HIRA News
HAWAIIAN HISTORY MONTH: US Court Thankfully Ended Religious Bigotry at Kamehameha Despite Pauahi’s Will and Legacy
In the United States, we take constitutional rights very seriously, or at least we really, really should in ALL fifty states, to include the Aloha State, from Hilo to Hanalei.
Lately, there’s been endless talk about the will and ‘the legacy’ of Bernice Pauahi Bishop as it relates to Kamehameha Schools and its infamous admissions policy, because it appears the school is about to be sued yet again for its discriminatory policies. Many triggered news media outlets, reporters, influencers, politicians, and other race baiters have been blathering endlessly about how Mrs. Bishop’s ‘legacy’ and her will are somehow sacred artifacts which must be preserved 100% with zero changes ever for the rest of time. If only that were so.
For the moment, forget about the admissions policy and think about Kamehameha’s HIRING POLICY. HIRA News cannot help but notice how almost nobody seem to be aware that, in 1993, an American court had already taken strong action to correct a MAJOR and very explicit imperfection in Mrs. Bishop’s will: RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY AND DISCRIMINATION IN HIRING.
Yes, in case the talking heads have forgotten, Mrs. Bishop’s ‘sacred will’ required all teachers at her essentially secular school hired to be Protestant without exception: “teachers of said schools shall forever be persons of the Protestant religion.” Forever. For the rest of time. And with no exceptions. Keep in mind, the will of Mrs. Bishop did NOT direct the trustees to establish religious schools. Can you imagine if a new school in 2025 opened and banned the hiring of certain religions or ethnic groups? Forever?!? There would be wall to wall news coverage about the scandal until heads rolled.
Fortunately, in 1993, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) stepped in and sued Bishop Estate (Kam Schools), which happens to be one of the wealthiest charitable trusts in the world. The EEOC is a federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee (religion, race, color sex, age, disability, national origin, genetic information), which is precisely what Kamehameha Schools was deliberately doing . . . and was doing based on the explicit words of Mrs. Bishop in her sacred will with its supposedly ‘sacred’ legacy.
YOU CAN READ THE CASE FOR YOURSELF HERE
https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914bea1add7b049347a953a
As you can see from the ruling, Mrs. Bishop’s will and legacy are not sacred. When her explicit policy violated the U.S. Constitution’s protections, her policy was STRUCK DOWN, as it should have been by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The court found the ‘Protestants only’ policy to be “a discriminatory practice”. Yes, the very words of Mrs. Bishop were found to be DISCRIMINATORY. The court ruled that being Protestant is NOT a bona fide occupational qualification [BFOQ]. “There is nothing to suggest that adherence to the Protestant faith is essential to the performance of this job.” The ‘sacred will and legacy’ were struck down in 1993, just like it should have been. Discrimination has no place in the United States of America, just as it shouldn’t have had any place in the Kingdom of Hawaii.
BUT IT NEVER SHOULD HAVE GONE TO COURT AT ALL: Before the matter went to court, Kamehameha School had its own opportunity to do the right thing and strike down Mrs. Bishop’s discriminatory policy via its board of trustees or perhaps at an administrative level. They could have looked themselves in the mirror and realized that what they were doing was wrong and downright un-American. They could even have asked themselves if the Aloha Spirit commanded them to deny jobs to non-Protestants? The easy answer is that banning the hiring of Buddhists, Catholics, Jews, and qualified teachers from other denominations based on the applicant’s religious beliefs is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. But Kam Schools didn’t back down until a U.S. Court told them they were wrong. In the biggest smackdown of all, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, letting the Ninth Circuit’s ruling stand. This ended any and all dispute about the discriminatory policy written by Mrs. Bishop herself. Bye bye. [Apologies to those radicalized persons who regard Mrs. Bishop as a goddess of some sort, as those people are easily triggered by facts.] Not so sacred after all.
