Native Cultural Center Destroyed in Maui Fire Amid Growing Concerns Over Ancestral Land

The Na ‘Aikane O Maui Cultural Center, dedicated to the continuation of Native Hawaiian history and culture, was destroyed in the wildfires that wiped out Maui’s Lahaina neighborhood, the Washington Post reports.

The center not only taught Native youth traditional art such as weaving and carving but also helped families fight for their rights to their ancestral lands.

Hundreds of Native artifacts including 19th-century land deeds stamped in wax, traditional feathered capes, and old maps were lost in the blaze, along with legal documents that could have helped families in disputes against developers and others who laid claim to Native properties.

“It’s never going to be the same,” Ke’eaumoku Kapu, who founded the center and battled for decades to win the rights to his ancestral family’s land in West Maui, told the Post.

Na ‘Aikane O Maui was housed in an 11,000-square-foot building on Front Street in Lahaina’s historic district, which was designated a national historic landmark because King Kamehameha III erected his royal complex on the block in the 1800s. There, the building was shared with several other nonprofits that created communal hub dedicated to Native Hawaiian culture.

Before the center opened in 2011, Kapu went through a lengthy legal battle to regain control of his family land from prominent real estate developers in nearby Kauaula Valley.

Though there has been some legal progress on the island to return these ancestral lands, there is now increased concern about developers purchasing the scorched Lahaina properties from families that could reverse these gains and further heighten the housing crisis.

Kapu and the local community are dedicated to rebuilding the cultural center and have set up a fundraiser for donations.

The loss of this cultural institution, among many other sites in the area, has raised concern among cultural experts as the extent of the damage continues to be reported.