 In our culture in Hawaii, everything is sacred, everything, every piece of land, every grain of sand, every speck of dirt, every pohaku, every rock, every tree, every mountain, every plant, it all contains the ha, the life, breath, energy, and mana that radiates and vibrates throughout the whole environment. So everything from the terrestrial to the celestial, everything contained within, it's all sacred. But when we speak about Mauna Kea, and Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain not only in Hawaii, but when measured from the ocean bottom to the top of the mountain, it is the tallest mountain in the world. And that makes it extra special and sacred, and it also unfortunately makes it a very strong focal point for those who, I believe, don't really understand what sacred land is, and even what sacred is. The word sacred can have religious tones or religious intonations, but sacred is something that is held deep and close. And for us as a Kanaka Maoli, as a Hawaiian, the air we breathe is sacred, the land we walk is sacred. And when we look at Mauna Kea, we see Mauna Kea as the pico. So this is our pico. So from the time of conception, we are connected to our mother, yes? And we're connected through the pico, through the belly button. We view Mauna Kea as our pico. Mauna Kea was birthed from Waakea and Papahanaumoku, Father Sky, Mother Earth. And when Mauna Kea pushed up through the ocean and up, up, up into the sky, into the celestial atmosphere of the Wauakua, the playground of the gods, we connect, or it connected us to everything. And the thing, one of the things that makes Mauna Kea so extra sacred for us is that mountain is the ohe. So it is, ohe means bamboo, and it is the ohe. It collects all the water, all the rainwater, all the waters of Kani, and filters it through its aquifers and it feeds the entire island. Without Mauna Kea and her aquifers, there would be no fresh water, there would be no pristine water to ola, to give life, to the land and life to the people, life to the oceans, life to everything. So Mauna Kea plays such an important role in that respect. Now, there are already 13 telescopes on top of Mauna Kea, correct me if I'm wrong because number is on my challenge, but out of the 13, I believe only six are operating right now, so the other seven no longer operate. Okay. Those telescopes that have been sitting there for years have been leaking chemicals into the ground. There is proof and evidence of this. There is scientific evidence of this. And it already is starting to show up in the water. So one thing that we say is enough. Why do we need one more telescope? Why? Because it's bigger and it's going to be better, and it can see deeper and farther into the dark corners of space. What about looking here, yeah? What about we focus our eyes, our hearts, our deep ancestral connection to our lands that we already have, to this earth that we already have? If we don't know how to maul on this existing earth that we live on, we have no business going anywhere else. Yeah? Yeah. Mahalo. Eo. Okay? So, yeah, so, you know, this telescope, there's so many, there are many people that back the telescope. There are many. There are thousands. Surprisingly, there are thousands and thousands and thousands of native and non-native people that back the sacredness of Maumnakea. And those people are on that mountain right now. They are there standing to protect her, and they are dedicated to lay their bodies on the line in order to keep her sacred and no more untouched. Where they want to build this telescope is on the northern plateau. That northern plateau is pristine. And that is northern, makes sense, the highest area where all the main amounts of water catch and collect and filter through. This telescope is 18 stories. Eight of those stories are going to be dug deep down into Maumnakea. But before they dig, they want to cut the top of that plateau to level it out. And it's going to be the equivalent of, I think, six football fields. When you look, you ladies are up there. Yeah. When you look at Maumnakea now, you know, you see her. You see her point. You see her beautiful pu'u, the different hills that make up Maumnakea. Well, if that telescope goes up there, it's not going to be a bunch of a point. I can say this. It probably won't be the tallest mountain in the world. So, A'ole, no, we say no. We stand this time as a people, as a lahui, as a nation. This movement has awakened my people. It has awakened people from around the world. Standing rock was one incident that can never be forgotten. And it will never be forgotten. A lot of our kia'i, or protectors from Maumnakea, went to Standing Rock and stood with our relatives there. And they are now on the Mauna. So people from around the world, when you go up there, you see flags from all different nations flowing and dancing in the winds of Maumnakea. And they represent those indigenous people and those who are not indigenous