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A suggestion regarding the Thirty Meter Telescope protests: Negotiations over crowd dispersal and arrests are missing the big picture, and sustain a lose-lose situation for the state, the University of Hawaii and the Native Hawaiian community.
The state and UH should focus on how the Native Hawaiian population can benefit directly from the TMT. What is offered must address issues of disparity between the Hawaiian community and the general population, serve the Hawaiian community specifically, and be sustainable for generations.
For example, a substantial amount of the lease rent from the TMT and the other existing observatories can be appropriated to improving and expanding Native Hawaiian health centers, or establishing culturally based programs to prevent reincarceration of Hawaiian men and women.
This would, of course, be in addition to continued access for cultural and religious purposes, removal of five of the existing telescopes and any other previously established agreements. Furthermore, future projects involving disturbance of wahi pana (sacred sites) such as Mauna Kea must begin with considerations such as these.
Renee Arakaki
Aiea
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