Letters to the editor: 01-15-20

Kahele rant needs rebuttal

Kai Kahele is currently serving in the Hawaii State legislation and knows how government works. He has represented his constituents well and has strong support from them. Exposing the illegal activity of the state and county against Hawaiians on homestead lands can hardly be described as supporting lawless behavior. The Thirty Meter Telescope does not and will not provide “countless benefits to the people of the county, state, and world.”

It will, however, forever desecrate the special place that is Maunakea. Doug Herkes seems to forget that the government of the United States wrote a letter of apology for the illegal overthrow of the kingdom of Hawaii and ensuing suppression of language and cultures that flowed from the colonialism.

The attitude of the state and county reflect the colonialism from which it was derived and continues to suppress first peoples in the name of economics gain for all. This mentality of economic gain for all masks the real economic gain for the ultra-wealthy and corporations foreign and domestic that have led to the degradation of the environment of all the major Hawaiian islands and the lessening of the quality of life for the kia’i. I will vote for a representative that will stand up for his people and that is Kai Kahele.

Leslie Iijima

Waikoloa