King Kamehameha I remains one of the most important figures in Hawaiian history because he united the Hawaiian Islands into a sovereign kingdom in 1810. His leadership ended years of warfare among the islands and established a stable government, legal order, and international diplomacy that allowed the Hawaiian Kingdom to emerge as a respected nation in the Pacific.
We continue to honor him every year across our homesteads and across the state on June 11 with floral parades, lei draping ceremonies, hula and cultural festivals. His holiday was first established by King Kamehameha V in 1871 to honor his grandfather’s legacy.
King Kamehameha Day is more than a celebration for us. It’s a holiday that symbolizes our survival, unity and pride in our identity. The traditions associated with the holiday – especially the draping of lei over Kamehameha statues and the Pāʻū parades – reconnect us to our aliʻi heritage, Hawaiian language and cultural practices.
Long after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893, the holiday endures because we never forgot the importance of our history and national identity.
The legacy of Kamehameha lives on through the work of The Kamehameha Schools (KS). Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the great-granddaughter of Kamehameha I, established the Schools in her 1884 Will to educate Native Hawaiian children because she recognized that her people were suffering from population decline, land loss, poverty and cultural suppression.
Today, Kamehameha Schools provides education rooted in Hawaiian culture, language and values while also serving as one of the largest charitable educational trusts in the world.
Recent national legal attacks claiming that Kamehameha’s admission preference policy is “racial discrimination” ignores both federal Indian law and the unique political status of Native Hawaiians.
Native Hawaiians, like American Indians and Alaska Natives, are recognized by Congress as an Indigenous people with a special political relationship to the United States. Federal law has repeatedly acknowledged this status through legislation such as the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 (HHCA), the Native Hawaiian Education Act, the Native Hawaiian Health Care Act, and the Apology Resolution of 1993, in which Congress formally acknowledged the United States’ role in the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
These laws are not based solely on race, but on the federal government’s trust responsibilities toward Indigenous Peoples.
In support of my beloved Kamehameha Schools, I’ll state clearly that Native Hawaiian preference policies are consistent with long-standing federal policies supporting our self-determination, education and cultural preservation.
Similar preferences exist in programs serving federally recognized Native American tribes and Alaska Native communities.
The argument that Native Hawaiian educational programs are merely racial preferences ignores the political, historical and legal realities that distinguish Indigenous peoples from ordinary racial classifications.
Defending Kamehameha protects the vision and legacy of our Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop and preserves the future of our Native Hawaiian people. I certainly would not be the homesteader advocate and community leader I am today without my six years of education and personal development at Kamehameha!
