Video shows Hawaiians being evicted after Maui wildfires.
Get PolitiFact in your inbox.
A general view shows the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 21, 2023. (AP)
Decades-old video doesn’t show police evicting Hawaiians after Maui wildfires
If Your Time is short
-
This video is from a 1985 documentary about native Hawaiians being arrested and evicted on a beach in Honolulu, which is more than 100 miles from Maui, where the wildfires ignited in August.
- Learn more about PolitiFact's fact-checking process and rating system.
A month after wildfires erupted across Maui County, Hawaii, killing 115 people, social media posts are sharing a video they claim shows island natives being arrested and evicted from their homes.
The video, shared Sept. 5 on Instagram, shows police officers arresting Hawaiians who had been living on the beach. The video starts with a scene of crying children and a young girl yelling at the police.
"We no more house. You guys get house. Where you like us go? Camp on your yard?" the girl shouts.
Text on the video read, "They are being arrested for camping on the beach with no where to go! Are you happy Biden voters! We need to help these people!"
The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Featured Fact-check
With its reference to Biden, the Instagram post suggests this video was taken recently, following the Maui wildfires. Although thousands of people are displaced after the fires destroyed their homes and places of work, this footage does not show that. This video is 38 years old — from when Ronald Reagan was president — and wasn’t filmed on Maui.
(Screengrab from Instagram)
The video is from the trailer for a documentary about the June 3, 1985, evictions of native Hawaiians living on Waimānalo Beach Park in Honolulu. The state capital is on the island of Oahu, more than 100 miles from Maui.
Hawaiian video production company Nā Maka o ka ’Āina, or "The Eyes of the Land," produced the 37-minute documentary, which aired in 1985 on PBS Hawaii and local public broadcast channels.
One of the documentary’s filmmakers, the single-named Puhipau, speaks at the end of the Instagram post’s clip and says he is reporting from Oahu, not Maui. Puhipau died in 2016.
"This is the most recent of a series of arrests and evictions from the beaches of Hawaii. But with close to 90% of the people of Hawaii unable to afford their own homes, this incident will probably not be the last. This is Puhipau from Waimānalo, Oahu," he says.
We rate that claim that the video shows Hawaiians being evicted after the Maui wildfires False.
Our Sources
Instagram post (archived), Sept. 5, 2023
YouTube, "Waimānalo Eviction - TRAILER," April 9, 2012
Nā Maka o ka ’Āina, "Waimānalo Eviction documentary," 1985
Nā Maka o ka ’Āina, "Who We Are," accessed Sept. 13, 2023
Maui Police Department, "Identities of Maui Wildfire Disaster Victims," Sept. 12, 2023
Time, "Hawaii Already Had a Massive Homelessness Problem. The Maui Wildfires Are Making It Worse," Aug. 22, 2023
NBC News, "Temporary housing extended for Maui wildfire victims, the Hawaii governor says," Aug. 25, 2023
The Associated Press, "Decades-old footage of Hawaiians being removed from parkland misleadingly shared online as recent," Sept. 8, 2023
Browse the Truth-O-Meter
More by Sara Swann
Decades-old video doesn’t show police evicting Hawaiians after Maui wildfires
Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!
In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.