Kumu Pua Case, her daughter Hawane Rios, Chief Caleen Sisk of the Winneman Wintu tribe and her daughter perform at the “Together We Rise” Lokahi and #WeAreMaunaKea fundraiser to protect Mauna Kea held at Fairfax High School on Saturday, November 21, 2015. The event was sponsored by the Halau Hula ‘O Kawahineali’inohoikeaneunue-‘Elua to create awareness and unify all people everywhere to save the sacred places of the Indigenous Peoples, such as Mauna Kea, Big Island HI, Mount Shasta, CA, and Oak Flat, AZ. The event featured hula dancers, ceremonies by Indigenous People from Central and South American and musical performances by Saritah, Cempoalli, Nahko, True Press and Kekaimoku. Since I was filming this event for a documentary project I’m working on, I only managed to capture a few pictures on my iPhone to help spread the message.
In Hawaii, the We Are Mauna Kea movements is protesting a $1.3 billion, 18-story telescope project, that would not only desecrate the most sacred mountain to the Hawaiians, it would threaten the water aquifers for the entire Big Island. In Mount Shasta, raising the dam would directly and detrimentally impact the water and salmon and the eco-systems connected to them and in Oak Flat, a $300 billion mining operation would implode an area 2.5 miles wide by 1,000 feet deep, destroying petroglyphs and land sacred to the Apache, Pima, Hohokam and Yavapai, threaten the water aquifers there as well and destroy a national park hat has been the center of the world’s largest bouldering competition for the past 15 years. These places need to preserved for all people and all generations!