[IPSM] Thousands Protest Ruling on Hawaii Schools

[IPSM]

[for more info on Hawaiian sovereignty and self-determination, 
http://www.hawaii-nation.org/ and www.hawaiiankingdom.info]

Thousands Protest Ruling on Hawaii Schools


By ALEXANDRE DA SILVA
The Associated Press
Sunday, August 7, 2005; 12:41 AM


HONOLULU -- Blowing conch shells and chanting Hawaiian prayers, some 
15,000 people marched through downtown Honolulu Saturday to protest a 
federal court ruling striking down Kamehameha Schools' Hawaiians-only 
admissions policy as unlawful.

"We are outraged," said Lilikala Kameeleihiwa, a professor of Hawaiian 
Studies at the University of Hawaii. "This is a great setback for our 
people. Here we are on our own homeland and we can't educate our 
children."



The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled 2-1 on 
Tuesday that the private school's policy of admitting only native 
Hawaiians amounted to "unlawful race discrimination" even though the 
school receives no federal funding.

The decision shocked school officials and devastated the Native Hawaiian 
community. The school has defended the exclusive policy as a remedy to 
socio-economic and educational disadvantages Hawaiians' have suffered 
since the 1893 U.S.-backed overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.

Protests against the ruling were planned throughout the islands Saturday.

"Our hearts have bled in these past four days," Michael Chun, headmaster 
at the school's main Kapalama campus on Oahu, told the massive crowd 
blanketing the courtyard surrounding Iolani Palace _ the former residence 
of the Hawaiian Kingdom's last two monarchs.

"We must stand together to focus and right this wrong," Chun said. "March 
tall, march proud, march strong."

The Kamehameha Schools were established under the 1883 will of a Hawaiian 
princess. About 5,100 Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian students from 
kindergarten through 12th grade attend the three campuses, which are 
partly funded by a trust now worth $6.2 billion. Admission is highly 
prized in Hawaii because of the quality of education and the relatively 
low cost.

Non-Hawaiians may be admitted if there are openings after Hawaiians who 
meet the criteria have been offered admission.

The lawsuit was brought by an unidentified non-Hawaiian student who was 
turned down in 2003.

The appeals court wrote that the school's admission policies are illegal 
because they operate "as an absolute bar to admission of those of the 
non-preferred race."

Kamehameha Schools has said it will appeal. An injunction asking the court 
to order the school to accept the teenager for the fall term is pending.

At the Honololu rally, Gov. Linda Lingle, introducing herself as a "haole" 
and "a non-Hawaiian," said the court's decision was "not just."

"The Hawaiian people have been tested many, many times," Lingle said. 
"This is just one more test that you will show you will overcome."

Amber Marquez, 17, a senior at the school's Kapalama campus, said 
Kamehameha has given her a future.

"We are just trying to preserve what little we have left because 
everything is being taken away," she said. "We just deserve this; we feel 
blessed."

___

On the Net:

Kamehameha Schools: http://www.ksbe.edu/