TMT would have many benefits
Thank you, TGI, for publishing thoughtful commentaries on the TMT imbroglio from Jim Jung and Christopher Best.
A friend recently remarked that he had been excited to see how the Mauna Kea problem has brought so many Native Hawaiians out to support both the construction and obstruction of TMT. Regardless of how the matter is resolved, he thought, ethnic Hawaiians seem to be realizing and expressing the great power that they have to generate change. If turned toward other causes, this power could do much good for all our citizens.
He suggested that, if, for example, 2,000 Hawaiians marched to the state Legislature and demanded that it grant the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands sufficient funds to develop its properties, the mauna of inertia that has kept so many potential lessees languishing (and even dying) on the DHHL waiting list could be leveled. Imagine how far this might go toward alleviating the socio-economic problems that plague so many of these islands’ first people!
As many have observed, the TMT protests are about much more than the telescope itself. How unfortunate that this facility, which has great potential to benefit Hawaii and the world, has become the focus of anger over many other wrongs.
H.M. Wyeth, Anahola
Source: The Garden Island
Be First to Comment