Larry Ellison
Ka Pae Aina
In 2012 Larry Ellison purchased the island of Lanai, of Ka Pae Aina, including all businesses and housing for 300 million dollars.[1] Ellison claims that his motives for purchasing the island and the majority of its businesses/ housing are rooted in creating a sustainable island. What this means for the Native Peoples of Ka Pae Aina and Ellison are likely not the same thing.
It is one thing to own an uninhabited island; it is a different thing altogether to purchase an island, as Ellison has, on which lives a sizable group of permanent residents with far longer connections )including genealogical ones, for many) to the land than the landlord has. For over a century, the lives and livelihoods of the residents of Lana'i have been tied to the destinies of a succession of white landowners with the resources to change not just the economy but also the geographical terrain of the island in the hope of achieving their singular vision of making the island "profitable." The recent history of Lana'i tells us something about what happens when those visions fail to bring the imagined prosperity. Not surprisingly, in resistance to having their fats tied to that of the landowner, and in opposition to the kinds of changes Ellison has most recently proposed, some permanent residents on this island, both Native Hawaiians and settlers, are looking to the land itself to redefine what it means to prosper. A discerning visitor to Lana'i will see not only the obvious evidence of the ways that the island has been made to conform to the man-made fantasies of Dole, Murdock, and Ellison but also how many of its long-time residents honor the land and its history.[2]
It is one thing to own an uninhabited island; it is a different thing altogether to purchase an island, as Ellison has, on which lives a sizable group of permanent residents with far longer connections )including genealogical ones, for many) to the land than the landlord has. For over a century, the lives and livelihoods of the residents of Lana'i have been tied to the destinies of a succession of white landowners with the resources to change not just the economy but also the geographical terrain of the island in the hope of achieving their singular vision of making the island "profitable." The recent history of Lana'i tells us something about what happens when those visions fail to bring the imagined prosperity. Not surprisingly, in resistance to having their fats tied to that of the landowner, and in opposition to the kinds of changes Ellison has most recently proposed, some permanent residents on this island, both Native Hawaiians and settlers, are looking to the land itself to redefine what it means to prosper. A discerning visitor to Lana'i will see not only the obvious evidence of the ways that the island has been made to conform to the man-made fantasies of Dole, Murdock, and Ellison but also how many of its long-time residents honor the land and its history.[3]
Sources
- ↑ https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/press-play-with-madeleine-brand/hawaii-island-sex-drinks-insurrection/larry-ellison-lanai
- ↑ AIKAU, H. K., & GONZALEZ, V. V. (Eds.). (2019). Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawai’i. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11smvvj; Page, 87
- ↑ AIKAU, H. K., & GONZALEZ, V. V. (Eds.). (2019). Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawai’i. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11smvvj; Page, 87