to that land, but to other lands. My belief, we are all indigenous from wherever we come. Everyone is indigenous. If you are Irish, you are indigenous to Ireland. I am Hawaiian. I am also Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Irish, Indian, and Portuguese. So the main part of me is Hawaiian, is kanaka mauli. And that is where I am deeply rooted into as far as the cultural practices and beliefs and how I live my daily life and how I walk, how my thoughts form. So my thoughts, when I think about moving out into the world, especially right now, my Hawaii is foremost in my thought. My people foremost in my thought because what they are doing is sacred. Where they are is sacred. Every day from 6 a.m., we chant in or chant up the sun. And we chant that until the sun breaks off the horizon and the rays awaken the earth and all life begins to move and stir. From that moment, we go into a ceremony where many ritual chants and dances are done that celebrate the earth, the sky, the rains, the winds, the pele. The pele is the lava, the earth, the molten lava underneath that connects us all. So we are all connected around the world through the water and through the pele, the lava. So we celebrate all of this. We celebrate this interconnection. And the ceremonies that happen three times a day, every day. I think this is Law 61, 60 or 61, which means Day 60. I think it's actually Day 61 at this point that our kupuna, our elders and all the kia'i, all the protectors, have been living on the mauna. They're sleeping on the lava, they're sleeping on the pele. They have their tents, they have, you know, everything they need. They sleep in their cars, you know, whatever it takes, but they've been there. And every day, I'll say four times a day, because I count the sunrise as one, as a beginning of the ritual, we do ceremony. And we welcome people in who are visiting the mauna who want to give a particular gift or ho'u kupu to the elders that sit there. The elders that are on the mauna, they are the most respected, most revered elders of our nation, of our kingdom, I'm going to say, because Hawaii is not a state, it is actually a kingdom stolen, stolen to become a state. But we never relinquished the kingdom of Hawaii. So all these ceremonies and these chants were done on the mauna way before us hundreds of years ago, hundreds. And so when I read or when I hear a lot of the lawmakers, you know, the governor, who's poor thing, he's so lost, you know, you know what I mean? He's just really, he's a lost soul. I have to have compassion, because that's what kupu aloha is. So I just, you know, hold him in kupu aloha for thing, Ige, you're so lost, I'm sorry. If he would only listen, he would find his way to his heart. But you know, those people, they say things like, oh, what makes mauna kea so special? It's not special. There's mountains everywhere, there's mountains all over Hawaii. Why is it sacred? Who made it sacred? It's never been known as sacred. Oh, it has been. It has been for thousands of years. From the coming of the first kanaka to Hawaii from Tahiti and the islands around there to Hawaii, that was chanted by the kahuna that first saw, first got sight of Hawaii islands. And the volcano was erupting, and the, you know, the islands were so young then still coming out of the ocean. Hawaii, why would it not be sacred? Yeah? The island, especially Havaimoku, is still birthing. It's still growing. The act of birth is sacred, isn't it? Yeah? It's still growing and expanding and breathing. Mauna kea can erupt again. And the scientists are saying, oh yeah, well it probably will within the next, I don't know, they say at least 100 years, but maybe sooner, I'm not sure. Last time they tried to get those machinery up on the mountain earthquakes happened. I love it. Yeah, don't mess around. The land is sacred, water is sacred, and we as people who are connected to the indigenous knowledge, you know, we know these things. We live it, we breathe it, we acknowledge it through speech, through poetry, through movement in dance of all kinds, right? Through our ha, our breath in and out. We know this, it's innate within us, because we choose consciously to connect to the elements and the elements are what sustains us and that's life. Life is sacred, is it not? I? Yeah. So I want to share two things with you. The first is I want to share this oli. Oli is a vocalizing done without any instruments, it's just your voice. And the composer of this particular oli, which is entitled Keau Hawaiii, is Dr. Larry Kimura. He has been an Olalo Hawaiii kumu, Olalo Hawaiii, a Hawaiian language teacher in Hawaii for decades. When I was in high school, he was teaching, sorry Larry, wherever you are, I'm dating you. But he wrote this, composed this oli specifically for the 1970 rejuvenation of the culture and the rebirth of the Renaissance. And he wrote this as a call to awaken and to call the Lahui together. So I just want to read