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Showing posts with label Burial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Burial. Show all posts
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
SIGN THIS PETITION - STOP THE DIGGING OF HAWAIIAN BURIALS AT KAWAIAHA`O CHURCH
Go HERE To Add Your Name
Go HERE To Add Your Name
Thursday, April 19, 2012
HONOLULU LIGHT RAIL PROJECT HEADED FOR "BURIALS CENTRAL"
By Kēhaunani Abad, PhD
As early as 2005, the O`ahu Island Burial Council (OIBC) raised red flags. The rail project would undoubtedly impact Hawaiian burials.
Three years later, when the OIBC had not received promised communications from the City and County of Honolulu, the council asked for an update.
At that time, and at many meetings thereafter, the OIBC called into question the planned rail alignment, which would directly collide with concentrations of burials.
Joining the council's strong objections were the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hui Mālama i Nā Kūpuna O Hawai`i Nei, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation and Hawaiian families.
But City planners did not listen or did not care.
A growing chorus implored transit officials to shift the project route, thereby avoiding known burial areas. Still the City ignored efforts to avoid conflict and prevent costly litigation, delays and project modifications that would ensue once burials were encountered.
Despite these warnings and pleas, the railway is headed straight for an area that could be called “Burials Central.”
Since the State implemented burial laws in 1990, more than 400 burials have been encountered in the core of the Honolulu urban corridor – an area bordered by River, King and Ke`eaumoku streets and Ala Moana Boulevard. Adding documented historic cemeteries and epidemic burials to the 400 would more than double that figure.
Before Western contact and well into the 19th century, rolling sand dunes in this area were burial grounds for generations of Honolulu `ohana. They would kanu, or plant, the remains of loved ones in the dunes.
Mana concentrated in iwi kūpuna (ancestral remains) would imbue the `āina and spiritually nourish the living community. Under the protection of their `ohana, iwi kūpuna and `āina would become one, perpetually connecting kūpuna, `āina and `ohana.
But following two centuries of foreign impacts, these traditional burial areas were no longer controlled by families of the deceased.
Disease and depopulation, the improper seizure of lands and illegal overthrow of the sovereign Hawaiian government created a spiral of negative outcomes – including removal of many `ohana from ancestral lands.
Burial areas came to be “owned” by landlords and governed by new laws that afforded no protection to unmarked burials. Many burials were dug up and destroyed. Hundreds of others were built upon, leaving iwi kūpuna to continue their repose in Honolulu burial sands.
But lack of Hawaiian ownership of burial sites has not bred lack of concern. Hard-fought laws were enacted to safeguard burials as significant historic sites.
Prior to the rail project gaining approval, state and federal laws require completion of an Archaeological Inventory Survey (AIS) to identify significant historic properties, such as burials, and facilitate plans to avoid them.
To shortcut this vital planning process – and despite vehement objections of the OIBC – federal officials, the State Department of Transportation (DOT), Honolulu transit officials and others signed a rail Programmatic Agreement in 2011.
Unfortunately, this agreement enables the project to start construction along a committed route without first completing an AIS.
This misguided approach places Native Hawaiian burials in peril and gambles with taxpayer dollars. As attorneys for the National Trust for Historic Preservation warned, “the City’s decision renders the project legally vulnerable under Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act.”
This Act dictates that the federal DOT “cannot approve the use of land [involving]…historic sites [including burials] unless…there is no feasible and prudent alternative” and only if “the action includes all possible planning to minimize harm to the property resulting from use.”
But planning for burials has been minimal. The City has not completed its AIS for the project area involving “Burials Central” and has not seriously considered an alternate course, such as a King Street route, which would avoid burials.
If burials are found via the AIS or later during construction (since an AIS investigates only a sample of the project area), two laws are triggered.
First, Section 4(f) of the DOT Act would force transit officials to seek a “feasible and prudent alternative” that avoids burials.
And second, state law authorizes the OIBC or the Department of Land and Natural Resources to preserve the burials in place, as was done at Ward Villages where fundamental project changes were required.
If burials remain in place, rail alterations would be required.
Turning a blind eye to this reality, rail proponents contend they need only move a rail pillar forward or backward along the route to avoid burials. But that myth assumes burial areas would be limited and overlooks the greater impacts of train station construction and infrastructure relocation.
Four immense rail passenger stations are planned for the Honolulu urban corridor. And massive ground disturbance would occur as electric, phone, cable, water and sewer lines are relocated and roadways reconstructed.
