A new exhibition at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum acknowledges that a research project supported and funded by the museum in the early 1920s helped perpetuate scientific racism as it concerned Native Hawaiians.

According to exhibition co-curator Jillian Swift, Native Hawaiians are still dealing with the damage these racist ideas have caused — and the social, political and economic consequences of inequalities justified through false notions of race and racial hierarchy. But racism is not a thing of the past here in Hawai‘i.

During a recent keynote address at the Ka Waiwai No Na Kupuna Conference, attended by more than 2,000 Hawaiian and Hawai‘i educators, I talked about the harmful effects of ongoing institutionalized racism on Hawai‘i’s native student population, who make up not only the largest ethnic Department of Education (DOE) population, but also the most under- and uneducated major ethnic group.

Since Hawai‘i was among the top three literate nations in the world at the time of the U.S.-supported overthrow of our Queen Lili‘uokalani, it clearly cannot be that we are less intelligent, less motivated, less industrious, or less educable than other ethnic groups.

In fact our low achievement levels and the fact that at least since 1981, Native Hawaiians have consistently scored below parity in education, are a direct result of ongoing systemic racism, exhibited by the collective failure of the DOE to provide appropriate, i.e., culturally-based education to Native Hawaiian students that assures a baseline for success.

According to research, institutional racism originates in the operation of established and respected forces in a society, like Hawai‘i’s public education system founded in 1840 by Kauikeaouli. This initial system integrated Hawaiian language and culture into Western education, with Hawaiian teachers teaching Hawaiian children.

This changed with the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, first through the 1896 outlawing of Hawaiian as a medium of communication in the public schools, and then in 1906, when a Programme for Patriotic Exercises focused the entire education process on Americanizing Hawai‘i’s school children. Since then, systemic discrimination in education against Hawai‘i’s native students has continued, despite countless data that point to the success of culture-based education for Hawaiian students.

However, because institutional racism is subtle in nature, thus far there has been little public condemnation by Native Hawaiians, our supporters, or others of the ongoing failure of the DOE to meet the needs of its native student population.

We hope that the Bishop Museum exhibit will not only start conversations on how the museum can better connect with and serve Native Hawaiian communities and stakeholders, but that admissions by the Bishop Museum regarding racist views and practices will open up opportunities to talk about other racism and discrimination against Native Hawaiians, which range from education, to the penal system.

Mahalo nui to Bishop Museum Director Melanie Ide and co-curators Swift and Dr. Keolu Fox for their efforts.

Ku Kahakalau, Ph.D., is CEO of Ku-A-Kanaka LLC, a Native Hawaiiian social enterprise based in Hilo.