Anyway, that ruling was in 1993. Bill Clinton had just become U.S. president. Political correctness was everywhere. Discussion of civil rights was all the rage. But NOT at Kamehameha Schools. Then, as now, the folks who run the school and its supporters were HIDING BEHIND HER WILL AND LEGACY to defend the indefensible. Then, as now, politicians and media mouthpieces were pushing the idea that the only way to preserve her legacy (and by extension the good old days of the monarchy and feudalism and the caste system and kaua slavery) is to look the other way at discrimination, as long as that discrimination is being done by part-Hawaiian/part-haoles against non-part-Hawaiians. That makes it okay. Well, NOPE, it doesn’t. You can’t simply ‘grandfather in’ bigotry and discrimination because the will was written and went into effect when King Kalakaua was the reigning monarch. Nope, that discrimination needs to go. Forever.
Ultimately, the court did the right thing in the case of EEOC vs. Bishop Estate/Kamehameha Schools. IT STRUCK DOWN RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY at an institution which 99.9% of island residents will NEVER attend, yet some of whom believe is a sacred institution which reminds them of the good old days of the monarchy and about living the feudal commoner life, working for the chief on the ahupuaa and harvesting sandalwood during the good old kingdom days. That’s too bad if these radicalized anti-statehood anti-US Constitution extremists are bothered. The truth is that there’s a bright future for all who live in Hawaii if they stop doomscrolling on Instagram and build great lives for themselves and their families. Neither religious bigotry nor ethnic bigotry is necessary to get ahead.
As American taxpayers, we expect our courts to always do the right thing, even if it stings a little. Was Mrs. Bishop a religious bigot? By 2025 standards, of course she was, if she was to pull that “PROTESTANTS ONLY” hiring policy today. However, by 1884 standards, when her will went into effect upon her death, you can decide for yourself if she was a bigot. She probably had very good intentions. However, times change. That change can be hard for some people who are reluctant to live in the year 2025. These extremists and radicals desperately try to argue that because the laws regarding ‘trusts’ established by ‘wills’ are somehow exempt from the protections of constitutional rights. WRONG. Trust law does not allow Kamehameha Schools to discriminate in hiring teachers on the basis of religion (or ethnicity or race either). While the schools were established as a charitable trust with a will that included a preference for Protestant teachers (and trustees for her trust), this preference was found to be in violation of federal law. Period. God Bless America!
HIRA NEWS CAN LET YOU IN ON A LITTLE SECRET: The ‘sacred will’ considered to be Mrs. Bishop’s ‘sacred legacy’ and ‘sacred vision’ hasn’t just been altered by the U.S. Judiciary. It was altered by the school itself, without her permission, after she died. NO WAY!!!, you might react. There’s simply no way that the school would possibly make its own changes to her will’s intent. HOW CAN THIS BE??? That’s an injustice bigger than the overthrow of the kingdom!!!
Well, it’s true. Kamehameha Schools has undergone several significant changes to its policies that have, at times, either been in direct conflict with or a reinterpretation of Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s will. Mrs. Bishop wrote a will which set forth some very explicit policies for her new school. Three of the most notable changes are:
MERGING TWO SEPARATE GENDER SCHOOLS: Pauahi’s sacred will only recognized two genders (male and female only, no mahus or bicurious or gender fluid or queer or nonbinary or whatever). To this end, she explicitly directed her trustees “to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools, each for boarding and day scholars, one for boys and one for girls, to be known as, and called, The Kamehameha Schools.” Well, that changed. In 1965, the Kamehameha School for Boys and the Kamehameha School for Girls were merged into a single, co-educational institution on the Kapālama campus. Without any permission from Mrs. Bishop, this was a major change from the separate-sex schools specified in the will. The school’s official history notes this as a deliberate shift to adapt to the changing needs of education and prepare students for a co-ed world. [That rationale is pretty thought-provoking when you consider ethnicity, religion and more.]
