Gov. David Ige signs the Kalaupapa Memorial funding bill. Supporters looking on are, from left, Valerie Monson, executive director of Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa; University of Hawaii president David Lassner; Sen. Brian Taniguchi; Danette Wong Tomiyasu of the State Department of Health; Gov. Ige; DeGray Vanderbilt, legislative liaison for Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa; Hitoshi Hida, architect who created the memorial design; Sen. Lynn DeCoite; Kalaupapa descendant Nainoa Woodward and his grandparents, Margaret and Aaron Wong. Ka Ohana supporters hold photos of Kalaupapa leaders Bernard Punikaia, Boogie Kahilihiwa and Kuulei Bell, all who have died and are buried at Kalaupapa, and an architectural rendering of the memorial. (Photo courtesy of the Office of Governor David Ige)
Gov. David Ige signed Senate Bill 3338 June 29 appropriating $5 million in state funds to build The Kalaupapa Memorial, a monument to the thousands of people, mostly unknown, who were forcibly quarantined to the Hansen’s disease settlement on Molokai from 1866 to 1969.
“I really want to thank everyone involved with getting this measure to my desk,” said Ige, singling out Senators Lynn DeCoite and Brian Taniguchi for leading the effort in the State Senate to pass the bill, and Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa, the nonprofit organization of Kalaupapa residents, family members and friends who proposed the legislation and worked to get it passed.
The memorial will list the names of the approximately 8,000 men, women and children who were taken from their families and isolated on the Molokai peninsula of Kalaupapa because they were diagnosed with having leprosy, now called Hansen’s disease. Many of these names have been forgotten over time.
“Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa has been working toward this memorial for almost 20 years,” the governor said. “Their determination and dedication to honoring the people of Kalaupapa is an inspiration to all of us.”
During the past legislative session, family members of those sent to Kalaupapa gave personal and passionate testimonies of support for the memorial bill.
Ohana spokesperson Valerie Monson said at the signing that, thanks to this bill, “names will be remembered, legacies carried on.”
“Descendants will be able to touch the name of their ancestor and feel a connection they will never forget,” she said.
The memorial will be built across the road from St. Philomena Church, St. Damien’s Church, on the peninsula’s Kalawao side.
Nearly 15 years ago, the state legislature, at the prompting of Kalaupapa leader Paul Harada, adopted a resolution that thanked the people of Kalaupapa for their sacrifices and apologized for the pain of separation and the many injustices inflicted on them.
“The Kalaupapa Memorial feels like an extension of this resolution,” Monson said, “putting those words into action. The Kalaupapa memorial will be a lasting symbol of justice where the names of the people of Kalaupapa will forever live on.”
The Kalaupapa Memorial was the idea of the residents of Kalaupapa. When Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa organized in 2003, at the very first meeting they asked that a memorial be a priority of the organization.
In 2009, President Barack Obama signed The Kalaupapa Memorial Act which directs the Secretary of the Interior to authorize Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa to establish the memorial and display the names. Since that time, the organization has been working through various environmental review processes, developing a design for the memorial and compiling the names.
DeCoite said that the funding for the memorial showed the state’s “commitment to honor our past and to give honor to those who were treated less than honorably when the fear of Hansen’s disease took over.”
Ige spoke of the pain caused by the separation from families.
“This memorial cannot remedy that part of Hawaii’s history, but it certainly gives us the opportunity to honor the memory and the legacy of those isolated at Kalaupapa,” the governor said. “It is my hope that this will be a testament to the resilience of the residents of Kalaupapa and their determination.”
The memorial committee of Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa and the board of directors will meet in upcoming weeks to discuss the next phase of memorial planning.
