Protesters in Hilo decry court order on Kamehameha

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Kamehameha Schools' supporters staged a protest on Kamehameha Avenue in Hilo to voice objections to a federal court order requiring that a non-Hawaiian be admitted to the Kapalama campus.

About three dozen people displayed protest signs for the honking afternoon traffic, with messages reading "What More Do You Want From Us?" and "Read The Will!"

Organizer Lehua Wilson said the challenges to Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop's will seem "absurd."

"We don't understand why people are challenging the last will and legacy of somebody. This is her last dying wish, and as a people, all we can do is try to maintain her will and her legacy."

U.S. District Judge David Ezra has ordered the school to at least temporarily allow Brayden Mohica-Cummings, who is not Hawaiian, to attend Kamehameha. The school was established by Bishop's will in 1884 to educate poor and orphaned children, with a preference for Hawaiians.

It was the first time that a federal judge had ordered Kamehameha Schools to admit a a student who is not Hawaiian.

The 12-year-old boy's mother, Kalena Santos, applied for admission for Mohica-Cummings on the grounds that her hanai, or adoptive, father is part-Hawaiian.

Kamehameha Schools initially accepted Mohica-Cummings, but later announced it had rescinded that acceptance after school officials said they discovered "misleading and inaccurate documentation to verify Hawaiian ancestry was submitted" on the boy's behalf.

The lawsuit on Mohica-Cummings' behalf said the school's admissions policy giving preference to Native Hawaiians is illegal because it discriminates against non-Hawaiians. In his court order, Ezra did not make a ruling on that issue.

Hilo protester Elizabeth Lee Loy, whose husband is a Kamehameha alumnus and whose children include eight alumni, said this is the latest in a long series of instances when people took from the Hawaiians because the Hawaiians were "easy prey."

"It saddens me, because there are many Hawaiian children who are denied the privilege of attending this top school," she said.

Gov. Linda Lingle said yesterday that Ezra's order allowing Mohica-Cummings to temporarily attend Kamehameha Schools is "understandable" because of the immediate circumstances in the case, but that such admissions should not become long-term practice.

"I think on a permanent basis it would be really bad public policy to allow students who are not covered in the princess' will, and clearly this boy is not covered in the will," she said.

Lingle said the issue of civil rights in the controversy is "red herring."

"If you look at civil rights legislation in the country, it's trying to keep any group from being excluded, and if you look at the ethnic makeup of the kids at Kamehameha Schools, there's every ethnic background in the book," she said.

"Every ethnic group in our state is represented at Kamehameha, so it's not keeping any group out. It's just saying every student has to have some percentage of Hawaiian blood and that's because that's what the princess' will said."

Maui's Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr., who sits on the Kamehameha Schools board of advisers, said Native Hawaiians are planning a protest on Maui.

Maxwell, a Hawaiian spiritual healer, cultural practitioner, teacher, consultant, activist and radio show host, said his Maui radio show yesterday morning was swamped with angry phone calls.

While the school is at fault for not checking out the boy's heritage sooner, he said, the judge's action amounts to another stab at the Hawaiian community. "The U.S. got the islands already. Now they want the princess' legacy and everything else," he said.

Advertiser reporters Lynda Arakawa and Timothy Hurley contributed to this report.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.

Correction: Eight children of Elizabeth Lee Loy graduated from Kamehameha Schools. A previous version of this story contained other information.