HONOLULU (AP) - Hawaii lawmakers will consider measures that would rename the state’s oldest public high school to remove President William McKinley.
Two House resolutions seek to acknowledge McKinley’s role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom by changing McKinley High School’s name to Honolulu High School, Hawaii Public Radio reported Tuesday.
McKinley signed a resolution annexing Hawaii in 1898. Hawaii became a U.S. territory in 1900 and a state in 1959.
“Besides McKinley’s role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom we also learned about the indoctrination of students during that time and how students were forced to basically pledge allegiance to America,” said Jodi Kunimitsu, a math teacher at Maui High School and the state chair for the Human and Civil Rights Committee of the Hawaii State Teachers Association.
Kunimitsu also believes a McKinley statue on the school’s grounds should be removed.
The Hawaii State Teachers Association supports the effort to rename the school, KHON2 reported Tuesday.
“As a Native Hawaiian woman who grew up under colonization, I personally experienced what colonization does to a child at a very young age,” said Laverne Moore, a Hawaii State Teachers Association lobbyist and McKinley High School special education teacher. “I was forbidden to speak my native tongue. I was forbidden to have a Hawaiian first name. I lost my language. I lost my cultural practices and beliefs.”
Moore started teaching McKinley in 2001, KHON2 reported. Although she loved it, she always struggled with the school’s name because of what he did.
“We must change the school’s name for our indigenous people,” said Moore. “So many who endured this hardship before me have passed, and I fear once my generation is gone, the desire to regain what was stolen from us will slowly fade away.”
A House hearing will be held on the measures Thursday.
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