"I'm ready, my family's ready," said Kahu Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr., president of Hui Malama. "They're not happy, but they know I gotta do this and they support me."
[...]
U.S. District Judge David Ezra on Tuesday set a deadline of 4 p.m. yesterday for the organization to provide the exact locations of the items and the names of all individuals who knew of the locations. Four Hui Malama board members, including Maxwell and its executive director, responded by filing declarations stating that they are declining to comply with the demands despite a threat of contempt of court, which could bring Hui Malama members jail time, fines or both.

Maxwell said that if asked by the court, "I will present myself to be arrested."

"I'm going to be 68 next year. I'm not healthy," he said. "But my conviction to my culture is strong and it's inbred from when I was a little boy. If that is breaking the law, then I will have to break it every day to protect my culture."

Hui Malama executive director Edward Halealoha Ayau, in his declaration, said that Hui Malama board members on Tuesday voted to "not disclose the names of those who took part in the reinterment of iwi kupuna and moepu and the precise location of each of the moepu within each of the two Kawaihae burial caves."

I fear that Judge David Ezra's decision regarding opening graves just does not go far enough. It is not only Hawaiians who had funerary objects; there are haole funerary objects, as well. Let's dig 'em all up.

Imagine the cultural research that would ensue should haole graves in Hawai'i be exhumed and examined. Jewelry items cast light on haole culture — little crosses on chains, and beads that reportedly had magical powers to propel the souls to a "heaven" in the sky. Rings on fingers often indicate the marital status. Precious stones set in rings, bracelets and necklaces should not be buried in darkness forever. The clothing would expose fashion trends of the past.

The caskets themselves provide valuable information. Crude wooden ones indicate how little the offspring of the deceased cared. We could marvel at the "spare no expense" caskets bought by guilt-ridden families of wealth. These objects lend important cultural insight and should be in a museum for our children's children to see.

Valuable anthropological data can be gathered by measuring the skulls and other bones of the occupants, perhaps even providing information as to the migration patterns of haole ancestors.

Modern forensic skills could be used to autopsy the departed and compare the information with the death certificates to ascertain their veracity. Talk about cold cases.

Of course, all due respect must be given the descendants of the dead haole. They could form organizations to lobby the government, anthropologists and others involved in the exhumation process. Once the cultural objects, clothing and shoes are removed and the corpses measured and properly autopsied, the remains could be stored in trailers and warehouses until all questions are answered.