Kamehameha Schools Maui - Commencement for the Class of 2022
"Kamehameha Schools was endowed by the will of Ke Aliʻi Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831-1884), the great-granddaughter and last direct descendant of King Kamehameha I. During her lifetime, Pauahi witnessed the rapid decline of the Hawaiian population. Despite the dire condition of her homeland and its people, the princess envisioned a brighter future for all Hawaiians. With the support of her husband Charles Reed Bishop, Ke Ali’i Pauahi articulated her vision in her last will and testament. She placed more than 375,000 acres of ancestral lands in a perpetual endowment with the intent of improving the capability and well-being of Native Hawaiian children through education. In 1887, three years after her death, Ke Ali’i Pauahi’s vision became a reality with the opening of the Kamehameha School for Boys. Seven years later, the Kamehameha Schools for Girls was established."
https://www.ksbe.edu/education/kapalama/high_school/history_culture/
I can hear the vitriol from some whites and the supremacy groups!!
Having the Hawaiian language as part of the curriculum is great to see since so many Indigenous youth can not speak their heritage language or know their culture. But we see this frequently with many cultures. My former neighbors were from Germany and Finland and their children couldn't speak either language.
The United States took the Hawaiian Islands from its people.
"Annexation was primarily pursued though reciprocity The establishment of the sugar trade with the Hawai'i islands created a situation of economic dependence and the indigenous Hawaiian people were intuitively fearful of the sugar trade leading to annexation. In order to counter any sort of native resistance, the `Bayonet Constitution' was established, stripping the Hawaiian King of his powers [1893] and effectively diminishing democracy in the Hawai'i Islands and the indigenous community.
Native resistance, led by Robert Wilcox, attempted to set up a native republic in the stead of the imposed Bayonet Constitution. These efforts resulting in the creation of a U.S. bill to cancel the islands privileged status in the sugar trade, plunging the islands into a depression. Following negotiations, the U.S. agreed to resume sugar trade in return for acquiring the islands as a protectorate."
Read the whole story behind the cultural invasion.
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/annexing-hawaii-real-story?gclid=CjwKCAjwkMeUBhBuEiwA4hpqECb5A6qnTp19FswU9rlBkEyIluoMF0HoqRY14vFyhIAz3VEJTjYWkBoCdewQAvD_BwE
Many of my relatives are Hawai'i and the local stories of what transpired when the U.S. took over is tragic. Every visitor notices immediately that the majority of good paying jobs are held by Asians or Caucasians, not Hawaiians.
Photo courtesy of the Hawai'i Sovereignty Movement