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Native Hawaiian community leaders, including those from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, met Friday with Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim to discuss issues tied to the ongoing protest at the base of Hawaii’s tallest mountain. Read more

Native Hawaiian community leaders, including those from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, met Friday with Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim to discuss issues tied to the ongoing protest at the base of Hawaii’s tallest mountain.

The meeting occurred a day after OHA trustees voted to offer financial backing and supplies to the largely Native Hawaiian group protesting the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope at the Mauna Kea summit.

The trustees unanimously approved a resolution Thursday directing OHA’s administration to review the numerous calls for assistance from the Puuhonua o Puu Huluhulu protest camp and to respond “as appropriate.”

“Our community is asking for OHA’s help,” Kauai trustee Dan Ahuna said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to our beneficiaries peacefully demanding the protection of Maunakea.”

The mostly Native Hawaiian protesters have been blocking Mauna Kea Access Road since July 15, preventing construction of a $1.4 billion project planned as one of the most powerful telescopes in the world.

Friday’s meeting at Kim’s Hilo office included leaders from OHA, Kamehameha Schools, the Royal Order of Kamehameha and other Native Hawaiian community leaders.

Afterward, OHA Chairwoman Colette Machado, trustee Dan Ahuna and CEO Sylvia Hussey visited Puu Huluhulu. Machado addressed the kiai, or “protectors,” during a gathering in the middle of the blocked Mauna Kea Access Road.

“You have continued to be an inspiration,” she said in a speech filled with emotion. “Without some of the work you have done to bring unification to our people, nobody would have listened. But you have done that in less than 12 days.”

A veteran of Native Hawaiian battles herself, Machado said the TMT opponents are making history.

“I cannot say enough. This will last for generations to come,” she said.

In an earlier statement the OHA leaders said they were hoping to better understand the needs of the protest encampment and how OHA and the kiai can work together “to address the many management failures of the state and (University of Hawaii) that have led to the current situation on Maunakea.”

OHA is embroiled in a lawsuit charging the state and university with mismanaging the mountain. The suit seeks to wrest control of the summit from the university.

The statement, issued after the meeting with Kim, urged the mayor to continue his dialogue with the Native Hawaiian community, including the activists.

As for Thursday’s resolution, it’s unclear for now how much monetary support will end up going to the protest, according to OHA spokesman Sterling Wong.

The resolution also calls on Gov. David Ige to rescind his Mauna Kea emergency proclamation and condemns the use of unwarranted force against a people engaged in peaceful protest.

Trustee Keli‘i Akina introduced an amendment to have OHA acknowledge a duty to represent beneficiaries who support the TMT, but it captured only one vote, his own.

“Officially, OHA takes no position on the site or construction of the TMT,” Akina said. “Accordingly, OHA should affirm the rights of all Hawaiians to express themselves, both those who oppose the TMT and those who support it.”

Two weeks ago Machado and Ahuna sent Ige a letter demanding the governor halt all planned construction activities while he works to identify “solutions to more meaningfully respect the cultural beliefs and well-founded concerns of Native Hawaiians and others.”

Last week Maui OHA trustee Carmen Hulu Lindsey was one of 38 protesters, mostly elders, who were arrested and released by police for disobeying orders to move from the only access road to the summit.

Earlier Friday some 400 people gathered at the protest camp around noon to listen to a mele and watch hula performances, including one dealing with the relationship between Hawaiians and Mauna Kea.

Small children scrambled on the lava rocks and stacked stones to amuse themselves while law enforcement officers relaxed under tents and in folding chairs about 100 yards up Mauna Kea Access Road from the camp.

Protest organizers also held a training session to teach nonviolent protest techniques to more than 250 people gathered on the road, walking the audience step by step through ways they should behave in the event police or Hawaii National Guard troops mobilize to clear the area so that construction equipment can pass through.

If that happens, the crowd was told to calm themselves and avoid antagonizing the police in any way. Activists who are prepared to be arrested will sit or lie down, and the rest of the crowd will stand back.

Emotions will be running high on both sides, and protesters who cannot stay calm should remove themselves, the trainers said. “One person could completely mess everything up,” said Malia Hulleman, a veteran of the protests over an oil pipeline at Standing Rock in North Dakota. “One person raises their fist with a pohaku (rock) in their fist, that’s it. That is it.”

Hulleman reminded the crowd of the mana, or spiritual power, the activists feel at the protest, and warned them of the shame they would feel if they ruined it by becoming violent.