LAND USAGE FROM TRUST: Kamehameha Schools and the Bishop Estate have deviated from the land use dictates in Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s will, primarily due to external forces and a reinterpretation of the will’s intent over time. Her sacred will directed them “not to sell any real estate . . . but to continue and manage the same, unless in their opinion a sale may be necessary for the establishment or maintenance of said schools, or for the best interest of my estate.” Without any permission from Mrs. Bishop, most people know that Bishop Estate / Kamehameha Schools (KSBE) evolved into a MAJOR player in the Hawaii real estate scene. Despite the billions that flowed, the maximum number of enrolled students didn’t see a major boost. Instead, Bishop Estate trustees got caught up feathering their own nests with huge compensation packages, as documented in the “Broken Trust” books and news coverage in the 1990’s, one hundred years after Mrs. Bishop’s death. Even after those trustees got into trouble and were removed and the name of the trust was changed (“Bishop Estate” got dropped in favor of just using “Kamehameha Schools”), Mrs. Bishop’s concept of land use for the benefit of the school combined with cultural and environmental stewardship went up in flames. Without consulting Mrs. Bishop, the gang that’s been running the Kapalama Heights school has moved away from traditional ranching and agricultural leases to more diversified holdings, including commercial real estate, residential developments, and strategic investments in mainland and international markets. This is a far, far cry from Mrs. Bishop’s wishes. These are the very real estate projects which many Kam School policy defenders often spend their time protesting. Super ironic.
TRUSTEES NO LONGER SELECTED BY HAWAII SUPREME COURT: Speaking of the “Broken Trust” scandal mentioned above, Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s sacred will specifically directed that trustees for her estate be appointed by the justices of the Supreme Court of the Hawaiian Islands. After the huge scandal involving some really creepy and greedy people who turned their appointment by the judiciary wing of Hawaii’s Democrat Party Monopoly into a chance to self-deal their way into becoming the biggest and richest community celebrities in the islands. Notwithstanding Pauahi’s explicit terms in her will that specifically directed how the trustees for her estate would forever be appointed by the justices of the Supreme Court of the Hawaiian Islands, court-ordered reforms (yes, COURT ORDERED) in the wake of the scandal created a new system for selecting trustees; requiring a court-appointed screening committee to vet candidates based on professional qualifications, not political connections. And, contrary to her will, the schools’ governance was separated from the trust’s financial management, creating a more professional and accountable structure. So, trustees are NO LONGER ALLOWED to appoint their own successors, as Mrs. Bishop’s will directed. And the Hawaii Supreme Court is NO LONGER ALLOWED to pick trustees either.
Lokelani Lindsey, Henry Peters, Richard “Dickie” Wong, Oswald Stender and Gerard Jervis, left to right, in 1995. (from the now defunct Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
So, you see, Pauahi’s will is not so sacred. There have been internal deviations and court-ordered deviations from her explicit directives. Major ones, not manini. But you won’t see or hear Hawaii News Now’s Mahealani Richardson or other pretenders to the Hawaii throne using their perches in the media or politics to inform their viewers about how many times Pauahi’s sacred will has been ignored and revised. Instead, most media and political partisans and influencers are trying to light as much gasoline as they can pour with misinformation, race-baiting, and fake history for their own political or ratings purposes. In the end, more misery will result from the inevitable striking down of the discriminatory admissions policy after the court sees right through the contradictory shibai about Kamehameha Schools being the #1 repository of Hawaiian culture juxtaposed against the reality that 99.9% of island residents will never attend the school. Can it really be that without Kamehameha School, Hawaiian dance, language, culture and history will vanish from Hawaii and from the face of the Earth? Baloney. Hawaiiana, if you will, is all around us and expanding each day, with or without Kamehameha School. Everyone knows that Kam School is basically Punahou School for part-Hawaiians. It doesn’t need to keep playing the race card.
Then or now, those who hide behind Mrs. Bishop’s ‘sacred will’, her ‘legacy’ and her ‘vision’ to justify any kind of discrimination at Kam Schools in 1993 or 2025 are as cowardly as those who pretend that breaking the law and violating civil rights is perfectly okay. The situational ethics invoked by race hustlers that defend ethnic discrimination in the admissions policy is 100% shameless and bound for judicial failure. You gotta ask: WHERE were today’s protesters hoping in 2025 to protect ethnic discrimination when that illegally discriminatory religious job requirement of ‘Protestants only’ was invalidated in 1993? NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. It’s like they don’t even know that this EEOC ruling was delivered 32 short years ago. So much for the sacredness of her will. The courts and the school itself are making changes to her sacred will and her sacred legacy left and right. Deal with it.
