HONOLULU, Hawaii (AP) -- Wal-Mart opened a store in Hawaii on Wednesday with hundreds of eager shoppers rushing past a handful of protesters who accuse the giant retailer of desecrating ancient gravesites.
Customers lined up hours ahead and then poured into the discount store after a traditional Hawaiian blessing and the untying of a lei at the main doors.
Native Hawaiian groups had tried to stop the opening until 44 remains of Hawaiians unearthed during construction could be reburied at the Wal-Mart site.
"Wal-Mart's pitch is that it's slashing prices for you. In this instance, it's slashing graves," said Moses Haia, a Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. lawyer who has filed a suit against the store.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Cynthia Lin said the retailer is treating the Hawaiian remains with respect, placing them "in an air-conditioned, darkened trailer in a secure location on the site." State approval is needed to rebury them on the site, she said.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/10/14....ap/index.html
It sucks they built the store on a burial site. I am suprized the state hasn't given them the ok to re bury them there. I don't know much about Hawaiian tradition but wouldn't be better to move them to a better location rather than back at Wal-mart?
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