Native Hawaiians say telescope represents bigger struggle
HONOLULU — Walter Ritte has been fighting for decades to protect Native Hawaiian rights, inspiring a new generation of activists trying to stop construction of a giant telescope they see as representative of a bigger struggle.
In his early 30s, Ritte occupied a small Hawaiian island used as a military bombing range. Now at 74, he’s still a prolific protester, getting arrested this week for blocking a road to stop construction of the one of the world’s most powerful telescopes on Hawaii’s tallest peak, which some Native Hawaiians consider sacred.
For activists who say they’re protecting Mauna Kea, the long-running telescope fight encapsulates critical issues to Native Hawaiians: the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom, clashes over land and water rights, frustration over tourism, attempts to curb development and questions about how the islands should be governed.
It’s an example of battles by Native Americans to preserve ancestral lands, with high-profile protests like Dakota Access pipeline leading to arrests in southern North Dakota in 2016 and 2017.
For Native Hawaiians, opposition to the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope isn’t universal — some support the educational opportunities from the project and are facing backlash from those questioning their identity.
Ritte’s first taste of activism came during a resurgence of cultural pride and identity that began in the late 1960s and 1970s. He and other Native Hawaiian men hid on the small island of Kahoolawe that the military used for bombing practice. They were arrested, but the U.S. eventually stopped the training.
“We didn’t know anything about ourselves as Hawaiians,” Ritte said of his youth. “When we got involved with Kahoolawe, we had no language, no history.”
The young people leading the fight against the telescope grew up learning about his experiences and speaking Hawaiian amid an ongoing cultural renaissance. A 30-year-old leader of the telescope protest, Kaho’okahi Kanuha, credits Ritte and the Hawaiian movement for allowing him to grow up rooted to his culture.
“Uncle Walter can talk about not knowing the language and not knowing the history. But he knew how to stand up, and he knew how to fight,” Kanuha said. “Because of the things they did, the results were Hawaiian language programs. The results were revitalization of the culture and of understanding and of awakening.”
At Mauna Kea, Kanuha wears a traditional battle helmet as he speaks Hawaiian with protesters and negotiates with law enforcement. Thanks to the movement, he said he was able to learn Hawaiian at an immersion preschool and eventually earn a bachelor’s degree in Hawaiian language from the University of Hawaii.
He’s fighting a project that dates to 2009, when scientists selected Mauna Kea after a global campaign to find the ideal site for what telescope o cials said “will likely revolutionize our understanding of the universe.”
The mountain on the Big Island is revered for its consistently clear weather and lack of light pollution.
The telescope won a series of approvals from Hawaii, including a permit to build on conservation land in 2011.
Protests began during a groundbreaking in 2014 and culminated in arrests in 2015.
Last year, the state Supreme Court upheld the construction permit, though protesters are still fighting in court and at the mountain.
Thirty-four people, mostly elders, were arrested this week as o cials try to start building again.