Letters to the Editor
THIS LATEST ATTACK ON HAWAIIANS WILL FAIL
First our past and now our future.
The enemy continues its centuries-old attack on Hawaiians. The first attack tried to destroy our ties to our past. We didn't let it succeed and have reclaimed our heritage and lineages as both Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
Now the enemy has put our future and our hopes, the education of our children, under siege. We will defeat this attack, too.
Kenneth W. Ordenstein | Kailua
ETHNIC BACKGROUNDS ABOUND ON CAMPUS
Aloha, I am a ninth-grader at Kamehameha Schools' Kapalama campus and am very disturbed at the recent court ruling defying Princess Pauahi's last wishes for the Hawaiian population.
Eric Grant, a Mainlander from Sacramento, was the attorney representing the boy in this unfortunate case. When asked for a comment, he replied, "Kamehameha Schools is the last example of this sort of brazen racial exclusions. You had them in the South in the '60s and '70s, but the civil rights statutes ended those."
'A'ole, Mr. Grant, if you were to take one look around our school, you would see various ethic backgrounds surrounding you: Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, African-Americans and everything in between. We are not excluding certain ethnicities, but giving preference to those with Hawaiian blood, Hawaiian ancestry.
Jennifer Lyman | 'Aiea
YOU WOULDN'T SEE AN ALL-WHITE SCHOOL
This big ordeal with the Kamehameha Schools is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Enough is enough. There are no "true" Hawaiians unless they're on the "Forbidden Island"! The majority of the people who are calling themselves Hawaiians will definitely have a mixture of races within themselves.
How dare they have the Hawaiians-only admissions, and I don't care if it is "because of its unique historical circumstances." You wouldn't see the white people having an all-white school like the all-black colleges, now would you?
It is all about discrimination, whether it be race, religion, etc. A school should be a place for education regardless of race or religion.
Linda Schoonover | Mililani
HAWAIIANS SHOULD STOP REFIGHTING PAST
Rarely have I heard so much whining than that over the Kamehameha ruling. Why do natives feel they alone are wronged every time they have to play by the same rules as the rest of the United States? Ever seen the Boy Scouts' legal battles?
Vicky Takamine's comments were especially crude, considering Hawaiians voted for and approved joining the United States, so it's her Constitution, too, not just "the white man." If Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa's comments were genuine, she would call for support of all underprivileged in Hawai'i regardless of race.
If a top-notch school opened that was Japanese-only, how long would it be before Hawaiians rightfully cried foul?
Why not look at this as an excellent opportunity to share Hawaiian culture with everyone? If natives spent as much effort moving into the future as they do refighting the past, the Islands would be a much better place.
David Reimers | Wahiawa
IT'S THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR HAWAIIANS
The circuit court ruling is a knife in the heart of every Hawaiian.
Through education, Hawaiians can raise their status and change the negative socio-economic statistics. However, this "big event in Hawaiian history," as John Doe's lawyer calls it, is the beginning of the end of everything that we know as Hawaiian.
Pushed to desperation, Hawaiians need to unite, form a government and gain political recognition to ensure that Kamehameha Schools and the legacy of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop remain for the benefit of Hawaiians.
Lela Hubbard | 'Aiea
KAMEHAMEHA COULD BECOME A GREAT SCHOOL
Congratulations to attorney Eric Grant! His bold gamble to rely only on 42 U.S.C. § 1981, which forbids racial discrimination in the making and enforcement of contracts, rather than the 14th Amendment, paid off. Simple, swift, decisive.
If the trustees had admitted the best and brightest children without restriction on account of race and, as provided in the will, "devote(ed) a portion of each year's income to the support and education of orphans, and others in indigent circumstances, giving the preference to Hawaiians of pure or part aboriginal blood," no one would have objected. It is probably still possible to do that.
Imagine, Kamehameha Schools could quickly become the best school in Hawai'i, maybe the best in the whole world, a boon to Hawai'i's economy and the pride of all of us.
H. William Burgess | Honolulu
ALL HAWAIIANS NOW MUST STAND UNITED
The time has come for all Hawaiians and those who sympathize with the plight of the Hawaiians to unite once and for all now that the United States has seen fit to remove the last vestige of Hawaiian identity by allowing non-Hawaiians to enter the Kamehameha Schools.
We need someone to step up and unite all the various factions into a common entity of Hawaiian solidarity. I believe that in spite of dissenting feelings about the Akaka bill, OHA, sovereignty or Hawaiian independence, we all have a common thread in demanding that Kamehameha Schools remain "for Hawaiians only." We should put aside our differences and resist this horrendous affront to Hawaiian dignity. Whatever it takes!
Val Marciel | Kane'ohe
PREFERENCE POLICY WOULD HAVE BEEN OK'D
Before anyone compares the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on Kamehameha Schools' admission policy to Brown v. Board of Education, I want to clarify the comparison.
"Separate is inherently unequal" is true, but in this case, it's the discriminatory policy that brings about a true and fair balance. The Supreme Court's words in Brown must be thought of considering the court's intent to pay back justice to blacks to whom it was owed.