So the question is not whether these disturbances of sandy deposits would encounter burials. The question is how destructive such encounters would be as work proceeds.
Would kūpuna be brutally unearthed by backhoes or pounded into oblivion by pile drivers?
If kūpuna are laid bare by intrusive archaeological hands, would transit officials coerce the OIBC to remove the remains?
If kūpuna are undisturbed, would the rail project require major alteration? At how many junctures might this occur? How would this affect the project timing and budget?
These are questions that should have been investigated long ago to minimize harm to kūpuna, anguish for the Hawaiian community and expense for Honolulu taxpayers.
Overriding each of these concerns, however, is the City’s desperate and shortsighted determination to force the rail project forward – no matter what the cost.
By Kēhaunani Abad, PhD
As early as 2005, the O`ahu Island Burial Council (OIBC) raised red flags. The rail project would undoubtedly impact Hawaiian burials.
Three years later, when the OIBC had not received promised communications from the City and County of Honolulu, the council asked for an update.
At that time, and at many meetings thereafter, the OIBC called into question the planned rail alignment, which would directly collide with concentrations of burials.
Joining the council's strong objections were the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hui Mālama i Nā Kūpuna O Hawai`i Nei, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation and Hawaiian families.
But City planners did not listen or did not care.
A growing chorus implored transit officials to shift the project route, thereby avoiding known burial areas. Still the City ignored efforts to avoid conflict and prevent costly litigation, delays and project modifications that would ensue once burials were encountered.
Despite these warnings and pleas, the railway is headed straight for an area that could be called “Burials Central.”
Since the State implemented burial laws in 1990, more than 400 burials have been encountered in the core of the Honolulu urban corridor – an area bordered by River, King and Ke`eaumoku streets and Ala Moana Boulevard. Adding documented historic cemeteries and epidemic burials to the 400 would more than double that figure.
Before Western contact and well into the 19th century, rolling sand dunes in this area were burial grounds for generations of Honolulu `ohana. They would kanu, or plant, the remains of loved ones in the dunes.
Mana concentrated in iwi kūpuna (ancestral remains) would imbue the `āina and spiritually nourish the living community. Under the protection of their `ohana, iwi kūpuna and `āina would become one, perpetually connecting kūpuna, `āina and `ohana.
But following two centuries of foreign impacts, these traditional burial areas were no longer controlled by families of the deceased.
Disease and depopulation, the improper seizure of lands and illegal overthrow of the sovereign Hawaiian government created a spiral of negative outcomes – including removal of many `ohana from ancestral lands.
Burial areas came to be “owned” by landlords and governed by new laws that afforded no protection to unmarked burials. Many burials were dug up and destroyed. Hundreds of others were built upon, leaving iwi kūpuna to continue their repose in Honolulu burial sands.
But lack of Hawaiian ownership of burial sites has not bred lack of concern. Hard-fought laws were enacted to safeguard burials as significant historic sites.
Prior to the rail project gaining approval, state and federal laws require completion of an Archaeological Inventory Survey (AIS) to identify significant historic properties, such as burials, and facilitate plans to avoid them.
To shortcut this vital planning process – and despite vehement objections of the OIBC – federal officials, the State Department of Transportation (DOT), Honolulu transit officials and others signed a rail Programmatic Agreement in 2011.
Unfortunately, this agreement enables the project to start construction along a committed route without first completing an AIS.
This misguided approach places Native Hawaiian burials in peril and gambles with taxpayer dollars. As attorneys for the National Trust for Historic Preservation warned, “the City’s decision renders the project legally vulnerable under Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act.”
This Act dictates that the federal DOT “cannot approve the use of land [involving]…historic sites [including burials] unless…there is no feasible and prudent alternative” and only if “the action includes all possible planning to minimize harm to the property resulting from use.”
But planning for burials has been minimal. The City has not completed its AIS for the project area involving “Burials Central” and has not seriously considered an alternate course, such as a King Street route, which would avoid burials.
If burials are found via the AIS or later during construction (since an AIS investigates only a sample of the project area), two laws are triggered.
First, Section 4(f) of the DOT Act would force transit officials to seek a “feasible and prudent alternative” that avoids burials.
And second, state law authorizes the OIBC or the Department of Land and Natural Resources to preserve the burials in place, as was done at Ward Villages where fundamental project changes were required.
If burials remain in place, rail alterations would be required.
Turning a blind eye to this reality, rail proponents contend they need only move a rail pillar forward or backward along the route to avoid burials. But that myth assumes burial areas would be limited and overlooks the greater impacts of train station construction and infrastructure relocation.
