Telescope protester granted Hawaiian language interpreter
WAILUKU, Maui — A telescope protester who asserted what he called his right to speak Hawaiian instead of English in court earlier this year has been granted an interpreter in Wailuku District Court.
A trial date was set for May 23 for 51-year-old Samuel Kaleikoa Kaeo, the Maui News reported .
Kaeo is among six protesters arrested Aug. 2 as dozens of protesters gathered to confront a convoy carrying equipment for the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope at the Haleakala summit. He has pleaded not guilty to disorderly conduct, obstructing a highway and refusing to comply with a police officer’s order.
A $750 bench warrant had initially been issued to Kaeo after Judge Blaine Kobayashi asked him four times to give his name in English during a court hearing in January. Kobayashi had granted a request from the prosecution to have Kaeo’s trial conducted in English.
A day later, the warrant was recalled and the state Judiciary changed its policy for Hawaiian interpreters. The state agreed to provide or permit qualified interpreters “to the extent reasonably possible.”
“I’m happy that the judiciary is turning the corner and realizing that this issue isn’t going to go away,” Kaeo said. “In fact, this issue is going to grow.”
Kaeo’s case was reassigned to Judge Kelsey Kawano, who ordered an interpreter for the trial. Kaeo, however, objected to the new date and asked that his case be dismissed because more than six months has passed since his arrest.
Kawano told Kaeo, who is representing himself, that he must file a motion to the court. After Wednesday’s hearing, Kaeo blamed the prosecution for pushing his trial back due to its motion to have the trial in English.
Maui County Prosecutor J.D. Kim could not be reached immediately Wednesday for comment.
“I really don’t understand why the trial is being pushed back so far into the beginning of summer, which would make it by then nine months from when I was arrested,” Kaeo said. “The judge did say I could submit a motion to challenge that so I think for my rights as a defendant I need to explore all possibilities.”
Japanese camp funding advances after Zinke, lawmaker spat
HONOLULU — Funding for a program to preserve the sites where Japanese-Americans were interned during World War II moved forward on Thursday after becoming the backdrop of a spat between a Hawaii congresswoman and the Interior Department boss.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke discussed the funding last week at a House committee hearing in Washington.
When the Japanese-American congresswoman asked Zinke whether he would continue the program, Zinke replied with the Japanese greeting for hello, or “konnichiwa.”
Hanabusa’s colleagues later criticized Zinke for being juvenile and treating her as a foreigner. Hanabusa said Zinke was racially stereotyping her — the same reason the U.S. government put Japanese-Americans into camps 75 years ago.
Zinke defended his use of the term, saying, “How could ever saying ‘good morning’ be bad?”
The House approved $3 million for the project. It now goes to the Senate.
Hanabusa’s two grandfathers were detained at camps in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Honouliuli, Hawaii.
She said in a statement Thursday that the program helps ensure the country never forgets that more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans were arrested and imprisoned for their ancestry and not because they broke U.S. law.
She said the bigger issue than Zinke’s Japanese language greeting was that the Trump administration planned to defund the program.
“Thankfully, my colleagues did not,” she said.