Hawaiian student protest/forum at the University of Hawai‘i against the student newspaper, Ka Leo, for its racist treatment of Hawaiian faculty and students.

In the late 1980’s and the early 1990’s, when the sovereignty movement was on the rise, the student newspaper at the University of Hawai‘i began attacking our faculty and students in the Center for Hawaiian Studies. Racist cartoons with vicious caricatures of Hawaiians characterized the paper's reporting and features. During this period, our Center hosted a visiting Native scholar, Ward Churchill. Teaming up with our students, Ward and I countered the racism of the student paper with a forum on their politics, exposing the anti-Native stance of the paper's reporters and editors, none of whom were Hawaiian.

When I visit college campuses across the American continent, I am always struck by the racism of the student newspapers. People of color on the campuses invariably speak about being targeted by cartoons, articles, and editorial positions in their campus papers. I continue to support active and very public resistance to such racism. In terms of University policy, there is no question that students of color need their own press.