to base hundreds of new troops, cargo planes, marines’ bases, missile launchers and sale of public land to private developers concerns the group.

The DMZ group notes that The US assumes it has control and domination, but the First Peoples do not agree. The unique identities and sovereignties of the world’s peoples are just open spaces for the projection of US military force, to make way for WalMart, McDonalds and MTV.

The experiences of Indigenous peoples vis-à-vis the militarized empire are multiple and unique. We are not singular, but plural; we obtain our life and very existence from specificities of our particular ancestors, our particular gods, our named and worshiped sacred sites.

When Talisman Sabre 07 takes place here in Shoalwater Bay … all of it is really being directed from Hawai’i — from the US Pacific Command (PacCom). PacCom is the oldest and largest of the US unified commands. It was established in Hawai’i in 1947 and its HQ are on an island called Camp Smith. The PacCom area of responsibility stretches over more than 50 per cent of the earth’s surface … from the west coast of North America to the east coast of Africa, from Alaska to Antarctica including Hawai’i.

The two Indigenous leaders concluded their remarks by stating: WE have a right as native people to clean water, clean land, clean ocean and clean air in order to survive.

From The Guardian

DU Exposed!

Post Date January 06, 2006

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category Depleted Uranium, DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Ho’ola Hawai’i – Environmental Justice

Posted on: Friday, January 6, 2006

Schofield uranium find prompts call for probe

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

A coalition of environmental and Native Hawaiian rights groups are calling for an independent investigation and disclosure by the Army of depleted uranium munitions use in Hawai’i based on recently obtained information confirming its presence at Schofield.

The Army said yesterday that the depleted uranium in question poses no threat.

The coalition DMZ Hawai’i/ Aloha ‘Aina cited a Sept. 19 e-mail message from Samuel P. McManus of the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center in Huntsville, Ala., to Ronald Borne, an Army employee involved with preparations for the Stryker brigade at Schofield Barracks. The e-mail involved the high cost of unexploded ordnance removal in preparation for the construction of a new Stryker brigade battle area complex at Schofield. In the e-mail, McManus noted, “We have found much that we did not expect, including the recent find of depleted uranium.”

DMZ Hawai’i/Aloha ‘Aina believes the e-mail obtained with a Freedom of Information Act request is reason for concern since “it means either the records are inaccurate or the U.S. Army’s representatives misled the public” in repeatedly denying depleted uranium use here, most recently in the March 2005 draft environmental impact statement for Makua and at a public hearing for the Stryker brigade EIS in 2004.

The Army confirmed yesterday that in August, 15 tail assemblies from spotting rounds made of D-38 uranium alloy, also called depleted uranium, were found by Zapata Engineering while the contractor was clearing a range area of unexploded ordnance and scrap metal. The tail assemblies are remnants from training rounds associated with an obsolete weapon system that was on O’ahu in the 1960s, and their low-level radioactivity represents no danger, the Army said.

The Army also stated that other than the armor-piercing rounds for the Abrams tank and Bradley fighting vehicle, there are no other weapons in its current stockpile that use depleted uranium. “There is no record of the Abrams and Bradley DU rounds ever being stockpiled in Hawai’i or being fired on Army ranges in Hawai’i,” the statement said.

The 15 tail assemblies recovered have been triple-bagged, stored in metal containers and secured pending disposition instructions, the Army said.

The Army statement was issued several hours after a DMZ Hawai’i/Aloha ‘Aina news conference announcing the e-mail findings, which was attended by representatives of six groups and concerned residents.

Depleted uranium munitions have raised concerns because they generate aerosolized particles on impact that can lead to lung cancer, kidney damage and other health problems.

Ann Wright, a retired diplomat and retired Army colonel, said she supports passage of a bill before the Legislature that calls for helping Hawai’i National Guard troops returning from Iraq and the Persian Gulf in obtaining federal treatment services that include health screenings capable of detecting low levels of depleted uranium.

Gail Hunter, a registered nurse, cancer survivor and Makaha resident for more than 20 years, wants more proof that there’s no depleted uranium at training sites in Makua, Kahuku, Schofield and Pohakuloa that could be threatening drinking water, land and air.

“We’re downwind of the (brush) fires in Wai’anae so I want to know if we’re breathing it in,” Hunter said.

Kyle Kajihiro, program director for American Friends Service Committee, called on the state Health Department to begin investigating and testing for military toxins. He said the revelation about depleted uranium being found in Hawai’i “is very disturbing because it may just be the tip of the iceberg. This is a smoking gun in a sense that there has been depleted uranium expended in our environment. We don’t know how much, we don’t know where and we don’t know what its effects are.”

Of the Health Department, he said: “We are asking them to be more aggressive in protecting public health. There are methods of testing but they require resources and some commitment. There should be testing of the environment and health screenings in the community (for military toxins) to determine if people have been exposed.”

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Source: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Jan/06/ln/FP601060367.html/?print=on

Army lied about DU in Hawai'i

Post Date January 06, 2006

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category Depleted Uranium, DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Ho’ola Hawai’i – Environmental Justice

Uranium revelation upsets isle activists

Army e-mails detailing the presence of spent metal at Schofield are troubling, critics say

By Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com

SEVERAL environmental and native Hawaiian groups are accusing the Army of misleading the public after the groups discovered that a heavy metal known as depleted uranium was recovered at Schofield Barracks’ range complex.

During a news conference yesterday, the groups said the Army has repeatedly assured the public that the heavy metal was never used in Hawaii.

“These recent revelations, then, indicate that the Army is either unaware of its DU (depleted uranium) and chemical weapons use or has intentionally misled the public. Both possibilities are deeply troubling,” said Kyle Kajihiro, program director of the American Friends Service Committee and member of DMZ-Hawaii/Aloha Aina.

