Officials warn of school violence

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

Federal law enforcement officials, concerned about threats aired in the media toward a Kamehameha Schools student who is not Native Hawaiian, put out a warning yesterday that violence or threats of violence based on race are federal offenses.

The warning came from the offices of the U.S. attorney and the federal marshal, who said they are so far unaware of any credible threats against Brayden Mohica-Cummings, who is not Native Hawaiian and who began seventh-grade at the school yesterday under a federal judge's order. The school had rescinded admission to the 12-year-old because he couldn't demonstrate he was of Native Hawaiian ancestry.

U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo said he hopes "that cooler heads prevail in this emotional issue."

After federal Judge David Ezra on Wednesday compelled the school to admit Mohica-Cummings, he was shown around the Kapalama campus by his "big brother," an older student assigned to shepherd each seventh-grader. "He's a kid from the Big Island and he gave him a big hug," attorney Eric Grant said. "They hit it off just great."

The boy's mother told Grant that their first campus visit went smoothly on Wednesday.

There was a protest outside the school gate yesterday, and organizer Mehana Ka'iama said school officials will be protecting Brayden against any backlash from classmates "like the Secret Service."

"I don't know how the kids will treat him, but they will have every right to resent him," she said. "Every one of them knows someone who got rejected from the school."

But there were no bodyguards, and family attorney John Goemans said he hasn't seen any reason yet to get one: Neither his client nor the boy's mother reported any direct threats yesterday.

"If they had got any phone calls, I'd have heard from them, I can tell you that," Goemans said.

Even so, U.S. Marshal Mark Hanohano said his office and other law enforcement agencies have contacts in the Native Hawaiian community, listening for rumblings about plans to harm the boy. So far, he said, the only thing they've picked up are indefinite plans for a protest demonstration at the Federal Building.

"I'm half-Hawaiian myself," he said. "Around every corner is a cousin or an auntie, and no one has heard anything."

Kubo said he was distressed by people quoted in news coverage and by callers to morning talk shows expressing "a growing sense of anger and rage."

"Some of these comments seem to imply that they would condone or turn a blind eye to violence," Kubo said. He cited one who called KSSK radio yesterday to predict that "now there's going to be 'kill haole day' every day at Kamehameha Schools."

"That concerns me, when I hear the comment that this child is going to be sought out, or that 'we're not going to be responsible for what happens to him,' " he said.

Some of this emotional response was evident yesterday morning, when Kamehameha sophomore Ka'ili Crabb, 15, said Brayden will never blend into the student body.

"Everyone is going to be searching him out," she said. "I don't know why his mother would put him through all this, knowing how people feel."

Kubo said expressing opinions and emotions is fine, but actual violence or threats of violence based on race are federal offenses.

Kubo acknowledged the passions aroused in the Hawaiian community this year, as Congress considers the latest proposal for federal recognition of Native Hawaiians and lawsuits challenging programs and entitlements move through the courts.

"We all have mixed feelings," said Hanohano. "I have mixed feelings, too. But I also have a job to do."

Advertiser staff writer Mike Gordon contributed to this report. Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com.