volcano named mauna kea

it's the highest point in hawaii and if

you measure from the sea floor

it's the tallest mountain in the world

and this height

paired with a few other important

elements has made it home to numerous

observatories but this mountain

isn't just a perfect place to peer deep

into the vastness of our universe

it's also a very sacred place for the

local native hawaiian people

who have been protesting the

construction of a newly planned

telescope

since the site was selected for

construction in 2009

this film from co-directors carter lau

and duncan hager

as well as their team from chapman

university looks to shed light on an

important debate that may have been

tragically overlooked

so many times in the past science versus

culture

this is beyond the mana

i have no choice but to be here to

defend

that place that is most sacred to me and

that's the summit of mauna kea

now construction of the 30 meter

telescope is set to begin this morning

on mauna kea

and it's being met with some big

protests

we're told there were 33 people who were

arrested

it's time for native people to stand up

for their rights

astronomy at its core is understanding

the universe and our place in it

my dream is to work at one of the

observatories on mauna kea

as a native hawaiian she says the

telescope is part of her heritage

there comes a time in your life where

you have to stand for something

we hawaiians can look up at the stars

and

know that we are all connected this is

an important stand this is the last

stand

this is not a game this is for real

long long ago when the world was new

wakea the sky

father looked down and saw the beauty of

papahanaumoku the earth mother

from this love was born mountains which

rose high

above papa's waves touching the face of

their father

he placed beautiful lay of clouds on

their heads

and papa placed beautiful lay of seafoam

on their necks

kamauna awakea the mountain of wakaya

was the kupuna or firstborn and was held

in high

esteem as the pico the center

of the beginning of the hawaii island

man was first introduced to the islands

around 400 to 500

a.d groups of polynesians from the

marquesas islands

first landed on the southern coast kalai

on the big island of hawaii traversing

the ocean

on double hulk canoes and navigating by

the only tool they needed

the stars

[Music]

the 30 meter telescope on mauna kea is

the best instrument to answer one of

humanity's biggest questions

is there life outside of earth now

construction of the 30 meter telescope

is set to begin this morning on mauna

kea

and it's being met with some big

protests

billy freitas and at least a dozen

kupuna bound themselves together with

miley lay across the base of mauna kea

access road

continuing to follow breaking news we're

live at mauna kea access road this

morning we showed you just moments ago

live on wake up today the first kupuna

being arrested

we're told there were 33 people who were

arrested

now they chose to be cited and then

released

today was an emotionally intense day for

both sides

because those who were arrested were

kupuna officials also say it was hard

for them because the officers

making the arrests were taking friends

and family into custody

[Music]

my name is dr noinoy wong wilson i'm one

of the kupuna

who have been residing here in the camps

the reason we've been here for 155 days

is to stop the tmt trucks from going up

the mountain

to begin their construction project

[Music]

i was arrested on july 17th along with

37 other kupuna

for sitting on the road and blocking

tmt trucks from going up onto the

mountain

and it was painful it was emotional

and we all cried but they understood

they understood that this was going to

be a long fight

this is a fight about our mountain and

about the sacredness of it

and the intrusion of the astronomy

industry

on on our summit for the last 50 years

so there are already 13 telescope

facilities

and then this 14th one is now being

proposed

it's not the science that we fight it's

the size of the building and the

location

at the summit area which is the most

sacred part of the mountain

and that's why we sit on the road

[Music]

new perspective tonight on the

controversial telescope that's gaining

more and more attention

it comes from a student whose voice is

now being amplified by

thousands milani neal started a petition

this week in support of the telescope

neal wants the world to know many native

hawaiians such as herself support

construction of the 30 meter telescope

this petition has been going

for four days and we have over two

thousand signatures

as a native hawaiian she says the

telescope is part of her heritage

despite some backlash to her pro tmt

petition

neal hopes debate over the telescope

doesn't become crass

or mean-spirited

my name is mailani neal i am native

hawaiian

and i was born and raised in kona on the

big island

i'm currently a phd student at new

mexico tech

where i am studying physics and

astronomy instrumentation

my ancestors navigated by the stars

to travel to the unknown and discover

what there is

and i think that astronomy is doing

exactly that

my dream is to work at one of the

observatories on mauna kea

i would love to be an instrumentation

scientist for one of the telescopes

and eventually someday i would hope to

be a director of one of the

observatories

i'm striving to be very understanding of

all

people in this situation and i'm

striving to be

the best astronomer that i can be so

that i can prove

that you know us native hawaiians are

meant to be here

we are meant to continue to follow the

stars

as we go further beyond our planet

mauna kea is not the main issue monica

is is a symptom

that all stems and goes back to 1893

the hawaiian kingdom was overthrown in

1893.

first of all we need to identify what is

the hawaiian kingdom hawaii was actually

part of the british empire

under king kamehameha iii he achieved

recognition of great britain

of hawaiian independence so basically we

achieved

what the american colonies achieved an

independent state

the whole purpose of the takeover by the

united states

was to secure pearl harbor it was

actually a takeover of the queen and her

cabinet

replaced her with insurgents the

narrative was businessmen

took over government from natives who

were unfit to govern

very racist very racist

five years later in 1898 congress just

passed the law

providing for the annexation of the

hawaiian islands supposedly hawaii was

annexed

the problem is american laws have no

effect beyond the borders of the united

states

the united states could no more annex

hawaii by passing a law

then the congress today can pass a joint

resolution annexing mexico

and the response was we're a miracle we

can do whatever we want

so why is it that nobody knows that

history

there's a reason in 1895 one of the

insurgents who was a trustee of the

kamehameha schools

he stated on the record that if we are

ever to have peace

and annexation the first thing to do is

to obliterate the past

obliterate the past what does that mean

that means remove any memory

of the country in the minds of the

people

in 1906 a formal policy of

denationalization was adopted by the

territory of hawaii

board of education these insurgents

obliterated

the national consciousness of an entire

population within three generations

so now you take all of that and you look

at mauna kea

people are learning the history that is

getting them to make certain decisions

that they wouldn't otherwise make

mauna kea is just part of the awakening

morning mom morning honey what you up to

today

hon we're gonna go stop by the east

asian observatory and talk with jess

no i can't believe she's actually going

to be there huh i know she's always

traveling

when i was going to school the hawaiian

culture was not

um prevalent it was not the hawaiian

continent was kind of recovering

recovering maybe

it was just revive it was reviving

at that time we weren't required to take

hawaiian language

i guess it is hard to define what

hawaiian

culture is but you know the dance

and the song and the language is

something that can be kept

forever but you still have to be

educated

there's a whole world out there there's

a whole

galaxy out there you know we shouldn't

limit ourselves

you know this is my first time seeing it

and it's a pretty it's pretty uh

heavy

i'm kind of sorry i'm kind of taking it

all

in it's not what i expected really