If you drove out, as I did, on Saturday, April 26, 2008, the first day of Hana’s 16th annual East Maui Taro Festival, it would have been difficult to ignore the series of bright hand-lettered signs posted on some of the one-lane bridges. They were taped in front of the places where you have to slow down or stop to let cars coming toward you pass by.

The first and largest sign, just before Twin Falls, was painted on what looked like a white bed sheet, and was tacked to a steep cliff on the right hand side of the road. It said, H20 for Honopou. A couple of miles further down the road, you would have seen a poster with Face the facts written on it. And then, at two or three mile intervals, signs appeared on the bridges saying, Fact #1: EMI diverts 160 million gallons a day; Fact #2: The amount of diverted water is enough to feed the entire island of Oahu; Fact #3: The Constitution of the State of Hawaii renders these diversions impermissible and illegal!; Fact #4: Loss of stream and marine life is accredited to these diversions; Fact #5: East Maui Hawaiians have fought over 120 years to restore stream flow. Today the fight continues…; Fact #6: Native Hawaiians and residents rely on these streams to live sustainably and to preserve Hawaiian culture.

And then, just after you round the bend and drive past the sweeping full-on view of deep, beautiful Honomanu Bay, traffic slowed to a crawl as cars threaded by crowds of Hawaiian taro farmers from all the major islands (and many others, including videographers from AKAKU television station) standing on the road and on the bridge, holding signs and passing out literature, trying to raise awareness and inform people passing by about the fact that massive amounts of stream water – the water they rely on to grow taro and feed their families – have been diverted by East Maui Irrigation Company for years. The farmers are demanding, once again but more emphatically than ever, that the water be restored to those streams. They are demanding justice.