LAHAINA, Hawaii — Kekoa Lansford can’t shake the images of glowing skeletons in burning homes and charred bodies in cars. More than two months after a ferocious wildfire burned his West Maui community to the ground, killing at least 97 people, Lansford and other survivors say the trauma is as real now as the day it sent hundreds of people fleeing for their lives as flames chewed through their neighborhoods and thick, black smoke filled the skies.
Many Native Hawaiians suffer from generational trauma dating back to 1893, when the U.S. military overthrew Hawaii’s constitutional monarchy, Lanuza said. As the former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Lahaina was a vestige of that pre-colonial history. Some residents said the wildfires and the state’s response, including reopening West Maui while some residents are still burying loved ones, has worsened frustrations.