Some members of the various groups read about the depleted uranium in e-mails detailing documents submitted in federal court in December, showing that heavy metals were found at Schofield Barracks’ range complex area during clearing efforts.

The e-mail was submitted as part of an ongoing discovery process. At the end of November, attorneys representing the 25th Infantry Division filed a motion in federal court to amend a 2001 settlement so soldiers can resume live-fire training at Makua Valley. The motion is scheduled to be heard Monday.

URANIUM AT SCHOFIELD
art
U.S. ARMY PHOTO VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Depleted uranium tail assemblies have been found in a Schofield Barracks range impact area, prompting some to question the Army’s forthrightness. See story, Page A3.

The clearing was being done to prepare for the expansion of additional training space and the construction of a rifle and pistol range for a new Stryker brigade combat team.

Depleted uranium is a byproduct of radioactive enriched uranium and has been used by the U.S. military in bullets and other weapons designed to pierce armor. Some researchers suspect exposure to depleted uranium might have caused chronic fatigue and other symptoms in veterans of the first Gulf War, but there is no conclusive evidence it has.

In a letter sent yesterday to Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division, Kajihiro wrote that several groups were outraged by the use of the uranium, which they say poses a public health hazard even in small amounts.

During community discussion on the Stryker Brigade environmental impact statement in 2004, Army officials assured the public that depleted uranium was never used in Hawaii, Kajihiro said.

Fifteen tail assemblies from spotting rounds made of D-38 uranium alloy, also called depleted uranium, were recovered in August by Zapata Engineering, a contractor hired by the military to clear the Schofield Barracks’ range impact area of unexploded ordnance and scrap metal, according to a news release from the 25th Infantry Division.

In an e-mail dated Sept. 19, a contractor told an Army official at Schofield: “We have found much that we did not expect, including recent find of depleted uranium. We are pulling tons of frag and scrap out of the craters in the western area to the point where it has basically turned into a manual sifting operation. Had this not been a CWM site, we would have moved mechanical sifters in about 5 weeks ago but the danger is just too high.”

Dr. Fred Dodge, Waianae resident and member of Malama Makua, said, “DU is a heavy metal similar to lead. It can be toxic particularly to the kidneys,” and could cause lung cancer if the metal in dust form is inhaled.

But U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii officials said the recovered depleted uranium has low-level radioactivity and does not pose a threat to the public.

The tail assemblies are about 4 inches in length and an inch in diameter. Army officials said they are from subcomponent remnants from training rounds associated with an obsolete weapon system that was on Oahu in the 1960s.

“The Army has never intentionally misled the public concerning the presence of DU on Army installations in Hawaii. This is an isolated incident and should not be considered as an attempt to misinform the public,” Col. Howard Killian, commander of the U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, said in a written statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/01/06/news/story06.html

"Aloha aina must continue"

Post Date November 12, 2002

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category 'A'ole Stryker, Media Releases, The Military in Hawai'i (All Islands)

DMZ HAWAII/ALOHA AINA STATEMENT

November 12, 2002

“Aloha aina must continue”

Clean up and return lands – demilitarize Hawaii
Today, as Kahoolawe is turned over to the State of Hawaii, we must remember the history which has led to this moment. President Dwight Eisenhower said in 1953 that Kahoolawe was necessary for military training, but would be returned shortly to the then-Territory of Hawaii, in a habitable state. After forty years of struggle, the people of Hawaii, with the support of people throughout the world, accomplished the cessation of bombings. We lost two dear souls in the struggle, George Helm and Kimo Mitchell, whose voices of aloha aina were silenced.

Iolani Palace is a portentious site for this ceremony. For it was at this place, nearly 111 years ago, that the US military supported an illegal coup against a peaceful, independent, and neutral nation state. Only last week the military held public meetings – at private hotels and resorts, and as they presented their plans to appropriate 25,000 acres of land on Hawai’i and Oahu, peaceful activists were being arrested outside for attempting to voice dissent. From the arrest of our queen in 1895 as she tried to hold her country together, to the arrest of her people today as they carry on her work, the US military has lied, cheated, and misled the people of Hawai’i into believing they are stewards of the land and protectors of life. And there is more: the military wants to expand occupation of Kauai by another 6,000 acres for missile defense.

With one hand the military is returning 28,600 acres on Kahoolawe, which is still in an ailing state; with the other hand, they are attempting to take another 31,000 acres.

The legacy of the US Navy’s treatment of Kahoolawe is an indication of how all these lands will be treated.
8.9 million pounds of metal, mainly ordnance, has been removed from the island, and Kahoolawe is still covered with unexploded ordnance. Only 9% of the island has been cleared down to 4 feet, and only 70% of the surface has been cleared. The ordnance is the result of sustained US Navy and Allied bombings since 1953.

We must not forget Makua, Waikane, Waikoloa, Waimea, Puuloa (Pearl Harbor) as well, to understand more fully the way which the military treats our homeland.

For the US Navy to return the island in such lifeless condition is immoral. The US Navy should renew its commitment to healing the destruction it has caused.

We, the people of Hawaii who stand with a steadfast love for the land, are vigilant, aware, and mobilized. We wear black to honor the work of the past, and to note that the work is not yet complete.

A better world is possible, one where our families are not threatened by the health effects of militarization, where our economy is not stultified by dependency on Inouyue and Abercrombie’s dole, and where Hawaii is no longer the center for warfare and violence. We gather today in memory of all the lands – Kahoolawe, Makua, Waikane, Puuloa, Pohakuloa, Vieques, Okinawa – that must be healed and returned. Aloha aina must continue – the life of the land is perpetuated through our good works.