the translation and then I'm going to oli this for you and I need these to read. The English says, alas for you chiefs of times past, look now upon us the offspring of this current time as it flows. Let us rise up, oh multitudes, descendants of this beloved land. How I love this land, our foundation, alas for the pebbles as it is being scattered. Let rocks be set up again, be fixed for a new house foundation, for the children to rest upon, for the ancestors, the kupuna, the elders to rest upon. Arise house of ii, of mahi of palana. These are old, ancient, familial lines that are of the highest moi ranking. Arise and move forward until we win the lay of victory. And this is how it goes. A nama yama ko na pula pula ne o eho lone. Yama ika ko ena kini na mamo ka ina loha. A loha balia aina ko ka ko ka hoa. Aue ka ili ili e ka hoa pu eho yane. E pae pae hoa ia ka po haku ipa mai lake ka hoa leho. Noka ko ena koa eho lwai. E laika i ka mahi ka palana i moa loa ka leho ka lana kina. So pertinent are these words to our movement today. So pertinent. Many of the words within this particular body of poetry, of composition, are embedded in the words of the chants that we do up on the mauna during ceremony. And one of the most wonderful things that I just absolutely love, besides the fact that you're totally immersed in the culture if you go. And we encourage all supporters of that which is sacred to visit the mauna. You don't need anything. There's food galore, there's water, there's, you know, even chairs if you want to sit down and be a part of ceremony. You can stand up and learn the hulas that are included in the ceremony. And when they call those hulas, everybody stands up and dances together. So you know, I encourage you to visit. Really do. Because it is a rising up. It is a time for us to lo kahi to come together. And to come together as one. In what we call kapu aloha. So kapu aloha, kapu means sacred. It can mean that which is restricted. But most importantly, the translation for kapu is that which is sacred. So when in ancient days, the sign for what was kapu or areas that were designated kapu or ultra-sacred, no one was allowed to enter, they were across sticks with white kapa tied on both, on the tops of them. And we knew that we should not tread on that land in that area. Mauna Kea was kapu in those times. There are evi buried in there, bones of ancestors. Many families that are up there now protecting the mountain, their families, evi or bones are up there in the northern plateau on Mauna Kea. It was just pointed out, they found a shell mound. They found evi, they found bones as they built those other 13 telescopes. Did they say anything? No, awole. They didn't tell anybody. So this is why we say, no, enough is enough. Stops at 13 and actually take them all down because that's part of the agreement when they, that they made with the University of Hawaii, not with the Hawaiian Kingdom, not with the Kanaka Maui, who really actually are the inheritors of that land. No agreement was made with us, but the University of Hawaii stepped in to oversee it all and charged all these telescopes $1 a year to rent that land, $1 a year. And that is crown land that the Hawaiian people are supposed to be receiving for homesteads or when sold, they receive or supposed to be receiving the monies for that. No one has received anything. So there's been a lot of not very good things going on through the, in the back room, you know, as far as what Mauna Kea is concerned. So, you know, we were, we're done. So I want to ask you if you would please stand and participate in this hula. It's very easy. You just have to clap. So I'm going to mirror you so I go this side and do that side again. Good. Okay. And then I say again. Hiahala heku kulu. Haku is your sacred tower. Third time. Hiahala heku kulu. Hey, pohaku. Pohaku is the foundation of rocks that make up. Hiahala heku kulu. Hey, pohaku. Pohaku is a foundation of rocks that make up. Hiahala heku kulu heku. If we clap three times, then two. Two is your motion versus mountain. Okay, mauna. Then we clap again. Twice. Then hey, apu. Three times. Hiahala heku. Pohaku. The rock. The foundation. Hiahala heku. Mountain? He can after. The person. I am the color. Okay. Here we go. Hiahala heku kulu hema. Hiahala heku kulu heapu. Hiahala heku. Pohaku. That's just one of the names. So I'm Mahalo. Mahalo, all of you, each and every one of you. Mahalo for holding the space here. Loa for the creating of this very sacred space. Mahalo, such a wonderful sister to all Indigenous movements. I so appreciate that. I do also want to acknowledge this sacred Indigenous land of the Olone. And Mahalo for the space to present from another Indigenous people. And if you go home with just one thing, which is knowing that Mauna Kea is sacred, that sends energy to the Mauna, to the people there. And you have participated in the movement to say no more and to keep what is sacred sacred. So Mahalo.