FREEHAWAII.INFO PRESENTS A SPECIAL REPORT IN FOUR PARTS -
FROM INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY
Homeless In Hawai'i: More Land For The Military Than For Hawaiians
By Winona LaDuke - Guest Columnist
Here's Part Three -
"Except as required for defense purposes in a time of national emergency, the government shall not deliberately destroy any object of antiquity, prehistoric ruin or monument ..."
Makua lease provision held by the U.S. Military
The new Stryker/Military Transformation proposal by Senator Inouye will exacerbate the already desperate situation of many Hawaiians, who comprise a good portion of those without permanent housing and at least half of the present prison population.
"All of the Hawaiian poor come to Wai'anae, all of the homeless come to Wai'anae," said Sparky Rodrigues. "If the military comes in here with their cost of living allowance with the Strykers' new expansion, then rent will go up, and they'll bring in 30,000 people. Property values will go up. More Hawaiians will be forced onto the beach as homeless, and they are going to be criminalized."
The system is already poised to worsen the problem and serve as a drain on the state's social services Rodrigues explained. "Child Protection Services is looking at homelessness as child abuse. So they're not going to build schools, and there is an oppressive environment, they can't get jobs, can't pay for the house."
Rodrigues and his wife, Leandra Wai Rodrigues, were arrested in l996 on Father's Day at Makua. Their family and others were all evicted. "Everything that was left behind was bulldozed and destroyed. Actually they took all our good stuff, and gave it to other people," Leandra lamented.
"It was a huge community of homeless, about 60 families and we ended up creating our own self governance," explained Sparky. "The welfare office was sending families that couldn't afford rent to Makua because it was a safe place. Our goal was to look for long-term solutions to homelessness. Our goal was to go there, and then go back into society. They [social service agencies] aren't interested in a long term solution, their solution is to pass laws and arrest people." He added, "calling the folks on the beach 'squatters' changes the whole way of looking at it. If they are traditional practitioners or want to live a traditional lifestyle, they are Hawaiians. The use of the word 'squatters' makes it okay for the government to bring in the bulldozers and arrest them."
Concluded Tomorrow...
