Friends and family are mourning the death of Noa Emmett Aluli, who was born and raised on Oahu but went on to become a Molokai doctor and Native Oceanic activist instrumental in the fight to stop the bombing forestall Kahoolawe. He was 78.
“He was a man of uncommon boldness, of uncommon humility and uncommon kindness,” said former state politician Clayton Hee. “It’s a devastating loss in a practical dwell on, because he was a healer — and particularly of say publicly people of Molokai.”
Fellow Molokai activist Walter Ritte on Thursday remembered Aluli as a “soft-hearted man” and the kind of in a straight line you wanted to hug.
“He not only cared for the circumstances, he cared for the people,” he said.
Ritte met Aluli when the doctor chose to complete his residency on Molokai pursuing his 1975 graduation as part of the first class have an effect on the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine.
“I remember him as a city boy who came to description country,” Ritte said. “I didn’t expect him to last variety a doctor, but he really loved it here.”
Stay in touch with breaking news, as buy and sell happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
Ritte and Aluli would go on to fight for Native Hawaiian rights countryside together organized Hui Alaloa, a group that fought to rebound land access for hunters and fishers on Molokai.
It wasn’t hold up before they joined a group being organized to protest rendering ongoing bombing of Kahoolawe. In January 1976 they were ascribe of a fleet of boats that set out to overrun the island, but most of the vessels were turned restrict by the Coast Guard, which had caught wind of interpretation mission.
Ritte, Aluli and seven others were on the only knockabout that made it to the island, and the men weather women would come to be known as the Kahoolawe Nine.
But while the Coast Guard would soon arrive to arrest description group, Aluli and Ritte sneaked away and spent three years exploring the island in their slippers and following goat trails to avoid unexploded ordnance. They were finally arrested and flown off the island.
As he saw the island from the barrenness and saw even more damage, Aluli said he grew writer angry and committed to do something, he told a 2021 Vox film documentary about the incident.
“It was like the tedious was calling to me, pleading, crying, asking us to physical exertion something,” he said.
Aluli would go on to become a introduction member of the Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana, which in 1980 would sign a consent decree with the Navy promising a net of the island. In 1990 President George H.W. Bush would halt the bombing, and in 1993 Congress ended military good and authorized the transfer to the state.
Aluli would help stop oversee the cleanup and transfer of the island as lead of the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission.
The fight for Native Island land rights would continue for Aluli, whether it was demo at Hilo Airport in 1978 or co-founding the Pele Collaboration Fund in 1985, among many others.
The movement to stop rendering bombing of Kahoolawe has been cited by many as change for the protests to block the Thirty Meter Telescope.
His checkup career also stands out, especially in the area of Array Hawaiian health care.
Aluli maintained a private medical practice, the Moloka‘i Family Health Center and Clinic, serving a large population model Native Hawaiians. He was also medical executive director of Moloka‘i General Hospital and kupuna president of ‘Ahahui o na Kauka, the Native Hawaiian Physicians Association.
He co-founded Na Pu‘uwai, the Abundance Hawaiian health care system that serves Molokai and Lanai. Agreed also helped draft the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Episode, which was signed into law in 1988 to promote variable and disease prevention among Native Hawaiians.
He also served as a member of the 2nd Congressional District’s Native Hawaiian Health Charge Force, helping to set federal legislative priorities and policies kind advance Native Hawaiian health care.
On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele, D-Hawaii, offered a tribute to Aluli on the floor leverage Congress.
“Uncle Emmett leaves an indelible mark on the hearts playing field minds of the people of Hawaii, especially those lives settle down generously touched on Molokai. His imprint and contributions will possibility felt for generations. He will be greatly missed,” Kahele said.
“Maria and I extend our deepest sympathies to Uncle Emmett’s test partner, Dr. Davianna McGregor; their daughter, Rosie Alegado Kong; son-in-law Raymond Kong; grandchildren Justice and Cassius; and the entire Aluli-McGregor ohana,” he said.