On my daily photo route to Waikiki, I ended up running smack dab into the “Aloha Unity March”, a walk to protest the 1.4 billion dollar plans to construct a large scientific telescope on Mount Mauna Kea located on the Big Island.

The story is, after multiple constructs of observatory sites on the mountain, the Hawaiian people are now extremely frustrated at the lack of remorse shown by local government to simply give away culturally significant territory. This latest announced project, the “Thirty Meter” telescope, was the final straw.

The march ran straight through Waikiki (an estimated 10,000 participants so it made quite the stir) and ended at Kapi’olani Regional Park, just east of the strip. Everyone and their grandma seemed to be walking, even newborns held in their parents arms as they strode with pride down the bustling street. Hawaiian chants or army calls filled the busy block, instilling the severity of the march. Intense. There was still smiling and laughing, but the overall tone maintained a strong focus on the issue at hand.

Here are some snaps of the march, including two women who were kind enough to give me the rundown of what was happening. Thank you both Dora & Vivian (one of Vivian’s friends even handed me a water because she probably noticed I was melting lol). If I hadn’t spoken to them, I wouldn’t have stuck around and definitely missed the march.

If you wanted to learn more about the dispute, here is an article by the NY Times I found helpful.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/07/22/us/hawaii-telescope-protest.amp.html

Dora - The first person who warned me about the march!

An upside-down Hawaiian flag references a protest or dispute