Four immense rail passenger stations are planned for the Honolulu urban corridor. And massive ground disturbance would occur as electric, phone, cable, water and sewer lines are relocated and roadways reconstructed.
So the question is not whether these disturbances of sandy deposits would encounter burials. The question is how destructive such encounters would be as work proceeds.
Would kūpuna be brutally unearthed by backhoes or pounded into oblivion by pile drivers?
If kūpuna are laid bare by intrusive archaeological hands, would transit officials coerce the OIBC to remove the remains?
If kūpuna are undisturbed, would the rail project require major alteration? At how many junctures might this occur? How would this affect the project timing and budget?
These are questions that should have been investigated long ago to minimize harm to kūpuna, anguish for the Hawaiian community and expense for Honolulu taxpayers.
Overriding each of these concerns, however, is the City’s desperate and shortsighted determination to force the rail project forward – no matter what the cost.
Thursday, April 05, 2012
SIGN THIS PETITION - STOP THE DIGGING OF HAWAIIAN BURIALS AT KAWAIAHA`O CHURCH
Go HERE To Add Your Name
Go HERE To Add Your Name
Saturday, March 03, 2012
SIGN THIS PETITION - STOP THE DIGGING UP OF HAWAIIANS BURIED AT KAWAIAHA`O CHURCH
Go HERE To Add Your Name
Go HERE To Add Your Name
Thursday, March 01, 2012
BURIAL REMOVALS DRAW PROTESTORS TO CHURCH
Demonstrators Say Kawaiaha`o Should Stop Disinterments
Honolulu Star-Advertiser - February 15, 2012
Nearly 40 demonstrators, some in skeleton costumes, protested the rising number of Native Hawaiian burial disinterments at Kawaiaha`o Church outside the historic institution known as “the Westminster Abbey of the Pacific.”
The group, mostly University of Hawai`i students, held signs and chanted in Hawaiian to voice their objections to the removal of iwi kūpuna, or ancestral remains, being carried out by Honolulu’s oldest church to make way for a $17.5 million multipurpose building.
More than 238 burials have been removed from the site with state permission.
Most disinterments have occurred since November, rising the ire of Native Hawaiians who say cultural tradition calls for them to protect their ancestors’ remains from disturbance even if they were buried in a Christian cemetery at a church established in 1842.
A Star-Advertiser story has disclosed the disinterment count through Jan. 21 reported to state officials by an archaeologist hired by the church.
The church declines to disclose such figures. A more up-to-date count hasn’t been available from the State Historic Preservation Division, but 14 burials a week have been unearthed on average over the past few months.
Protesters displayed more than a dozen signs with names of families with burials at Kawaiaha`o - Pilali, Ka`ahea, Adams, Shaw, Kapena, Kakelaka, Kuaea, Kanaumu, Godfrey, Buckle — to raise awareness about who might have relatives being disturbed.
The group also carried signs urging the church to cease disinterments. “Stop Digging Kawaiaha`o,” read one. “There’s life in the bones,” read another.
Some signs were more cutting, such as one in the shape of a coffin with the words “GRAVE RAIDERS” intersected on a cross.
“We are here to stand for who we are as a people,” said Zurishaddai “Z” ‘Aki, 25, one of several members of the UH student group Makawalu who donned skeleton masks to emphasize the connection to their cause.
“We came out today to show we’re not forgetting about our kūpuna,” said Punahele Kealanahele-Querubin, 21, a senior in UH’s Hawaiian Studies program. “We still carry the values that we have had for hundreds of years. To give up those values is giving yourself up as a Hawaiian. It’s just hewa (wrong). Just hewa.”
Demonstrators Say Kawaiaha`o Should Stop Disinterments
Honolulu Star-Advertiser - February 15, 2012
Nearly 40 demonstrators, some in skeleton costumes, protested the rising number of Native Hawaiian burial disinterments at Kawaiaha`o Church outside the historic institution known as “the Westminster Abbey of the Pacific.”
The group, mostly University of Hawai`i students, held signs and chanted in Hawaiian to voice their objections to the removal of iwi kūpuna, or ancestral remains, being carried out by Honolulu’s oldest church to make way for a $17.5 million multipurpose building.
More than 238 burials have been removed from the site with state permission.
Most disinterments have occurred since November, rising the ire of Native Hawaiians who say cultural tradition calls for them to protect their ancestors’ remains from disturbance even if they were buried in a Christian cemetery at a church established in 1842.
