Ruling is rude slap to all Hawaiians

I have to write in agreement with Justin Bagnall's letter to the editor, "Non-Hawaiians should study elsewhere" (Star-Bulletin, Aug. 3). This ruling is just another slap in the face of all Hawaiians. When will it stop? So much has been taken away from the Hawaiian people over the years. It's not asking much to have their own private school.

I think that any non-Hawaiian who would take advantage of this court ruling and try to attend Kamehameha Schools is showing a lack of respect for the Hawaiian culture, and should not be allowed in Hawaii. Let alone Kamehameha Schools.

Kamehameha helps only elite Hawaiians

Whew! Can anyone actually be shocked by the ruling concerning Kamehameha Schools ("Kamehameha will fight ruling," Star-Bulletin, Aug. 3)? Hawaiians shouldn't be angered, they should applaud.

My children are great kids, but average and they never smelled one program offered by Kamehameha Schools; they weren't the right kind of Hawaiian, with the right connections. We are hard-working people just trying to get by like everyone else here in Hawaii and Pauahi's will should have included all the children of Hawaiian descent, not just the select few. Then the polls and the numbers would have been there to support this court action. Why should we support or object to a ruling that only affects a small percent of Hawaiians? When will Kamehameha Schools start giving us a preschool without a waiting list and spend more of the schools' money giving 100 Hawaiians jobs at $50,000 instead of the high salaries of a few?

The school is getting a reality check: Learn to be for all Hawaiians, not just a few. Then we will march to the governor's office.

No just society without justice for Hawaiians

I am sad and ashamed of the American justice system after reading the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down the Kamehameha Schools admission policy preference for Hawaiian students.

We can and will argue over the merits of each side's position and the majority and dissenting opinions, but there can be no denial of the hurt and insult inflicted on Hawaiians by the court. Kamehameha Schools is a symbolic and real asset for a native people dispossessed of land, colonized and robbed of their inherent right to self-governance.

It is particularly disturbing that the court turned civil rights law on its head to render this injustice. Our courts have failed us in the past, upholding separate but equal, the Japanese-American internment and theft of native lands. Our progress toward a just society has not been inevitable, but the fruit of painful struggle in the courts, on the streets, and in the halls of Congress and state Houses. Those of us who love justice must stand with Hawaiians and decry this injustice. In Hawaii, we cannot have a just society without justice for Hawaiians.

There's a better way to figure property tax

The exorbitant increase in the price of homes in Hawaii, primarily purchased by non- locals, has caused great concern about the fairness of our property tax. The current practice of assessing all land owners in an area at a rate proportional to the average sale price is causing those with long established homes, many paid off in full, to be taxed out of their homes.

Doing a little creative thinking, let the property tax be prorated on the basis of the cost of the home as it was last purchased. When a home is sold, the seller and buyer would then be required to pay a "selling" property tax on a sliding scale proportional to the difference in price between the original purchase price and the selling price. This would protect long-standing homeowners, maintaining their affordable homes, and still allow the City and County to reap the benefits of increased real estate prices. I realize that this would diminish the exorbitant profits of those recently selling on the market, but why should they reap their profits at the expense of those long established?

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