The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
>
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Thursday, August 18, 2005 (AP)
> Kamehameha alumni plan rally in San Francisco
> By RON STATON, Associated Press Writer
>
>
> (08-18) 20:33 PDT Honolulu (AP) --
>
> Alumni of the Kamehameha Schools and other Native Hawaiians and their
> supporters plan to rally in San Francisco on Saturday to support their
> alma mater and protest an appeals court ruling that struck down its
> admissions policy as unlawful racial discrimination.
>
> Organizer Noelani Jai said Hawaiians from throughout California and
> elsewhere on the mainland will gather at the city's United Nations Plaza
> at noon and march to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
>
> A three-judge panel from that court, in a 2-1 ruling issued Aug. 2,
found
> that the school's Hawaiians-only admission policy violates federal
> anti-discrimination laws.
>
> The court has given the schools until Tuesday to file a request for a
> rehearing by the full court. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed on behalf
> of boy identified only as John Doe.
>
> "This is not racial discrimination but restoring an indigenous people
> back
> to health, " said Dee Jay Mailer, chief executive officer of the school
> and the $6.2 billion trust that funds it.
>
> Mailer and trustee Nainoa Thompson are scheduled to speak at a rally at
> the plaza following the march. Jai, an inactive attorney who is now
> training to be a pastor, said she will offer a pule, or prayer, before and
> after the rally.
>
> "When I first started planning this in my living room, I was hoping
maybe
> 30 or 40 people would join me," said Jai, a resident of Huntington Beach.
> "But it quickly grew and now we are expecting well over 1,000 people."
>
> A candlelight vigil is scheduled for Friday night in San Francisco,
with
> similar vigils planned in other mainland cities, Mailer said.
>
> The ruling has brought a national spotlight to issues of Native
> Hawaiians,
> Jai said. "This rally will allow us to demonstrate our unity and concern
> that the kanaka maoli (native people) survive as a people."
>
> Jai said her efforts are on behalf of her daughter and son, and she
hopes
> that her children will go to Kamehameha, where she graduated in 1983.
>
> The march and rally is not aimed at the court, she said, but the court
is
> a rallying point because "it represents another geographical place, like
> Iolani Palace, where Native Hawaiians had something illegally taken."
>
> The palace was the home of Queen Liliuokalani, and is where the queen
was
> held under house arrest after the monarchy was overthrown in 1893.
>
> "This rally will allow Hawaiians who are ex-pats to express their
> emotions
> in support of the schools and educate people on the mainland on what the
> Kamehameha Schools stand for," said Mailer.
>
> Vicky Holt Takamine, a Hawaiian sovereignty activist in Honolulu, said
> she
> believes the demonstrations can influence the court.
>
> "Many people say demonstrations have no impact on the courts. I
> disagree,"
> she said. "With African-Americans and women, nothing happened until they
> took to the streets.
>
> "You don't affect social change until people get behind the movement,"
> she
> said. "This (court) decision doesn't just affect John Doe, but Native
> Hawaiians wherever they live."
>
> Takamine, a 1965 Kamehameha graduate, heads the Ilio`ulaokalani
> Coalition,
> which she said has been building campaigns in the islands to address
> issues related to Native Hawaiians. She organized a similar protest rally
> on Aug. 6 that drew more than 10,000 people in Honolulu, and is going to
> San Francisco to support the mainland Hawaiians.
>
> "This issue has struck with Hawaiians living away from home," said
> Takamine, noting that many Hawaiians can no longer afford to live in their
> ancestral homeland. "This decision has had a big impact on them even
> though they no longer live in Hawaii.
>
> "This will be a strengthening event," Takamine said. "Sometimes
Hawaiians
> feel defeated, but this adds fire. We will fight this to the end."
>
> Mailer said there has been overwhelming response from all over the
world,
> including alumni now serving in Iraq who have written to her.
>
> "What they are saying is that they are there to defend their country
but
> also need to defend their school," Mailer said. "Even alumni serving their
> country want to express themselves."
>
> The Honolulu City Council, and Kauai and Hawaii County Councils have
> adopted resolutions in support of the schools. The Maui County Council is
> scheduled to consider a similar resolution next week.
>
> The Kamehameha Schools were established under the 1883 will of Princess
> Bernice Pauahi Bishop. The main campus in Honolulu and newer campuses on
> Maui and the Big Island are partly funded by the trust now worth $6.2
> billion.
>
> ___
>
> On the Net:
>
> Kamehameha Schools:
>
> Alumni march site:
>
> 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals:
>
> www.ksbe.edu/
>
> www.justiceforhawaiians.net/home.html
www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ ------------------------------------------------------
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> Copyright 2005 AP
>