A Star-Advertiser story has disclosed the disinterment count through Jan. 21 reported to state officials by an archaeologist hired by the church.
The church declines to disclose such figures. A more up-to-date count hasn’t been available from the State Historic Preservation Division, but 14 burials a week have been unearthed on average over the past few months.
Protesters displayed more than a dozen signs with names of families with burials at Kawaiaha`o - Pilali, Ka`ahea, Adams, Shaw, Kapena, Kakelaka, Kuaea, Kanaumu, Godfrey, Buckle — to raise awareness about who might have relatives being disturbed.
The group also carried signs urging the church to cease disinterments. “Stop Digging Kawaiaha`o,” read one. “There’s life in the bones,” read another.
Some signs were more cutting, such as one in the shape of a coffin with the words “GRAVE RAIDERS” intersected on a cross.
“We are here to stand for who we are as a people,” said Zurishaddai “Z” ‘Aki, 25, one of several members of the UH student group Makawalu who donned skeleton masks to emphasize the connection to their cause.
“We came out today to show we’re not forgetting about our kūpuna,” said Punahele Kealanahele-Querubin, 21, a senior in UH’s Hawaiian Studies program. “We still carry the values that we have had for hundreds of years. To give up those values is giving yourself up as a Hawaiian. It’s just hewa (wrong). Just hewa.”
Monday, January 30, 2012
SIGN THIS PETITION - STOP THE DIGGING UP OF HAWAIIANS BURIED AT KAWAIAHA`O CHURCH
Go HERE To Add Your Name
Go HERE To Add Your Name
Saturday, December 24, 2011
SIGN THIS PETITION & STOP THE DIGGING UP OF HAWAIIAN ANCESTORS AT KAWAIAHA`O CHURCH
Go HERE To Add Your Name
Go HERE To Add Your Name
Friday, December 16, 2011
SIGN THIS PETITION TO SAVE OUR ANCESTORS & STOP THE DIGGING AT KAWAIAHA`O CHURCH
Go HERE To Add Your Name
Go HERE To Add Your Name
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
FREE HAWAI`I TV
THE FREE HAWAI`I BROADCASTING NETWORK
"WHO OWNS THESE BONES?"
What Would You Say If There Came A Day When A Church Would Lie To Cover Up What Had Gone Awry?
Weʻve Discovered Whatʻs Being Uncovered For Those Buried In Their Own Cemetery.
They Told The Families Theyʻd Stop, But Now Itʻs That Promise Theyʻve Dropped.
Watch This As We Unearth The Kawaiaha`o Church Case Which Is Now Bringing So Much Disgrace.
Then Share This Video With One Other Person Today.
THE FREE HAWAI`I BROADCASTING NETWORK
"WHO OWNS THESE BONES?"
What Would You Say If There Came A Day When A Church Would Lie To Cover Up What Had Gone Awry?
Weʻve Discovered Whatʻs Being Uncovered For Those Buried In Their Own Cemetery.
They Told The Families Theyʻd Stop, But Now Itʻs That Promise Theyʻve Dropped.
Watch This As We Unearth The Kawaiaha`o Church Case Which Is Now Bringing So Much Disgrace.
Then Share This Video With One Other Person Today.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
FREE HAWAI`I TV
THE FREE HAWAI`I BROADCASTING NETWORK
"GRAVE MISBEHAVING"
Kawaiaha`o Church Doesn’t Put Much Worth On What They Unearth.
It’s Contrary In Any Cemetery, But For Kawaiaha`o, It’s About A Cash Cow.
As You Might Have Guessed, There’s Lots Of Protest & You’ll Be Stunned When You Hear Who Contributed Funds.
Watch This To See What’s In Store For Hawai`iʻs Ancestors & How You Can Help Correct This Outrageous Disrespect.
Then Share This Video With One Other Person Today.
THE FREE HAWAI`I BROADCASTING NETWORK
"GRAVE MISBEHAVING"
Kawaiaha`o Church Doesn’t Put Much Worth On What They Unearth.
It’s Contrary In Any Cemetery, But For Kawaiaha`o, It’s About A Cash Cow.
As You Might Have Guessed, There’s Lots Of Protest & You’ll Be Stunned When You Hear Who Contributed Funds.
Watch This To See What’s In Store For Hawai`iʻs Ancestors & How You Can Help Correct This Outrageous Disrespect.
Then Share This Video With One Other Person Today.
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