Friend of mine who lives on the Leeward side of Oahu sent me this one…
A small parcel of land in central Oahu is the site of another standoff between a group claiming ownership of the land based on Native Hawaiian ancestral rights, and a company holding the modern land title.
The unidentified group took over a 5-acre lot in an Oahu agricultural subdivision in September, and proclaimed themselves the rightful owners by “heirdom.”
Full article, HERE from Hawaii local.
Here is a picture of the location-
This used to be part of the Dole Plantation back in the day, and the whole area on both sides of the road were pineapple fields for miles!!!
We were stationed at NAS Barbers Point, just southwest of this area, and the base was bordered by sugarcane fields owned by C&H Sugar. Now it’s all been broken up into small parcels and sold who knows how many times over.
When we were there, if you weren’t Hawaiian, you couldn’t buy land, you could ‘lease’ land for 99 years and build a house on it… And even then there were ‘native Hawaiians’ that would routinely try to ‘claim’ the base and surrounding land as ‘home land’, along with houses people had built, ESPECIALLY if somebody went on deployment and the wife/kids went back to the states for any length of time.
And you didn’t go into certain areas from Nānākuli to Makaha, and you sure as hell didn’t go to the beach unless you wanted to get robbed and your vehicle screwed with. And Mililani Town wasn’t safe after dark, along with a lot of the north end of the Leeward side of the island.
When the new base housing was completed in 1997-8, it was never occupied as the base was ‘closed’ in 1999. However, all that ‘new housing’ (red box) was sold to ‘native Hawaiians’ at less than the cost of building the houses… sigh…
I’ve said for years what we need to do is close the bases, pull everybody back, and let Hawaii TRY to make it on ‘tourism’…
In 40 years in and out of Hawaii, I never really enjoyed the island OR the locals and their attitudes toward ‘Haoles’. We were often called Opala, which is Hawaiian for trash, but they sure did love the money!
I was stationed on a Boomer in Guam. Off crew I lived in Wianae in the condo by the point, on the 6th floor. Met my first (Haole) wife there. 1975-76. I never had a problem with the locals in uniform or out. Found even the Samoans would call out to walking from the bus stop to come eat and drink with them from time to time. Too bad for you. Maybe attitude?
Guam is not Hawaii. Different people, different culture, different attitude.
I’ve only ever been to Hawai’i as a tourist. The tourist bits are lovely, but I’ve seen enough “Dog the Bounty Hunter” to know it’s got a rougher side to it.
Hickam 4 years in the 70s. As a Haole I got served LAST after after all the Kama’aina, even at the cash registers in Sears, no matter where I was standing in line. I many times said give it back to the islanders and take the state flag down. Thought it was anti-military (haircut made me obvious) but came to realize it was every non-tourist, and tourists were kept in their busses and entertainment venues.
Never knew there was unclaimed land except for maybe a single rock at the Pali.
I stayed in Waikiki this past January. Definitely tourist-centric, but all I was there for was to lounge around in the sun for a few days.
I rented a scooter for a couple day while I was there, and the rental company was very emphatic that none of their vehicles were to be used on the leeward side of the island, up along 93, due to the amount of crime there.
I worked with a young man who spent his high school years in Hawaii. His father had a government contract, so the family moved. He told me that the HS was pure Hell on a biscuit. The natives treated him like a convenient punching bag, and the only thing he learned in Hawaii is that it sucks when everyone hates you.
For my part, I think we should fall back to the way things were in 1897. The U.S. annexed the place in 1898 and Hawaii became a State in 1959, which was a mistake.
The population of Hawaii isn’t friendly to outsiders. There are certain islands where ships aren’t allowed to dock, even for trade and emergencies. Fine – let’s have the U.S. pull out entirely and watch what happens when Russia moves in.
Yeah, hard pass. If I’m gonna cross the Pacific for a vacation, I’ll skip Hawaii and go to either Japan or Taiwan. At least the Japanese are -polite- about being snooty xenophobes, and I rather enjoyed Taiwan despite it being a very different place.
The only state I haven’t been to, and no desire to change that status.
Ditto
I had a logic prof in college who was Hawaiian and said you never saw a racist bunch of people as his kin. They would tolerate Japanese but not other Asians, disliked whites and loathed blacks. His point was racism is a human condition, not solely the behavior of one group. He would also point out that every other native group has land returned to them by .gov except the Hawaiians
BTW my god-daughter is half Hawaiian. Her mom was an Air Force brat who never lived on the islands. When they lived in Alabama they thought she was black, when she lived in Texas they thought she was Mexican and now lining in Wyoming the thinks she’s a native American.
