Thirty-Meter Telescope on Hawai'i

What I've been trying to work my way up to, this week, is discussion of the Thirty-Meter Telescope. It's... complicated, to say the least.

One of the first principles of intersectional work, is that anti-oppression should be led / centered by the voices that are directly affected by it. That being said, this is my blog / my space. So I'm going to begin with this great list of links: http://www.aoletmt.com/

And this Storify that Janet Stemwedel (@docfreeride) put together. My own analysis / processing will be below the cut.

Pay attention, in this Storify, to who are the kanaka maoli, the pre-European Hawaiian voices:

My own processing is below the cut, in two parts: 1) Who I am / Why I care, and 2) What I think.

This is a long post.

Why does it matter?

A year ago, as a member of my employer's Diversity Council for the local site, I was invited to represent the company at the annual Martin Luther King Jr Unity Breakfast, an event that has been held for the past 30 years. It is sponsored by the Delta Theta Lambda Chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.

One of the honorees last year was Rev. Kerry Holder-Joffrion, and as I recall her work involved restorative justice, in which attempts are made to heal relations by developing a mutually agreed-to understanding of the shared history.

I'm not trained in pastoral care.  My experiences with social-justice minded Catholics, Unitarian Universalists, and the United Church of Christ have educated me on moderating small groups, non-violent communication, and conducting difficult conversations, and Global Negotiations taught me integrative negotiation.

The other thing I have to offer, is an understanding of history borne out of my M.A. in Humanities, focused on Space and Exploration Studies.  While I was most interested in the "looking forward to Space" aspect of the degree program... we cannot see where we are going until we know where we have been. Until we truly understand what this world has inherited from our history of exploration.