The Hawaiian preference policy would have been found acceptable by the Brown court.
Truly, it is frustrating that a panel of haoles decides whether haoles can enter a rightfully Hawaiian school. If this private Hawaiian legacy were poor, there would be no issue.
Jerome Tabar | Waikiki
DRIVE ALOHA
BUS DRIVERS HAVE PLACES TO GO, TOO
Answer me this: Would you cut in front of me at the bank or store? I don't think so. So why do you do it when you're driving in your car? Would you hold the door open for me if I asked you to or if you saw me coming? Would you thank me if I held it for you? I'm sure you would. So why don't you do it when you're driving in your car? I drive a minibus and I know there is no sign on the front that says "Cut in front of me. It's my job to let you in and don't bother to thank me." No, I have somewhere to be; people are waiting for a ride. So think about those questions and apply them when you drive. Be more polite; too many of you are downright rude.V. Souza | Honolulu
COORDINATION
MENTAL-HEALTH CARE CAN BE RE-ESTABLISHED
It is a sad day remembering the loss of mental-health patients in Hawai'i. It never should have happened. The governor retains an administrator of the adult mental-health system who seems incapable of devising and producing adequate outpatient care for Hawai'i's mental-health clients. From what has been reported, contracting out mental-health care that is not an integral part of the community system has not been effective. What is crucial is a coordinated effort from top to bottom. In that way, responsibility is mandated and can be supported. For many years, there were enough dedicated psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers nurses and aides to accept responsibility. They knew and cared for their clients and developed meaningful relationships with those who came for support. And they made significant outreach when individual clients had not come in for regular visits. What is needed is a coordinated and coherent system with direct support and enhancement at all levels. It has been done and can be re-established. There are well-trained and dedicated individuals who can be rallied and respected and can work effectively. If administrators do not establish a caring and professional community both within the hospital and in all parts of the state, they cannot be supported. Mental-health care is both a demanding and a rewarding endeavor. People do not ask to develop special needs. Mental illness can happen to anyone.Betsy Platt Weiner, M.D., M.P.H. | Waikiki
$50,000 INCOME
PROPERTY TAX RELIEF PROPOSAL NOT REALISTIC
What a shibai with the proposed tax relief by the Honolulu City Council! Its proposal to limit this benefit to families with incomes of less than $50,000 will not benefit the majority of homeowners living on O'ahu. The majority of homeowners (young, old, retirees) make more than $50,000 a year to survive and own a home in Hawai'i. Accordingly, this proposal would eliminate the majority of homeowners from tax relief. Further, how many of these families who will benefit under this proposal really see their property taxes reduced? As an example, a homeowner making $30,000 will still incur property tax of $1,200. City Council members, you must make more effort to truly provide property tax relief to the majority or all of the homeowners living on O'ahu.Thomas H. Yagi | Kailua
ALA WAI BOAT HARBOR IS CONTINUING TO DETERIORATE
I have been sailing across the Pacific on the Transpac Yacht Race to Honolulu since 1975. In fact, I haven't missed a race since and have always been a huge supporter of the race itself, and especially of the wondrous welcoming aloha from everyone in Hawai'i to each and every one of the competitors as they arrived at Diamond Head and the Ala Wai Boat Harbor, at whatever odd hour of the day or night they happened to come.
And what a welcome it is! Mai tais, pupus, endless warm hospitality, a host family for every boat, and each boat lined up along "Transpac Row," as it is called, in order of finish. The socializing and the spirit of aloha are endless and inevitably lure us back for the next race and the next great experience.
But what has happened to the Ala Wai? It seems to be vanishing before our very eyes. This year there was no Transpac Row. This year, with a record entry of 75 boats eager to participate in this great historic race, celebrating its 100th year, the Ala Wai has gone completely to seed. Some docks are condemned, others are falling apart; there is no room for all the sailboats, so they've wound up rafting bunches of them up to each other — not the most pleasant way to end a 2,500-mile voyage.
It's a sad state of affairs that the great state of Hawai'i has let the single most important and prestigious marina in the northern Pacific Ocean come to this inglorious condition. What could be a great tourist draw, what could be a source of pride for all Hawai'i, what could be another feather in its crown, what could bring meaningful tourist dollars to Honolulu and to Hawai'i, has been neglected to the point of tragedy.
I write as one who knows the state more than a little. I came here to this paradise first in 1939, and always returned out of love, sometimes as a tourist, but also as a businessman, as owner of a local television outlet for many years and, of course, as a racer in the Transpac. It pains me greatly that the government has been so remiss in recognizing the importance of one of its major attractions — the Ala Wai Boat Harbor.
I am very much afraid that if it is left to deteriorate still further, Hawai'i will be diminished, the world-renowned Transpac Race that King Kalakaua initiated will suffer and we will all be the poorer for it.
Please, for all of us, visiting sailors, local sailors and all the proud citizens of Hawai'i: Fix the Ala Wai!
Roy E. Disney | Skipper of Pyewacket, Transpac 2005
