How Native Hawaiians fought the US Navy, and won
The fight to take back a sacred island.
On January 4, 1976, a fleet of boats headed toward the Hawaiian island of Kaho‘olawe. The goal: take the island back from the US military for the Hawaiian people.
Since World War II, the US military had used the island for bombing practice and decimated its land. But the story of the taking of this one island was part of a bigger history of the taking of all of Hawaii. The decades-long efforts to reclaim it would help spark a movement to renew the culture and traditions of the islands — and a push for Hawaiian sovereignty.
On January 4, 1976, a fleet of boats headed toward the Hawaiian island of Kaho‘olawe. The goal: take the island back from the US military for the Hawaiian people.
Since World War II, the US military had used the island for bombing practice and decimated its land. But the story of the taking of this one island was part of a bigger history of the taking of all of Hawaii. The decades-long efforts to reclaim it would help spark a movement to renew the culture and traditions of the islands — and a push for Hawaiian sovereignty.
Transcript
00:02- [Narrator] On January 4th, 1976,
00:05a fleet of boats left the coast of Maui.
00:09The goal was to get to the
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undefined:undefinedKohemalamalama O Kanaloa.
00:26And the island had been very sacred
00:27and dedicated to Kanaloa
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undefined:undefinedall kinds of artillery, bombs,
00:53unexploded bombs, nothing growing.
00:57It was the worst
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undefined:undefinedtaking of all of Hawai'i.
01:58More than a thousand years ago,
02:00the first Polynesian Voyagers made it
02:02to the Hawaiian archipelago.
02:05Over time, a distinctly
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undefined:undefinedmissionaries arrived,
02:38along with businessmen,
02:40looking to turn the land
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undefined:undefinedcome with their promise of
02:57enlightenment and wisdom.
02:59Our people lost contact
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undefined:undefinedtraditional forms of hula.
03:31Soon,
03:32they set their sights on
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undefined:undefinedLili'uokalani rose to power,
03:57she attempted to restore
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undefined:undefinedback and started a movement
04:24to reclaim Hawaiian sovereignty.
04:28A massive petition drive
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undefined:undefinedlocation of the Hawaiian islands
04:50in the Pacific, became
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undefined:undefinedactivists demanded change
05:32and their protests re-ignited the movement
05:35to reclaim Hawaiian sovereignty.
05:39That gave rise to the ALOHA organization,
05:42it stood for Aboriginal
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undefined:undefinedthe major Hawaiian islands.
06:12And it sits here in the
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06:31relation to the Northern star.
06:34And this was important
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06:50and was the location of
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undefined:undefinedKaho'olawe out for ranching,
07:11introducing livestock that
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undefined:undefinedthought that the island
07:35would be returned to
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undefined:undefinedpractice target for more wars,
08:01like the Korean war, and
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undefined:undefinedtop soil has washed away
08:27into the ocean.
08:28Every time there's a big rain event
08:30it's bleeding out into the ocean.
08:33- [Narrator] In one
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undefined:undefineda knife into the spirit
09:04of the Kanaka every time
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undefined:undefinedsomething we kind of like,
09:31felt we had to do.
09:33- [Narrator] Aluli and other activists
09:35came together from all over Hawai'i.
09:38And on January 4th,
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undefined:undefinedeight other protestors on it,
09:58snuck past the coast guard
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undefined:undefineddidn't come to Kaho'olawe
10:22just to head back with the coast guard.
10:25- [Narrator] As the coast
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10:36but slowly they made their way
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undefined:undefinedlittered with targets.
11:10- [Narrator] On day three,
11:11federal marshals found Aluli and Ritte,
11:14arrested them and flew
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undefined:undefinedcalling to me, pleading, crying,
11:32asking us to do something.
11:36- We decided to come over and
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undefined:undefinedform, is just to love the land.
11:59- But for us Aloha Aina also
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undefined:undefinedpeople need to know,
12:18we're not just happy
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undefined:undefinedrevival of Hawaiian culture,
12:42language and ethnic studies education.
12:45Along with land and water
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undefined:undefinedto put an end to the bombings.
13:01And for months,
13:02the group organized further
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undefined:undefinedand leader, George Helm,
13:38were lost at sea on the
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undefined:undefinedNavy was in violation of
14:16environmental protection laws
14:18and the National Historic
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undefined:undefinedentered into a consent decree.
14:36The Navy would have to
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undefined:undefinedas native Hawaiians
14:58to our kua, our natural elements
15:01and calling our deities
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undefined:undefinedpractices on the island.
15:20Congress also ordered the
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undefined:undefinedof Kaho'olawe is ongoing.
15:50The U.S. Government
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undefined:undefinedthe island is getting green.
16:08It's important that we
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undefined:undefinedimportance of Aloha Aina really.
16:31- [Narrator] Kaho'olawe
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undefined:undefinedcan be done on other islands
16:50and other communities.
16:51- Feeling disappointed
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