A Hawaii family's battle to save its ancestral lands

"The Hana property taxes went up 500%,"

"This is how Hawaiians are losing their birthright lands."

"The real problem is that Hawaii is still a modern-day colonial state that has, generation after generation, displaced the Native Hawaiian people from the land, their natural resources, their way of life, and culture. It has removed them from their aina [land]."

"'It has been a slow, quiet crisis that no one is paying attention to because Hawaii is so far away - out of view, out of mind,' she continues in her book. 'It is also a burning, urgent crisis because now Native Hawaiians are fighting to remain in Hawaii and keep their culture alive.'"

A Native Hawaiian family in Hana faced a 500% property tax increase that nearly cost them ancestral land. The family mobilized to fight tax hikes and outside buyers to protect their naissance land. Large private purchases across Hawaii have concentrated ownership and intensified displacement. Generational dispossession has removed Native Hawaiians from their aina, natural resources, and cultural practices. Census data show more Native Hawaiians now live in the continental U.S. than in Hawaii. The situation is described as a slow, quiet crisis that has become an urgent struggle to remain in place and preserve culture.

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