{"id":227813,"date":"2026-01-04T10:03:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T20:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=227813"},"modified":"2026-01-04T10:03:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T20:03:26","slug":"kahoolawe-50-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/04\/kahoolawe-50-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Kahoʻolawe 50 years later: The island that once shook"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Sunrise on Kahoʻolawe<\/span> (Photo credit: Kat Ho)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For years, U.S. military bombs thundered across Kahoʻolawe<\/span>, ripping into its red earth and poisoning its seas. For Kānaka Maoli<\/span> (Native Hawaiians), the damage cut deeper. Ancestors honored the island as a physical form of Kanaloa<\/span>, the god of the ocean, navigation, marine life and deep ancestral knowledge. In 2026, fifty years after a daring landing helped stop the bombing, the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana<\/span><\/a> (PKO<\/abbr>) is marking an anniversary that reshaped Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> with the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> serving as a key place where many movement leaders emerged.<\/p>\n

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A hui (group) prepares to plant and heal the land (Photo credit: Momi Wheeler)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Davianna McGregor<\/span>, UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span> professor emerita, remembers when the struggle for Kahoʻolawe<\/span> first arrived on campus was urgent and deeply personal.<\/p>\n

“One day, after the first landing on Kahoʻolawe<\/span>, Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> musician George Helm<\/span> and Dr. Noa Emmett Aluli<\/span> showed up at my class in the George Hall auditorium and asked to speak to my students about Kahoʻolawe<\/span>,” said McGregor<\/span> who co-founded the university’s ethnic studies<\/a> department. “Their powerful message resonated with my students and they were inspired to get involved in the movement to stop the bombing and military use of Kahoʻolawe<\/span>.”<\/p>\n

That moment helped ignite student activism across the UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span> campus. Haumāna<\/span> (students) circulated petitions in classes, set up educational tables at Campus Center, and organized rallies and concerts including one featuring the then-emerging Makaha Sons<\/span> of Niʻihau<\/span> and Helm<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Kahoʻolawe Nine<\/h2>\n
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From left: Activists Walter Ritte (seated) and Emmett Aluli (standing) at Hakioʻawa<\/span> Bay on Kahoʻolawe<\/span> in 1976. Credit: Franco Salmoiraghi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On January 4, 1976, Helm<\/span>, Aluli<\/span> and seven others had evaded a U.S. Coast Guard blockade to land at Kūheʻeia<\/span> on Kahoʻolawe<\/span>. Known as the Kahoʻolawe<\/span> Nine, their act of bold defiance sparked the formation of the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana<\/span> and the modern Aloha ʻĀina<\/span><\/a> movement. Their courage led to tangible change. The bombing of Kahoʻolawe<\/span> ended in 1990. In 1994, the island was returned to the State of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, held in trust under state law for a future sovereign Hawaiian entity, setting a precedent for halting military destruction of Indigenous lands.<\/p>\n

“We formed an ʻohana<\/span> to protect the island and to heal her wounds,” McGregor<\/span> said, “and elevate the island once again into the sacred Hawaiian cultural center that it had been under our ancestors.”<\/p>\n

The movement came at a devastating cost. Helm<\/span> and Maui native Kimo Mitchell<\/span> were lost at sea while carrying out efforts to support the occupation of Kahoʻolawe<\/span>. Their disappearance deeply affected many in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and strengthened PKO<\/abbr>‘s commitment to aloha ʻāina<\/span> for generations.<\/p>\n

Stewardship in action<\/h2>\n
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Students help maintain sites on the island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That commitment also took root physically at Ka Papa Loʻi O Kānewai<\/span><\/a> at UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span>, established largely by PKO<\/abbr> members and ʻōlelo Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> (Hawaiian language) practitioners. Guided by kūpuna<\/span><\/a> including Uncle Harry Mitchell<\/span> of Keʻanae<\/span> (Kimo Mitchell’s<\/span> father), students learned that caring for land and caring for people are inseparable. Today, the loʻi<\/span><\/a> continues to reinforce student learning in the realm of Hawaiian traditional practices of kalo<\/span> (taro) farming.<\/p>\n

That legacy also continues through ceremony and education on Kahoʻolawe<\/span>. Kaliko Baker<\/span>, associate professor at the UH<\/abbr> Mānoa Kawaihuelani<\/a><\/span> Center for Hawaiian Language, leads the annual Makahiki<\/span><\/a> ceremonies for the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana<\/span>, honoring Hawaiian deity Lono<\/span> and maintaining the kapu<\/span> of ceremony upheld to this day. Since 2014, Baker<\/span> has also helped spearhead Kawaihuelani’s I Ola Kanaloa<\/span> program, taking Hawaiian language students from UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span>, Hilo and Maui to Kahoʻolawe<\/span> each year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“It’s important that UH<\/abbr> students continue the pilgrimage to Kahoʻolawe<\/span> and experience the kapu<\/span> that has driven the movement to stop the bombing and reestablish Kānaka Maoli<\/span> education and practice on island,” said Baker<\/span> who first traveled to Kahoʻolawe<\/span> as a student in McGregor’s ethnic studies course. “Student access to Kahoʻolawe<\/span> invigorate the mauli<\/span><\/a> of each and every student who makes the journey, which in turn builds the mauli<\/span> of the lāhui<\/span><\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Laʻa, Maʻa, Paʻa<\/span><\/h2>\n

As PKO<\/abbr> marks its 50th anniversary, leaders are calling for Laʻa<\/span>, Maʻa<\/span> and Paʻa<\/span> (to sanctify, sustain and solidify). The framework is both belief and action, guiding how Kahoʻolawe<\/span> is protected and how future generations carry the work forward.<\/p>\n

Half a century after the landing, the island no longer trembles with bombs. Where explosions once echoed, there are now footsteps, ceremony and learning.<\/p>\n

—By Moanikeʻala<\/span> Nabarro<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> was a vital hub for the Protect Kahoʻolawe<\/span> movement, with both students and faculty emerging as key leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":227814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,33,1057,1500,551,411,1465,1314,73,9,60],"class_list":["post-227813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-alumni","tag-hawaiian","tag-hawaiian-language","tag-hawaiian-studies","tag-hawaiinuiakea-school-of-hawaiian-knowledge","tag-kawaihuelani-center-for-hawaiian-language","tag-manoa-native-hawaiian-place-of-learning","tag-manoa-sustainability","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-manoa","tag-maui-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t