Mark Zuckerberg sued native Hawaiians for their own land | AJ+

I'm on the islands of Hawaii an idyllic destination for honeymooners Hollywood blockbusters and now Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg his own private sanctuary but there's a dark side to this paradise that Zuckerberg has brought to light a century long battle over land that began when American plantation owners overthrew the Hawaiian Kingdom so now a billionaire comes in with his money doing it by for removing people out of their land we see these sort of things going on every day where what little lab that was left for us now is up for grabs this is a rock wall Zuckerberg shelves around his 700 acre property and just to give you some perspective here you could fit more than 500 football fields inside it's one thing to want to protect your property it's another when Native Hawaiians like Shannon Buckner still own pieces of your land so the land that you own is just across this fence right here yeah but Mark Zuckerberg has put up this wall and fence and it says no trespassing yeah what would happen if you tried to go over there I'll get arrested for trespassing even though it's your land yep Chanin is among countless Native Hawaiians who own inherited lands called kuleana which means responsibility individual parcels can sometimes be small but they're owned collectively and are meant to ensure Native ownership in perpetuity the problem is kuleana lands are passed down through the generations without a will or d the lack of paper trail means some defendants don't even know they own land other times under a complicated legal system called quiet titles a buyer like Zuckerberg can sue cliana owners to force them to sell their land usually at auction for pennies on the dollar and that's just what he did suing hundreds and infuriating many more ironically I mean he knows us well for privacy and it's just attracting more people here's always famous for now they know what property Hill's Keola Worthington is one of the descendants of the land Zuckerberg has walled off the Facebook CEO kato reported 100 million dollars to buy the land in 2014 which includes a former sugarcane plantation and a beach previously owned by a millionaire you know capitalism or white man style I call it there needs to be one owner a one man needs the power and authority to just control everything it's kind of like a repeat of the overthrow of Hawaii another overthrow of our people and land that's how many Native Hawaiians see it when word got out about the lawsuits they called out Zuckerberg using his own platform they even made videos and memes blasting him Zuckerberg apologized and dropped his lawsuits we reached out multiple times for comment and were sent an op-ed he wrote saying he'll talk to the community and find a better approach but many told us the damage is already done we have a hard time sleeping since this came up it's always on your mind card to page or not when you have a billionaire site carry Ferrara's cousin sold her land for $400 to a company called North Shore Colo LLC not realizing it's owned by Zuckerberg then his attorney called Terry his first words out of his mouth was how does it feel to get $800 for land that you'd never knew you had and we assume we're selling to a collar farmer we're like yeah it sounds good kalo is the Hawaiian word for taro a plant that's sacred to Native Hawaiians it's central to their creation story and is a staple food in its pounded form and then you found out that North Shore Callao LLC is Mark Zuckerberg yeah company yes and how did you feel when you found that out I was mad I was upset I felt deceived will you sell the lamp no I love it he can get he can offer me $100,000 I won't take it tell me why because it's our culture that's our native land and just to preserve it what you see here in Hawaii now with all the buildings and just the overdevelopment we're overcrowded quite is not like how it used to be the problem of land loss is bigger than Zuckerberg it's been happening since American plantation owners led a coup overthrowing the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893 radio host Kalani mahouka faults the Hawaiian state she calls illegitimate for facilitating the land grab this allows a wealthy land owner or someone with money to come in and essentially point out a piece of land and say dude that's looking real good for me I think I want that land hmm oh oh pesky Hawaiian Coolio no land oh oh how do we get rid of them how do we get the masculine fake state of away comes along and says no problem rich guy there's a process called quiet title Kalani hosts a weekly radio show called songs of sovereignty where she talked about all the land issues Native Hawaiians face today if you had one message for Americans who live on the mainland who see Hawaii as if paradise this vacation destination for their honeymoons or whatever would it be we want to share our home with people what we want you to go home after you've visited stop moving here you need to stop moving here because we have nowhere to live [Music] the uproar over zuckerberg lawsuits prompted state representative Kahn yelling to introduce a bill that would force anyone pursuing quiet title to enter mediation with the families first this is the same tool that's been used for over 200 years on the sugar Barons the plantation owners used to use it to strip Hawaiian land from white hands and we need to put it into this for the girl because the legal system is stacked against them some Native Hawaiians have resorted to occupying their kuleana lands Jessie Steele's ancestral land in Hawaii was sold by the state to mainlander this is one of many occupations or a job yes how many occupations are there a lot this is our lifestyle you see all this Carol and stuff we eat this stuff this is all food right here how does it make you feel that someone from the outside who can afford it can you just come and buy this sacred land where your ancestors are buried makes me know I've I get really mixed much angry all like the new house is on and high and all vacationer until kind like are they dig up the plans you know in a day they know they don't treat it as if it was an archaeological site though like it though they'll take the bones away and they'll still put the septic system in and they'll be sitting right where our bones were you know amid the anger one thing is clear zuckerberg may have cast the biggest spotlight yet on Native Hawaiians fighting to hold on to their land and all too often losing in your ideal scenario how would this all be resolved how does all play out if he would just let us keep our loan hello hi guys it's Tina in Hawaii and I hope you enjoyed this last video about Native Hawaiians fighting for their ancestral land make sure you check out this next video about the broader fight for sovereignty here and let me know what you think in the comments

Channel: AJ+

Views: 1,211,662

Keywords: zuckerberg, mark zuckerberg, zuckerberg hawaii, zuckerberg suing hawaiians, zuckerberg controversy, who is mark zuckerberg, hawaii sovereignty, hawaii rule, native hawaiians, dena takruri, aj+ with dena takruri, facebook ceo, facebook controversy, native rights, hawaii series, quiet title, aj docs, al jazeera docs, al jazeera documentary, news, aj+, ajplus, al jazeera, kahlo hawaii, taro hawaii, northsore kalo zuckerberg, direct from with dena takruri

Id: W6_RyE6XZiw

Length: 7min 10sec (430 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 02 2017