Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 38, Number 10, 1 October 2021 — Attempted Sale of Iwi Po'o on eBay Leads to Federal Prosecution [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Attempted Sale of Iwi Po'o on eBay Leads to Federal Prosecution

H/MANA' I KaAidO!WI V EMPOWERED BY OUR ANCESTRY "

By Edward Halealoha Ayau From 2004 to 2008, there were nine repatriations: one in 2004, two in 2005, one in 2006, and five in 2008. The first case, in August 2004, involved three iwi kūpuna repatriated from the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum and ceremonially reburied at Mo'omomi, Moloka'i. These iwi were identified 12 years after the original inventory was performed, and iwi repatriated, in 1992. In June 2005, we traveled to Nīhoa island to return one iwi kūpuna for reburial. This was done in conjunction with a huaka'i of reconnection with the islands, resources and ancestors of Papahānaumokuākea aboard the voyaging eanoe Hōkūle'a. It was the second reburial at Nīhoa. Then in November 2005, a criminal prosecution was brought to eonclusion with the reburial of an iwi po'o on Maui. A man named Jerry Hasson, 55, of Los Angeles had offered a Hawaiian skull for sale on eBay. His post read: "I personally discovered this human skull, along with the entire skeletal remains, in the summer of 1969 on the Kaanapali Beach on Maui... For the last 35 years, I've kept this 200-year-old Hawaiian Warrior as a souvenir of my youth but now it's time to give him up to the highest bidder. Included with this brave warrior's skull comes a notarized Certificate of Authenticity. Bidding starts at $1,000..." I was informed of the situation and engaged Hasson by email, then by telephone. I advised him that, should he sell this skull, he would be in violation of federal law (I provided him with the text of the law),

and asked that he instead return the skull for reburial. He refused. An undercover investigation by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) followed. Hasson sold the skull to a BIA agent and was then arrested, convicted and sentenced. I was allowed to comment at his sentencing and recommended he be declared persona non grata, barred from eoming to Hawai'i, and that his eommunity service be spent cutting the grass at the loeal cemetery. Only the last recommendation was adopted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. I repatriated this iwi po'o to Maui with Melanie Chinen of the State Historic Preservation Division. In 2006, one iwi kūpuna was repatriated from the U.S. Army and reburied at Pōhakuloa on the island of Hawai'i. In 2007, no iwi kūpuna were repatriated. Repatriations in 2008 were as follows: one iwi po'o from the U.S. Air Force in January and reburied at Bellows Air Force Station; one iwi po'o was repatriated from the University of Pennsylvania in February - it was the fourth repatriation from this institution; iwi fragments were repatriated from UH Hilo and reburied at Kahalu'u, Kona, Hawai'i in April; more iwi fragments were repatriated from UH Hilo and reburied at Maka'eo, Kona, in August; and in September, another set of iwi fragments were repatriated from UH Hilo - these were ceremonially reburied at Kama'oa Pu'u'eo, Ka u, with the assistance of Ka'ū Preservation. ■ Edward Halealoha Ayau is the former executive director ofHui Mālama I Nā Kūpuna O Hawai'i Nei, a group that has repatriated and reinterred thousands of ancestral Native Hawaiian remains and funerary objects.

To read this article in 'olelo Hawai'i, go to kawaiola.news.