Dawn K. Wasson
8 hrs ·
8 hrs ·
To all Kanaka Maoli:
We make choices in our lives that will affect us generations to come, and I was called upon to do that: to disinter the iwi of my husband.
The First Circuit Court of Hawaii and Hawaii Reserves Inc. and Property Reserves Inc., business entities of the LDS Mormon church, made a decision to make claim to Kuleana lands in Laie. The Zuckerburg case is a fine example of Quiet Title claims against Kanaka Maoli kuleana lands.
My husband is buried on a parcel of Opala of Kalimakuhi, which I am an heir and assign. I made the claim in the court but HRI/PRI used this court system to convince the court they were the owners. I purchased a property about 20 to 40 feet away from where he lies.
Here is the dilemna: my sons--not all, but most--disagree with me and side with the Mormon church to disinter and move him elsewhere.
My dilemna is the voices of the Kuleana landowners, whose voices I hear to malama the 'aina of their heirs. Again, I choose the Kanaka Maoli people over my own, flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone. I choose them because I made a promise--a promise I have to keep because I heard their stories of pain that I, too, feel from the corruption, lies, threat, exclusion, and theft of the ancestors' lands. They trusted the leaders of the LDS Church when they leased the Kuleana lands. Kupunas died and the LDS leaders refused to return the Kuleana lands, up to this very minute. I cannot walk away from a promise and I will not. I hear their voices and feel their pain and I cannot forget or succumb to the challenges layed down at my feet.
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