While catching prawns in a cool mountain stream on Lang's ancestral land under the volcano, where at least four generations of her family have lived, her photographer/gardener husband Macario commented, "There have been documented toxic spills at the observatory. We are concerned that the spills have or will pollute these pristine waters." ...
Pisciotta and other cultural practitioners have appeared various times before the United Nations on behalf of "unrepresented nations" to plead their case, "There are many temples around the Earth like Mauna Kea. There are other keepers of these places that are doing things similar to ours. We have to deliver our message of Aloha to the world."
"Our work on Mauna Kea is to evoke Aloha," Pisciotta contends. "We are concerned that the Air Force and the military use of the observatory is contrary to the spirit of Aloha. Since Sept.11 we have become increasingly concerned that under the guise of national security the government will federalize the mountain and shut it down to Hawaiians." Pisciotta does not want to see her people's sacred mountain lost to the military. "One of the main reasons America wanted Hawai'i in the first place," added Keomailani Von Gogh, another cultural practitioner, "was because of our strategic military location." (end of excerpts.)
Please continue for the full article by Shepherd Bliss...
Please continue for the full article by Shepherd Bliss...