(Note: This is the final installment of a three-part series discussing recent legal and political challenges to the Kamehameha Schools and other institutions designed to benefit the native Hawaiian people. Read parts 1 and 2.)

With all the challenges to the Hawaiian community, is there any hope for its survival? I think the answer is a definite yes. The solution, which is currently being debated in both houses of Congress, is Senate Bill 344, introduced by Senator Daniel Akaka and co-sponsored by the other representatives of Hawai’i’s congressional delegation, Senator Inouye (as well as senators from Nevada and Alaska), and Representatives Abercrombie and Case^* (plus a representative from Virginia).

The bill is an effective compromise between the Native Hawaiians who have been defrauded of their rightful land for so long, as well as for people who have legitimate reasons to be concerned. It does not immediately create a new Hawaiian government; rather, it defines a structure to begin doing so. Most importantly (for the attorneys defending the state of Hawai’i in lawsuits) is that it firmly establishes that the Hawaiian people are an ancestral group. By doing so, it provides a strong legal basis in the assertion that institutions that support Hawaiians are not engaging in discrimination by race.

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(Note: This is the second installment of a three-part series discussing recent legal and political challenges to the Kamehameha Schools and other institutions designed to benefit the native Hawaiian people. Read parts 1 and 3.)

January 17^th, 1893 is an unmemorable date for many, but an important one for many Hawaiians. It was on this day that the nation of Hawai’i came to an end.

At the direction of a 13-member committee formed by members of the immensely profitable sugar industry, John L. Stevens, the United States minister to Hawai’i and an unabashed annexationist, ordered 162 troops from the U.S.S. Boston ashore. Queen Lili’uokalani, desiring to prevent bloodshed, temporarily abdicated her throne to the United States:

“Now, to avoid any collision of armed forces and perhaps loss of life, I do, under this protest, and impelled by said forces, yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon the facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representative and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.”

Members of Congress and President Grover Cleveland both acknowledged that the overthrow was illegal and immoral at the time. However, due to the lobbying of the planters and a number of issues related to the timing of elections, the overthrow was never reversed. A few years later, a treaty of annexation was ratified by the Senate and President McKinley.

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(Note: This is the first installment of a three-part series discussing recent legal and political challenges to the Kamehameha Schools and other institutions designed to benefit the native Hawaiian people. Read parts 2 and 3.)

Last Thursday my alma mater, Kamehameha Schools, was sued by “an unidentified non-Hawaiian student.” The school was founded by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last direct descendant of Kamehameha I, via a trust established by her will.

The results of this lawsuit will have lasting and profound implications for every native Hawaiian and Hawai’i resident alike.

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