Up close, in the hours immediately after the last campers are evicted, the conditions are appalling. News reports charitably speak of the removal of "rubble" from the campsites. In fact, what's being removed includes a woeful accumulation of trash, garbage, derelict cars and filth. This is squalor.
An abandoned dog - a pit bull - waits chained to a tire outside an empty hovel. The Humane Society will deal with him soon and, like Makua, he'll be put out of his misery.
Before the eviction, rented yellow-roofed portable toilets dotted the area, but they were a recent addition. The Makua Council also posted signs to "Lend a Hand to Clean Our Land." Unfortunately, signs aren't trash cans. Meanwhile, a few thousand yards up Farrington Highway toward Waianae the stench of a sun-baked garbage pile spoke of the dire pre-eviction sanitation situation.
Righteous words about culture, solidarity and rights to the land are well and good, but there is a difference between homesteading and squatting. It has to do with stewardship. Those that take care of the land and each other earn their righteous standing.
