residents met at the fence to a private ranch, cut the lock, and walked inside. Carrying flags and singing native songs, the 100-plus residents marched about a mile to the beach, where one knelt and performed a ritual blessing. Then they sat for several hours, protesting the private company that had blocked off access to what the locals claim is a historic site—and theirs by law.
“It really is the last Hawaiian island,” Karen Holt, executive director of the council, told The Daily Beast. “Everything else is paved over.” In 2007, the group proposed expanding the development with a 200-lot luxury subdivision on the beaches of Laau Point on the westernmost peninsula—a plan that divided the populace. Ranch employees supported it, fearing the developers would fire them if they did not get their way, according to Maui County Councilmember Keani Rawlins-Fernandez. But many maintained fierce opposition to any development. “There are some family members who haven't talked since,” Rawlins-Fernandez said.
No such owner emerged. Despite reports of interest from several wealthy buyers—Mark Zuckerberg among them—the Molokai Ranch property has remained on the market for more than six years—virtually untended, according to locals. Roads go unrepaired, buildings sit rotting and unused. The ocean pools where locals used to fish are filled with sediment from unchecked erosion.
In recent years, however, the buyback campaign has been reinvigorated—in part because of a new generation of activists. One of them, Momi Afelin, is a grad student at Harvard who helps run a nonprofit called Sustainable Molokai. The group started advertising community meetings early last year; the first one attracted more than 100 people on Zoom.