A TikTok showing a high school preventing a young girl from wearing a traditional Hawaiian lei at her graduation ceremony has caused uproar on the popular platform.
In the 142-second video, uploaded by the girl’s brother, kainoa.b, a Hawaiian family — led by the girl’s passionate father — can be seen remonstrating with Eastlake High School officials about the institution’s supposed policy preventing students from wearing any cultural items deemed unsuitable for graduation wear.
The video’s description emphasizes that the family had gained approval from the district board for the girl to wear the flower lei — which looks gorgeous, incidentally — and points out how other family members had been allowed to wear identical items in previous graduation ceremonies. The girl’s brother added three hashtags to the description: #shameoneastlakehigh #racism #hawaiianlivesmatter
It’s unclear whether the girl wore the lei for her graduation walk, but the video ends with her father instructing her to do so, saying, “Let them tackle you, see what happens.”
Unsurprisingly, TikTokers responded in droves to the video — and their opinions were almost all the same.
How did TikTok react to this injustice?
The comments almost unanimously supported the girl and her family, with the vast majority shocked at Eastlake High School’s behavior.
Fawn spoke for all of us, saying, “I don’t understand why this is a big deal to the school at all ??? Like why does the school care she looks beautiful w the leis,” and alysondresser22 asked, “When did it become against policy to not wear leis for graduation?”
NY Skate Queen pointed out, “The fact that the school would have problem with flowers? That is wild.”
Noe described a similar situation he experienced, commenting, “The same thing happened to me. They made me take all my leis off when I walked. I kept my haku lei under my gown and put it on RIGHT before I went on the stage. Idc.”
Kayla Ruiz pondered the important question about how the situation ended, replying “I need an update, so sorry that is happening! 🙁 I hope she is able to walk with her leis.” Everyone with a heart does, Kayla.
Of course, as probability dictates, there were a few idiots, such as one who said, “Womp Womp this will teach her to follow the rules and that she’s not more special than anyone else who can’t wear it.” Fortunately, such voices are in the minority.
A 2021 study carried out by Atomik Research and published online at the National Library of Medicine’s website shows that 53% of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders never experienced any form of discrimination at school, but that means 47% did. That’s clearly not good enough, and the incident shown in this TikTok proves it continues to be a problem in the United States.
We hope the family resolved this situation and that the young girl got to wear her lovely lei during her graduation ceremony. We also hope Eastlake High School has been educated on the importance of Hawaiian traditions and the traditions of any culture that wishes to indulge in harmless conventions that mean so much to them.
