Honolulu – After practicing water in its school on the top of a hill overlooking the Honolulu port, Capua Ong was surprised at sunset.
“I feel proud of myself to reach because every person is not accepted,” said Capoa, 14, a student in Kamahiha schools, a competitive private school with reasonable fees. Native Hawaii residents. “I am just grateful to you to get these opportunities.”
Capua was just a child when her parents made her acceptance at school by adding details about her origin in Hawaii to the genealogical database. As a seventh grade student, she also conducted an admission test and highlighted her skills in the Kung Fu in the Hawaiian language.
Kamehameha schools It gives admission preferences to the indigenous population in Hawaii, with a warning: “To the extent permitted by law.”
There is a current campaign to test the legitimacy of politics and prevent Kamehameha from the preference of Hawaiian residents, which is part of a movement to expand the legal definition of racial discrimination in education. Conservative activists are equipped by the Supreme Court ruling against Positive work In admission to the college and the Trump administration war against Diversity, fairness and inclusion. Now, they target scholarships and academic programs Admission policies Directly or indirectly linked to sweat.
Students for fair admission, led by Edward Bloom, a pioneering opponent Positive workPrepare a Website This month, he pledged to challenge the policy of accepting Kamahi in court. “It is essentially impossible for a student to be accepted in the non -original Hawaii in her Kamhami,” the site says.
Graduates, parents and local leaders urge the school system for the insight of their value More than 15 billion dollars – More than most universities – to fight to defend politics.
“I hope they employ a good lawyer and build a good case,” said Andrea Topola, a 1998 graduate and member of the Honolulu City Council. She says the school helped her build a stronger relationship with Hawaiian culture.
Kamehameha’s presence can also change life. The original Hawaiian community is struggling with high rates of poverty and imprisonment, so children in Hawaii may have educational defects. Acceptance at Kamehameha provides an opportunity to teach high-quality private schools-with limitless opportunities, first-class facilities and cultural values ​​in Hawaii.
Along with the amazing ocean views, the Honolulu Sergeant Memorial Perfume includes the upper amenities-Olympic swimming pool, lunch meals, sports washing service, and lands decorated with original plants. An annual competition and songs competition in Hawaii is broadcast between secondary school classes on local TV.
Kamehameha’s schools were founded through the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the granddaughter of King Kamehameha I. Endowment also supports scholarships for other private schools, as well as community activities.
Last year, more than 5,400 students joined three Kamahiha universities in Ouho, Moy and the Great Island.
Every year, the number of applications exceeds the number of spaces by 17 to 1, depending on the campus and class, says Kamehameha.
There is an understanding among Hawaiian residents that students with Hawaiian blood will be accepted. Many believe that politics is a means of treating the differences caused by American colonialism and the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 by a group of American businessmen.
Sterling Wong, a spokesman for Kamahiha, refused to specify the number of students who were not accepted.
Kalani Rosel was the first person other than Hawaii to graduate from Kamahiha Maui’s schools in 2007. The school said it was chosen after the list of qualified Hawaiian students was exhausted.
More than 15,000 people protested after a 2005 decision by a committee from the Appeals Court in the ninth American Chamber of the Policy of Restricting Admission in Hawaii, and ruled that it violated the Federal Civil Rights Law. Kamehiha sought to restore.
The following year, the court upheld politics. Kamehameha later settled with the family of the white student who brought the case when the admission was refused.
“We expected that our 140 -year -old acceptance policy, which provides preference for native Hawaiian children, will be challenged again,” Camahmee trustees said in a statement. “We are confident that our policy is in line with the fixed law.”
When Kekoa Kealoha, who graduated in 2003, heard the campaign against the school, he was shocked to hear it led by “a person, like, a real real hit.”
Adble admission students filed a lawsuit against Harvard University and North Carolina University in cases that led to Supreme Court Resolution 2023 Teacher 2023 With the exception of colleges from looking at race in admission decisions.
Blum, a former stockpile, expanded his opposition to racist preferences throughout education, fed by President Donald Trump’s battle against D.
I arrived at the Associated Press, Blum said he was traveling and asked for written questions. Then, he did not respond.
John Tahrani, a professor at the College of Southern West Law in Los Angeles, said that the Bloom Group may argue that Kamhami’s policy is unlikely to survive the strongest form of constitutional review because it has requirements based on the absolute race for admission.
He said that Kamehameha can contradict its policy that does not depend on race, but rather a classification based on the political situation, based on cases that allow government programs for indigenous Americans.
“The Blum group is following anything related to race and” seeing what is sticks. “
Although the decision of the Supreme Court focused on admission to the university, the conservatives have increasingly targeted the K-12 schools, as well as admission factors that they consider “agents” of race, including family and neighborhood income.
For example, in July, the Pacific Legal Foundation has submitted a lawsuit that challenges the admission policy in elite exam schools in Boston General Schools, which gives students additional points if they are from low -income areas.
When Blum launched his campaign against Kamehameha, people began to call Brenton AWA, a member of the Republican Senate in Hawaii.
Awal did not enter Kamihi and graduated from a public school, but he called Blum anyway. When Blum did not call again, Awa and another republic flew to the eastern coast to find him.
Awa said: “If anyone has a chance to discuss, then this will be.”
The title arlington, Virginia, led the bilateral site to only a mailbox. They went to an office for Bloom’s lawyers, but they were not lucky. So they met with the Republicans in Washington to educate them about the mission of Kamahi.
Awa said: “Anyone who is chasing Kamihhami’s schools with this type of initiative and intention, we have a racist.”
Kona Bardi and his family returned to Hawaii in 2021, partly because his daughter was accepted in her Kamhami. It was for the family Go to Las VegasJoin many Hawaiian residents who are no longer able to live in the islands.
They were forced to return to Figas in 2023 when they lost their residence. Burdi said: “We thought about leaving it … so that you can stay in school,” Burdi said. “It was a change of life.”
Kamehameha only the family charge is about $ 100 in tuition fees.
The family returned to Hawaii in June. Bordi’s daughter is now a seventh grade student in a public school.
You will apply for Kamehameha next year, hoping to join high school.
“We hope the admission policy is in place, so it has the best shot,” Burdi said.
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Education writer at Associated Press Coleen Pinkley contributed.