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How the Thirty Meter Telescope Ruling Will Impact Future Astronomy Projects (forbes.com)
StartsWithABang writes: If you want to explore the Universe, you need a telescope with good light gathering power, a high-quality camera to make the most out of each photon, and a superior observing location, complete with dark skies, clear nights, and still, high-altitude air. There are only a few places on Earth that have all of these qualities consistently, and perhaps the best one is atop Mauna Kea on Hawaii. Yet generations of wrongs have occurred to create the great telescope complex that's up there today, and astronomers continue to lease the land for far less than it's worth despite violating the original contract. That's astronomy as we know it so far, and perhaps the Mauna Kea protests signal a long awaited end to that.
Hawaiian natives, pushed off of almost every island except a corner of the big one with the active volcano
Hogwash. Every island has Hawaiian natives, and many of them are homeowners. In addition to the same rights as any other American citizens to own property, they also have cultural lands set aside. Any native Hawaiian is still free plant taro with a wooden stick, and make their own poi. The government will even subsidize them. Yet ~0% choose to do that. If you have ever tasted poi, you will understand why.
Native Hawaiians are not held back by land rights, or other discrimination. They are held back by their cultural rejection of education and science. This telescope debacle is a symptom of that. How many tech companies are going to create jobs in Hawaii? Roughly zero. So they end up with low paying service jobs in the tourist sector.