Perhaps the natives would rather be part of Communist China and then find out how good they had it with the US. They think they are better than those from what they call the mainland. If wasn’t for the Mainlanders they would have been trampled underfoot by the Japanese military a long time ago. If they were not part of the USA the Chinese would chew them up and spit them out.
Never saw “a better than you attitude” while I was living there. YMMV
Yeah. No.
1. That’s not how land and real estate work in Hawaii. The 99-year lease program was something only available to locals with a certain minimum of Hawaiian ancestry. It’s called Hawaiian Homesteads. It was stupid then (though a nice attempt at a good idea), it’s stupid now.
2. Depends on what beaches you went to, and certainly no different than beaches in Malibu, Galveston, Destin, or Outer Banks.
3. 3 Cooter Rule. So some idiots decided to make some noise. Whoop. What do they matter? It’s no more correct a generalization than saying that the South is full of racist inbred idiots because of one Klan rally..
We used to go the beach in Makaha, you know that old green painted wood frame USGOV one story housing used for R/R right on the beach. We carried Colt 1911s and tomahawks and the locals would come up to cause problems, realize that we were happy to oblige, and back down. They had a huge heroin addiction problem then – and now. Sometimes they joined the beach party and everyone got along. Peace through superior firepower. When I go back, I look up some of those Hawaiians, now old or dead and am welcomed as family. They respected the tomahawks more than the 1911s.
Ah, Pokai Bay. Lots of ancient Hawaiian history there. Good diving off the Waianae coast. Had to launch at Koolina as the ramp at Makaha was not safe to leave the truck and trailer.
Lived in Makakilo for 22 years. Four years in Kailua before that.
I’ve never been but LL’s tomahawk beach parties sound… compelling.
Ah, the smell of the pineapple canneries… Bleh. (For those that don’t know, back in the early 70’s (at least) the canneries burned the excess from the pineapples for fuel. And you thought cow poop smelled bad?)
Glenn- The Samoans were NEVER a problem, just the locals. We had two guys in our squadron killed by locals in 75 because they were in the ‘wrong place’. I spent a good bit of time in Haleiwa and never had a problem up there because we surfed and dove with the locals. Elsewhere, not so much.
JMI- True!
Bob- Yep!
Pedi- They would have mugged you and stolen it for ‘fun’…
MJ- I can believe that.
Toast/WSF- Smart!
Gerry- LOL, figures.
John- If only…
Jon- The Hawaiians loved to ‘lease’ the land to Haoles, then take the house back when they transferred. Re the beaches, BS! You obviously didn’t see LL’s answer, but that was a FACT back in the day. And HPD could give a shit less what happened to Haoles up there. If a complaint was filed, they were basically told “You shoulda not been dere boy.”
LL- Yep, saw it once. We went up there to dive the point once, came back to all vehicles broken into. Never went back.
LSP- Whatever works… LOL
LL’s answer came up after my first response, I think. I don’t doubt that problems existed. And I was warned by family in Nanakuli about not to go certain places without them, so I know they exist now. But did I personally see any problems arise while I was there? Nope. I don’t know if that makes me lucky or cautious. I’d like to think I was smart enough to listen and follow the counsel given by my aunts.
As to leasing the land under false pretenses, I am not at all surprised. Hawaiian homestead places look like the next on-location scene for COPS. I loathe what so many of those people do and how they act, because a lot of them choose to live like animals in the filth and squalor. BLECH! My tutu would’ve been mortified to see her people living like that. And that woman wasn’t caught dead with a dirty house. Literally.
Not sure on the exact date but about 15 years ago a Chicago cop was vacationing with his family and stopped to watch the shore break up on the north shore. Got beat so bad he spent two weeks in the hospital. Official police report “Bra we no find nuting” close case.
The next week four plain cloths detectives from Chicago PD show up at HNL airport and were met by HPD to disarm them. CPD said “Ain’t happening. Three days later a young man, beat to shit, turned him self in as being the attacker. Turns out he was the nephew of the investigating HPD officer. What are the odds.
We vacationed in Maui a few years ago and drive all over the island, up Haleakala, drove the long way back from Hana, etc.
We were warned to not drive between Kahului and Nakalele Blowhole, that was the local’s turf and haoles were not welcome.
