Native Hawaiians and other local residents said they would support any appeal of a federal appeals court decision in San Francisco that struck down Kamehameha Schools’ long-standing policy of giving admission preference to Native Hawaiians. At the same time, other
Native Hawaiians and other local residents said they would support any appeal of a federal appeals court decision in San Francisco that struck down Kamehameha Schools’ long-standing policy of giving admission preference to Native Hawaiians.
At the same time, other critics of the court decision Tuesday said the policy should remain intact to give “Hawaiians a break,” because much has been taken away from them prior to and after the fall of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893.
A rally and informational meeting on the court decision is scheduled to be held at King Kaumuali‘i Elementary School in Hanama‘ulu this Saturday, Aug. 6, at 4 p.m. Some Native Hawaiians asserted the court action underscores the need for all Hawaiians to come together to support the passage of the Akaka bill to give federal recognition to Native Hawaiians. Without such protection afforded by the approval of the bill, more Hawaiian programs and entitlements could be lost, critics of the court ruling said.
The action thwarts the will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop to help her people, said Allan Smith, vice president and chief operating officer for Grove Farm Company. He was among numerous prominent alumni of Kamehameha Schools interviewed by The Garden Island.
“It (the court ruling) is not good. And it is a continual bombardment and challenge of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s will and mission,” Smith said. “It is bad. It is going to be appealed.”
A three-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled by a 2-1 margin that the practice at the school violates federal civil-rights law even though the school receives no federal funding.
The panel also found the policies to be illegal because they barred admission of those who are a “non-preferred race.”
The lawsuit was brought against the school by an unidentified non-Hawaiian student whose application for admission to the school was turned down in 2003.
Kamehameha Schools officials said the school will seek a review of the case before the entire 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
The decision was reached after U.S. District Court Judge Alan Kay ruled school leaders could continue using the admission policy because of its unique historical circumstances.
Kaua‘i County Council Vice Chairman James Kunane Tokioka, who is part-Hawaiian, said the “decision is wrong.
“For any court to rule that Kamehameha Schools discriminates because of race, is in my opinion, an injustice (in light of the overthrow of Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and the political turmoil Hawaiians have endured since then),” Tokioka said.
Randy Hee, president of the Kamehameha Alumni Association, Kaua‘i Region, and a 1968 alumnus, said “we are not happy” about the latest court decision.
“Princess Pauahi, she willed her lands and built a school to educate Hawaiians, and it wasn’t done on her part without thought,” Hee said. “It was done to correct a lot of wrongs that have occurred since the overthrow and since contact (with the westernized world).”
Hawaiians have become “minorities in their own nation and in their own country,” Hee said. “And they still are. And so the school is targeted to help Hawaiians.”
Hee said the school accepts non-Hawaiians as students, but gives admission preference to help Hawaiians help themselves.
The association boasts roughly 22,000 alumni, of whom half are in Hawai‘i and the other half are on the Mainland.
“This (latest court action) is certainly a call for us to pull together and do whatever we can do to support the cause,” Hee said.
Hawaiians have been divided on political issues for many years, but the latest court action gives reason for Hawaiians to unite. “If anything, this (the court action) strengthens our resolve,” Hee said.
LaFrance Arboleda-Kapaka, who heads the Kaua‘i office of the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs, said the court action provides a concrete reason for Hawaiians to put aside their differences and to come together to work for the betterment of all Hawaiians.
She said that she was not surprised or shocked by the court action, because “when you go before a court, it is one way or another. And that is a realty.”
The court action denies Princess Pauahi her chance to help her people, charged George Taguma, a Kalaheo resident who is of Japanese descent but who has family members who are Hawaiian.
“If she willed it to the Kanaka (the indigenous people of Hawai‘i), then the will should be honored,” Taguma said. “Her will was formulated before the American occupation of Hawai‘i.”
Taguma said, “no attorney, judge or the court should be able to reinterpret a former will in a way to satisfy their positions.”
Marie Torio, a Hawaiian community leader in Anahola, said the court decision marks yet another attempt to take something away from Hawaiians.
“Enough is enough,” she said. “When do we Hawaiians get to enjoy what has been afforded us?”
She said the court decision is yet another example of social injustice inflicted upon Hawaiians.
In a perfect world, she said she would like to see the preferential admission policy for Hawaiians at Kamehameha Schools retained, and to see the return of Hawai‘i to Hawaiians.
“When will we get back our identity, instead of being branded prejudicial in our claims for social justice?” Torio asked.
Torio and her daughter, Ipo are both alumni of Kamehameha Schools. Ipo Torio is the executive director of the Kaunikapono Learning Center, a charter school that specializes in Hawaiian culture and language.
Michael Chandler Jr., who mans the Kamehameha Schools Extension Education Division office on Rice Street in Lihu‘e, said the court decision, if left intact, will mark the end of federally-funded programs benefiting Hawaiians.
“If they target Kamehameha Schools, what else will they target?” Chandler asked. “They will target anything Hawaiian, and we aren’t going to get anything anymore.”
Rupert Rowe, a Kanaka Maoli, an indigenous person of Hawai‘i, said the court decision is another example of how “the federal government is hiding the crime (the overthrow) in Hawai‘i.
“The next attack will be homestead lands,” he said. “The blood-quantum (a blood percentage requirement for Native Hawaiians to be able to qualify for residential or farming leases on state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands property) is unconstitutional, but in a few more generations, they won’t meet the blood requirement, and they won’t get anything.”
Rowe has pushed for preservation of Hawaiian culture and history, and for the development of a Hawaiian preserve in Po‘ipu.
Smith, a 1963 graduate of Kamehameha Schools, said attending the school allows Hawaiians to understand their history and roots better.
Smith said the school helped him develop into a better person, and helps “broaden one’s horizons greatly.
“I met some great people, and opportunities were put in front of me that we didn’t have on Kaua‘i,” Smith said.
A non-Hawaiian said keeping intact the current admission policy would “atone for the unfortunate incidents of the past (the overthrow). “In this Hawaiian thing, they got screwed, let’s face it,” said the man, who asked not to be identified.
He said Kamehameha school leaders should be able to restrict admission of students if private schools can limit admissions of students because of religious considerations or academic standards.
“This whole thing is a catch-22 for Hawaiians, and it is related to the Akaka bill,” he said. “If people vote for it, I think Kamehameha Schools would be able to have admission preferences.”
Carl Marcus of Kilauea said that, in light of all the injustices suffered by Hawaiians over the years, the policy should remain, to “give Hawaiians a break.”
The ruling may be legal, but in the case of the admission’s policy, “they (the judges) might have stretched the constitution,” said Marcus, who is not Native Hawaiian.
Greg Robertson, a part-time renter from San Francisco who lives in Kapa‘a part of the year, said the ruling was unfair, and that “Hawaiians should be left alone.”
Jim Pursell, a resident of Lihu‘e who also is not Native Hawaiian, said, “I think the Hawaiians ought to run their own show.
“It is their own school, and they aren’t getting federal funds,” he said. “They should be in control of their own destiny.”
