Native Hawaiians Want To Halt A Massive Telescope Project. Here's Why

[Me.]

15. To That I Would Have To Say That The US Presence Has Always been Felt In Hawaii

and why there is so much mistrust regarding this project. I understand why the OP originally posted as he did, but this situation goes beyond the push/pull of science and religion.

“Hawaii’s path to statehood began with the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, during which a group of American entrepreneurs and the U.S. military held the queen captive and took over the government.

But a Native Hawaiian renaissance began in the ’70s when a group of native activists protested the U.S. military’s use of the island of Kahoolawe as a practice target for bombs. (The damage was so bad, restoration efforts are still ongoing and the island remains closed to the general public.)”

"In 1896, education through the Hawaiian language in both public and private schools was outlawed on the model of U.S. policy towards the use of American Indian languages in education. Teachers were told that speaking Hawaiian with children will result in termination of employment. Children were harshly punished for speaking Hawaiian in school. By 1984 the community of fluent speakers had dwindled to a few elders and a tiny geographically isolated population on the island of Ni‘ihau. Hawaiian language speaking children under the age of 18 numbered less than fifty. The demise of Hawaiian language was imminent."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_language

“Other groups began requesting subleases on the newly accessible mountaintop. By 1970, two 24 in (0.6 m) telescopes had been constructed by the United States Air Force and Lowell Observatory. In 1973, Canada and France agreed to build the 3.6 m CFHT on Mauna Kea.[11] However, local organizations started to raise concerns about the environmental impact of the observatory. This led the Department of Land and Natural Resources to prepare an initial management plan, drafted in 1977 and supplemented in 1980.

Telescopes found at the summit of Mauna Kea are funded by government agencies of various nations. The University of Hawaiʻi directly administers two telescopes. In total, there are twelve facilities housing thirteen telescopes[21] at or around the summit of Mauna Kea. It may also be the site of the Thirty Meter Telescope.
• Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO): Caltech — closed 2015
• Canada–France–Hawaiʻi Telescope (CFHT): Canada, France, University of Hawaiʻi
• Gemini North Telescope: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, Australia, Argentina, Brazil
• NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF): NASA
• James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT): China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Canada
• Subaru Telescope: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
• Sub-Millimeter Array (SMA): Taiwan, United States
• United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT): Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, University of Hawaiʻi, University of Arizona
• University of Hawaiʻi 88-inch (2.2 m) telescope (UH88): University of Hawaiʻi
• University of Hawaiʻi 36-inch (910 mm) telescope (Hoku Kea): University of Hawaii at Hilo
• One receiver of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA): United States
• W. M. Keck Observatory: California Association for Research in Astronomy”


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauna_Kea_Observatories