Lee Cataluna: Maui’s identity crisis becomes visible at Kahului Airport

Maybe the hotly debated wall display at Kahului Airport on Maui is actually perfect.

No, not really. It shows visitors arriving on Maui exactly what the island has become: a place where wealthy entertainers from the 1980s who bought property on the island are seen as better than the regular local population.

And it reassures Maui residents who are leaving the island that they can’t succeed at home and so might as well leave. The hard, awful truth of this Hall of Fame exhibit, installed earlier this summer, is that it is blatantly accurate.

KITV journalist Aʻaliʻi Dukelow of Maui is credited with being the first to ask questions about the 32-foot-long exhibit.

We thank Civil Beat investigative reporter Blaze Lovell for uncovering the convoluted backstory of the wall’s funding.

First a description of the display:

In the area of ​​Kahului Airport near the Hawaiian Airlines arrival and departure gates, a section of the wall features pictures of entertainers and athletes born and raised on Maui, including Amy Hanaialʻi Gilliom, Eric Gilliom, Kurt Suzuki and Shane Victorino. No one complains about these pictures. People are proud of the local talent.

The second section of the wall features framed pictures of actors and musicians who own or have owned property on Maui, including Owen Wilson, Oprah Winfrey, Clint Eastwood, Alice Cooper, Jim Carrey and Paul Simon, under the caption “Kamaaina is proud to call Maui home.”

This is the part that makes people ask, “Wait, what?”

Lovell discovered that the wall was funded with county money and built by a nonprofit organization with family ties to Luana Mahi, Mayor Richard Bissen’s economic development director.

Her son, Keokoa Mahi’s nonprofit, received $44,000 to put up this obsequious display of misplaced admiration. That’s a lot of money to spend on pictures you can hang on your wall.

Lovell’s story is bigger than this one grant, so be sure to read it if you haven’t already. But beyond that, there are bigger questions: What was the purpose of this project? Why was there a wall of mostly past-their-prime celebrities (sorry, but it’s unlikely anyone under 35 will recognize all of these names) at Kahului Airport?

Was this meant to boost tourism? The people who see the pictures are already at the airport, have bought their plane tickets and booked accommodation.

Should that make the island seem more attractive? Maui is beautiful in itself, without having to list rich people who have bought land where normal people can’t get to.

Should this make the people of Maui feel better about Maui? If so, this is a lousy way to do it. This section of Maui’s Hall of Fame does not recognize those who were born at Maui Memorial Hospital, educated in public schools, and do the work of keeping the island running.

No, they say, if you want to be famous on Maui—famous enough to have your picture taken at the airport as some kind of member of Valley Island royalty—you’ll have to come from somewhere else, have enough money to buy a nice house with a water view, and have someone else do your shopping at Costco.

Then there is the misuse of the term “kamaaina,” which literally means “child of the land” and refers to a person born there. Over time, the word has been adopted to refer to people who hold a Hawaiian driver’s license and can receive a discount on golf fees at public courses.

None of the fine people up there on the wall are asking for a round of golf at the Waiehu Municipal Golf Course at a special price.

Worse than the impression of a sell-out and the highly questionable financial support of the project is the terrible timing of the whole thing: The project took place less than a year after the fires in Lahaina and Kula.

Maui has been struggling with an identity crisis for years, but on August 8, 2023, the need for housing for locals rather than wealthy outsiders went from an emotional debate to a full-scale crisis. People are leaving Maui because they have been displaced by the thousands.

As they say sad goodbyes at Kahului airport, Oprah grins down at them and reminds them who is allowed to live on this island.

Rip that section out of the Hall of Fame. Replace it with Maui Keiki artwork or posters showing where Amy Hānaialiʻi and Eric Gilliom are performing, because they are amazing and should draw packed crowds every night.

Or have someone in the back office make a laminated poster featuring real Kamaaina heroes: teachers and nurses, foster parents and kahus who work every day in small but meaningful ways to make Maui better for everyone. You can make a banner like this for forty dollars.

Or go ahead and think of it as protest art; a subversive display of how gentrified Maui is glorifying the wrong things and the wrong people so that maybe one day the city can return to its true self.