THEY CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS!
EITHER HAWAI'I IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY WITH ITS OWN FOREIGN LANGUAGE, OR IT'S NOT!
The Maui News
Letters to the Editor
Friday, April 09, 2004
Hawaiian language forbidden in Hawai'i prisons
The use of the Hawaiian language is a traditional and customary right affirmed and protected by the state of Hawai'i Constitution in Article XII, Section 7.
Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian inmates in our state prison system are taught the Hawaiian language but are not allowed to speak it outside the classroom.
If the Department of Public Safety feels this is a security problem by ruling that "no inmate shall converse in a foreign language," then I submit that Hawaiian is not a foreign language in the state of Hawai'i and that if the security concerns are valid, the staff should learn to speak it.
Michael Spiker
Wahiawa Correctional Facility
Honolulu
