Title: The Moral Dilemma of Hawaiian Home Lands: Why Accepting Stolen ‘Āina as a Bribe is Unintelligent and Undermines True Sovereignty

Aloha kakou, Jazzy here !

I'm sitting here listening to the breeze at Pohoiki and the beautiful sounds of birds chirping, right in the heart of Pele’s realm, where the land breathes fire and the ocean sings ancient chants. I'm witnessing a profound moral dilemma unfolding. Everyone I follow from the islands is posting about it on Instagram and TikTok. A recent lawsuit challenges the eligibility rules of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL), questioning whether Hawaiian Home Lands should remain exclusively for Native Hawaiians. This legal action stirs deep emotions and forces us to confront uncomfortable truths about trust lands, broken promises, and the path to real justice for Kanaka Maoli.

The Core Issue: DHHL as a Tool of Control, Not Liberation:

Many see DHHL as a vehicle for Hawaiian self-sufficiency—a way to return ‘āina to beneficiaries after generations on waitlists. But this perspective breaks my heart. DHHL is hewa. It operates under the framework of the illegal occupation, dangling homestead lands like a carrot while advancing agendas that desecrate sacred sites and prioritize external interests.

The department manages over 200,000 acres of trust lands. Yet instead of swiftly clearing the waitlist and empowering communities, we see pushes for geothermal exploration and development on these lands—including areas near Mauna Kea and other culturally vital zones. Beneficiaries are told: Accept geothermal/fracking in your communities, or forget about your ‘āina. This is not sovereignty. This is coercion!

Chair Kali Watson and others have made promises that community input would decide outcomes. Yet reports indicate shifting positions, with DHHL claiming final say even after community opposition and actial unprecedented geothermal injunctions. Lands are being grabbed rapidly under "preservation" guises precisely where drilling expands. This contradicts earlier assurances and raises serious questions about whose interests are truly served.

Israeli geothermal funding or other external investments will not magically clear waitlists or heal the trauma of dispossession! They risk further industrialization of sacred landscapes that hold the mana of our kupuna.

Why It Is Super Unintelligent to Accept What’s Already Yours from the Thief:

Imagine a thief breaks into your home, takes your family heirlooms, and then offers them back to you conditionally—if you let him repurpose your backyard for his profit-making ventures and stay quiet about the break-in. Would any intelligent person celebrate this as "progress"? Or would they recognize it as continued domination masked as generosity? (Just fyi: its the latter.)

This is the fundamental flaw in relying on DHHL. The lands were never legitimately theirs to administer in the first place under a framework of full Hawaiian sovereignty. By participating in this system—by accepting leases, waiting patiently, and compromising on desecration—we legitimize the illegal occupation that runs DHHL. We trade true restoration for crumbs.

Beneficiaries will never move forward by accepting bribes from the illegal occupation. It perpetuates dependency and division.

It legitimizes the blood quantum rules (ESTABLISHED BY THE COLONIZERS, as most kanaka will affirm, if you have ANY PERCENT of the blood, YOU ARE. There is no "percentage" nonsense.) and state control rooted in the same colonial systems that toppled the Kingdom. True intelligence and critical thinking involves rejecting false dilemmas. A PRIME EXAMPLE of this is the propaganda being presented to the beneficiaries, suggesting "Accept the homestead and the geothermal, or receive nothing."

The oppressors dangle what was stolen, using it to divide Kanaka and silence resistance. This is classic colonial strategy—create a managed "benefit" program that keeps people invested in the system rather than dismantling it.

My Stance: Full Restoration of the Hawaiian Kingdom!!!

I do not support every tactic or person involved in challenging DHHL, including this specific lawsuit or the doodoo boy who filed it. But I will never support keeping DHHL active in its current form. It does not represent genuine sovereignty nor put Hawaiian lands fully in Hawaiian hands!! Most Hawaiians dont even support DHHL (department of Hawaiian Homelands). They are taking all the sacred lands for desecration as generations die off on the "waitlist". I've watched it since I was born.

#KeepHawaiianLandsInHawaiianHands is not just a slogan. It is a call to reject half-measures. As KahuPuna focuses on criminal justice, #aolepgv, and LERZ Puna News (ontop of many other things), I see these interconnected fights: protecting ‘āina from desecration, demanding real justice, and building community resilience without compromising birthright.

Having been born and raised in Puna for 37 years—under Pele's direct care, not through blood quantum but through lived aloha ‘āina—I am steadfastly aligned with Her people. I am pursuing my Master’s degree to advocate for the residents of Puna, Hawaii (within the Geothermal Radius who have suffered greatly due to foreign agendas). My goal is to secure the long-overdue JUSTICE these communities deserve and to fight for all Kanaka Maoli and the complete restoration of the Hawaiian Kingdom until my last breath. This is not abstract; it is personal. The ‘āina has nurtured me, and I will defend it as fiercely as it has supported me. - Jasmine Steiner KahuPuna

To my Kanaka Maoli family: Your pain on the waitlist is real. The desire for housing and stability is valid. But we must not sell our souls or our sacred sites for it. The path forward is through unwavering Aloha ‘Āina—love for the land that demands its full return, not managed trusteeship. ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥⚖️⚖️❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥⚖️⚖️❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥⚖️⚖️

To allies and those raised in these islands like me: Stand with the full restoration. Learn the history. Amplify Kanaka voices. Fight against any industrialization that threatens Pele’s realm or Mauna Kea.

(GEOTHERMAL IS AT THE TOP OF THIS LIST RIGHT NOW guys.. we NEED to stop it before it actually starts expansion into everyone elses yards!!)

The moral dilemma is clear: Will we keep accepting the thief’s conditional returns, or demand the full return of what was taken? Intelligence, dignity, and justice point to the latter.

#KahuPuna #CriminalJustice #AlohaAina #RestoreTheKingdom

What are your thoughts? Share in the comments with respect and aloha. Let’s continue this vital kūkākūkā for our ‘āina.

Lava you all

Jazzy

KahuPuna

LERZ PUNA NEWS WEEKLY (on fb)

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