Not much has changed since I left Pearl Harbor and the Navy in 1981…
Rick- Yep, nothing changes…
Bellows Beach was our party place in HS. People on the mainland don’t realize that haole is a pejorative term and that Obama was considered a haole. If he had gone anyplace except Punahou he would have been beaten to a pulp. I was at Radford which was mostly Navy and Air Force dependents.
I loathe having to work there on Oahu, especially Wahiawa, Kaena Point, JBPHH, Camp Smith etc. Mililani Town has a lot of hate for anyone not from there, but Wai’anai and Makaha are the worst and complete shitholes. I have had my team suffer windows broken out of their rental cars in Wahiawa twice, in the McDonalds parking lot and next door at Maui Mikes. The real meaning of Aloha = Fuck You, Pay me!
PE- Yep. And y’all were why we couldn’t ever GET a damned cabin over there… sigh
Grommit- Sadly true. I’m glad I don’t have to go back there again!
If I remember correctly, pretty much everything that tourists view as beautiful Hawaii is actually non-native. Including the natives, who arrived with rather unpleasant habits involving human sacrifice and brought non-native plants with them, thus screwing with the island ecology.
Yeah, that’s what I meant by my busses and venues comment. Get on at the nice hotel and don’t get off until arriving the front door of the TOTALLY touristy venue. Along the way they see through the windows the travelogue version of the island, along with well scripted audio, but are well-insulated with steel, glass, and airconditioning from the real place, including non-contact with locals.
The people I feel bad about in Hawaii are the people who are forced to work multiple jobs just to afford to buy the basic necessities of living there. Judging from the land prices, you are expected to buy the land by the cup.
Similar to the poor ranchers who inherited scenic land through their parents, then have to pay excessive property tax due to the rich purchasing land and driving the value up. The TV show character on ‘Yellowstone’ said it succinctly – Poverty With A View.
Been there twice. Beautiful landscape but I wouldn’t want to live there, you have to be rich or work your butt off to afford it.
I was stationed there 85 – 89, and took up diving. I wasn’t smart enough to buy a boat stateside, and ship it over, and so had to drive to dive spots. Never went alone, always in a group, but was able to dive all round Oahu. Everyone always carried spear guns even if going for lobster, and made a point of cocking them, when the locals first came riding round piled up in back of their little Toyota pickups scouting us out.
Yeah, I remember the ‘back side’ of Oahu. One of the gals at the NCTAMS base made the mistake of going to a beach there. She was severely abused and hospitalized, HPD didn’t care.
We took over those beaches, and beat the c out of anyone who complained. There were a couple times that the locals tried pushing us out, but the fleet was in port. Bad idea. There were threats of firearms, after that some Marines started showing up as well.
HPD complained to our command, who blandly explained that the beaches were public property and asked how the investigation was going. After a couple arrests were made, the word was passed to stand down. Eventually we did, it took a few more days.
Hawaii is a pretty place, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
Usta go to Makaha on weekends with a cooler and sleep on the beach for the entire weekend. That was in ’69-’71. Went back in ’76 and you would have been out of your mind to try that. Funny how things seemed to change overnight.
We lived in what is now Kalaeloa Rental Homes on Barbers Point in ’77 as a newly minted Chief. They were fairly new and a universe better than the WWII housing we were in as a PO1.
3rd world gonna 3rd world..
Had a GySgt that did time in K Bay, and the stories about how much Hawaii sucked cured me of any desire to visit.
Cede the place back to the locals and fuckem’. Same with Puerto rico.
People are tribal, first and foremost. Anyone screeching “rayyycis” isn’t paying attention.
All- Yep, not a lot of fun. Puerto Rico ‘learned’ the hard way after we left Vieques… AND closed all the bases.
Back in the 80s one could get a one way plane ticket to Hawaii for $99 (return trip was also $99).
A friend of mine went over, took his pole spear, snorkeling gear, and camped out at the parks.
He and another traveler were rousted by the locals one evening and enslaved to haul pic nic tables around to set up for a party. They saw an opening and made a break for it. He made it but his companion was caught and severely beaten.
I knew a teacher who worked in the school system there. He said teaching was a nightmare, because due to state law children had to be taught in their native language. The ethnic diversity in the islands is nothing short of chaotic. He also related that there was a refugee camp for Vietnamese boat people in the area. One day while leaving the campus he heard some sort of disturbance around the corner of the building and went to investigate. He discovered a Vietnamese student hanged with a shark hook through his lower jaw suspeded from one of the open concrete steps of an exterior stair surrounded by local “kids” spinning the Vietnamese kid and spitting on him.
Tomahawks +1