Published September 18, 2019 TOPPENISH, Wash. — Yakama Nation’s tribal leaders have called upon the U.S. Department of the Interior to exerc
"Yakama Nation acknowledges the Kanaka Oiwi were forced, under the threat violence, to cede 1.8 million acres of Indigenous Hawaiian homelands to the United States in 1898. We recognize and affirm the inherent authority held by the Kanaka Oiwi, as a free and independent Native Nation, to manage their sacred aina (land) in their the best interests. Yakama Nation understands that the Kanaka Oiwi regard Mauna a Wakea (also called Mauna Kea), a mountain on the big island of Hawaii, as the foundation of their creation story. Mauna a Wakea is their relative. Mauna a Wakea remains sacred to the Kanaka Oiwi, who continue to possess and exercise inherent traditional authority to protect the aina."