Thankfully, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (and the U.S. Supreme Court) made sure that Pauahi’s ‘legacy’ will not include religious bigotry. Soon, it certainly appears likely, the courts may step in to ensure her ‘legacy’ is not forever tarnished by a policy of ethnic bigotry. It’s obvious to anyone paying attention that Kamehameha Schools has long been braced for the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court will overthrow the discriminatory admissions policy once a case reaches the high court. Back in 2007, the famous Doe v. Kamehameha Schools case concerning Kamehameha Schools’ notorious admissions policy did reach the U.S. Supreme Court, but it was settled before the Court could issue a ruling. Moments before the Court was to hear oral arguments, Kamehameha Schools magically and quickly reached a settlement with the plaintiff, giving the family $7 million to go away and let the racism continue. As a result of the last minute settlement, the case was dismissed, and the U.S. Supreme Court did not issue a final ruling.
WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN NOW? With a new legal challenge on its way in 2025, a lot less energy should be expended working to radicalize people into a frenzy over the possible end of ethnic bigotry and discrimination at Kamehameha Schools. Instead, a lot more work should be done to prepare all of Hawaii’s children for an undeniable future which relies on working together with others from diverse backgrounds from birth to death, including time spent in school. Perhaps that path forward is not ‘the Hawaiian way’ (as defined by radicalized activists and their pandering political friends and media mouthpieces). But it IS the American way. And this is the United States of America, annexed and admitted into the union forever. Period.
Thankfully, the courts ended religious bigotry at Kamehameha despite Pauahi’s will and legacy. Now, the question arises: Will Pauahi’s Unfortunate Legacy of Racism and Ethnic Bigotry and Discrimination Be Overthrown? STAY TUNED.
Next up, HIRA News will reveal the ACTUAL WORDS of Mrs. Bishop in her ‘sacred will’ which pertain to the actual admissions policy she explicitly desired. Brace yourself, since it’s NOT AT ALL what Kamehameha Schools and its supporters have told you. For now, we leave you with the extremely wise words of Thomas Sowell; words which have great significance for all of us in Hawaii in 2025 . . .
———————————————————————————————————–
Wedding portrait of the happy couple, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Reed Bishop, June 4, 1850
Charles Bishop held a variety of positions under several Hawaiian monarchs, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and a member of the Privy Council. He was a successful businessman who founded Hawaii’s first chartered bank, Bishop and Co., which later became First Hawaiian Bank. Just before King Kamehameha V, Lot Kapuāiwa died in 1872, he offered the throne to his cousin and former fiancee, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, from his deathbed. But she declined. Since no successor had been named by Lot, the Kamehameha line of royalty ended in 1872 with his death. Because he died without a designated heir, the legislature was tasked with electing a new monarch. Then, after Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s death twelve years later in 1884, Charles Bishop was instrumental in carrying out her will. He served as a co-executor and one of the original five trustees of her estate. Because the estate was “land rich and cash poor,” he used his own funds to help establish Kamehameha Schools, which opened in 1887. He also founded the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in 1889 as a memorial to his wife, to house the cultural heirlooms of the Kamehameha family. He continued to support these institutions and various other charities in Hawaii until his death in 1915.
99% of people in Hawai’i don’t know
REAL Hawai’i history. Now YOU do!
From sources below and more, HIRA News and Keep Hawaii United urge you to learn more about Hawaii’s Sandalwood Trade and visualize the greed and brutality involved during this 50 year period under the Hawaiian Kingdom. You simply won’t hear about this from any other news source during “Hawaii History Month” or any other month because it doesn’t advance the separatist sovereignty narrative and doesn’t propagandize using the ‘our kingdom was great in every way’ narrative; both of which are essential in keeping the money flowing to single-ethnicity programs, quotas, discounts, set-asides, subsidies, and freebies while attempting to systematically destroy Hawaii’s enviable melting pot in favor of the disintegration and ‘Balkanization’ of the Aloha State.
# # # # #