Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners urged the head of the Honolulu rail authority on Wednesday to find a way to leave burials and other human remains in place when they are discovered along the rail route.
The discussion at the Oahu Island Burial Council was supposed to focus on the discovery of a single human bone on Sept. 12 beneath the sidewalk at Cooke and Halekauwila streets, but Hawaiians used the opportunity to air their concerns about the impact the rail project is having on ancient remains in general.
Daniel Grabauskas, executive director of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, listened to more than a half-dozen Hawaiians discuss their family and emotional connections to kupuna or elders who were buried in Kakaako and surrounding areas.
"I’m going to be very clear about this," Kamuela Kala‘i told the burial council. "Iwis in the ground, leave them alone, period."
Crews working on the archaeological survey for the 20-mile rail line have so far discovered remains believed to have come from four people at three sites, including one intact burial discovered under a sidewalk near Keawe and Halekauwila streets.
Kala‘i called that disturbance of long-buried remains "very painful," but said she supposes the archaeological survey work is a "necessary evil" that is required for the rail project.
She addressed Grabauskas directly, telling him it does not matter that the names of the people buried there are unknown.
"I know you have kupuna somewhere, so you think about that," she said. "It doesn’t matter if you find a fragment or you find 1,000. It’s painful beyond words."
Pono Kealoha asked that the city show the same respect for bones buried in Kakaako as would be shown to remains of war veterans buried at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.
Other speakers urged the city to ensure that cultural practitioners are always present to monitor activities at each of the dozens of survey pits being dug for the rail project, and said those monitors should be paid appropriately for their services.
Grabauskas, who arrived in Hawaii six months ago to assume control of the rail project, said he wants to build respect and trust.
"As long as I am the executive director of HART, we will respect the iwi kupuna, and you can help me to do that," he told the group. He said the design of the rail project can be adjusted to avoid burials, or remains can be moved out of the path of the project if the descendents believe that is more appropriate.
Grabauskas said he is prepared to work under a new cultural protocol that would include cultural monitors at each trench site, and invited members of the audience who want to participate as paid cultural monitors to contact his staff.
The State Historic Preservation Division will decide whether the bone discovered at Cooke and Halekauwila will be moved or left in place. The burial council is expected to consider the other discoveries of human remains in connection with the rail project later, including the intact burial.
