Furlough sit-in lifts mother's profile
By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist
If you Google "Marguerite Higa," you get close to 3,500 hits from sites such as CNBC, MSNBC, the New York Times, even the BBC.
During the eight-day sit-in at Gov. Linda Lingle's office, Higa often served as spokeswoman for the loosely organized group Save Our Schools. She did television interviews and was quoted in print articles, including Associated Press stories that were picked up around the country. Four people were arrested for trespassing during the protest. Higa was the only mom.
"My mother called me and yelled at me," Higa said. "But for me, it was 'whatever it takes to end furlough Fridays.' "
She hadn't done anything like this before, and had never been arrested until Wednesday. There was a time in college when she joined a group of students who stood in protest outside a regents' meeting, but she doesn't even remember what they were protesting.
The furlough Fridays pushed her into new territory. She and the other protesters didn't know one another before this school year, but there they were, sleeping in the reception area outside the governor's office, sharing food, crafting action plans, united under a common mission.
"We just couldn't believe furlough Fridays would be allowed to happen. We kept expecting it to be canceled," she said. "When the village is starving, you don't take food away from the baby. But here they're saying they don't have money for school."
The protesters thought Lingle would meet with them, if not that first day, then probably the second, but the sit-in lasted a week. Higa spent four nights in the governor's office area. Her daughter spent the first night with her.
Higa, 42, is a biology professor at the University of Hawai'i who teaches two classes and runs a lab where she conducts research on her area of study, evolutionary physiology.
She was born in Korea, the middle of three children. Her father was an American Army officer from New Hampshire who graduated from West Point. Her mother is a Korean national.
The family moved to Hawai'i in 1974 when her father was offered a job at Fort Shafter. She graduated third in her class at Mililani High in 1985 and went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. She got her Ph.D. at Washington University in St. Louis. She and her husband, Jeffrey, also a Mililani grad, came home three years ago when she accepted the position at UH-Mānoa.
When furlough Fridays kicked in, Higa began volunteering to tutor at Noelani Elementary where her daughter Raine is in school. Higa helps kids who are falling behind because of the days off.
"There's no time for any remedial work, and the kids are so stressed out because they know they can't keep up," she said.
On the day she was arrested, she knew what was coming.
"I already had two citations, and I knew the governor's office wouldn't back off and what they said they were going to do." She felt bad for the UH students who had been arrested earlier in the week. She wasn't happy to be arrested, but she was willing.
She said the handcuffs were surprisingly heavy. The sheriff held on to her so she wouldn't trip and fall forward with her hands behind her back.
In the van on the way to Hālawa Correctional Facility, the sheriffs asked what kind of music she and fellow protester Teresa Kessenich-Chase would like on the radio.
"The sheriffs were very kind," Higa said. "They told us several times they took no pleasure in doing this, but that it was their jobs."
The next day, Higa told her daughter she had been arrested. Her daughter thought it was cool.
"Our kids, and really all of us involved in the sit-in, learned a lot about how government works and how to be a part of the process," Higa said. "And for the kids, all of the leaders of our society aren't so intimidating anymore. Our Hawai'i leaders are very accessible — wait, I should qualify that — ALMOST all of the leaders are accessible."
Reach Lee Cataluna at lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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We are creating a whole new culture that is 18% in trade route from point a to point b....mmmm
I went to bed with a 'telling' mess of things from Kauai, and just didn't want to play a fools game of witts, with Article 12, and a 400 page rehtorical ...tit for tat...without transparencies and holding oneself accountable for ones actions.
Thanks again for seeing through my weakening moment and resetting the reality of a teacher, parents and children practicing their civil rights for their quality and equitable education.
We know that the relevance and rigor are difficult goals to attain in a classroom in the face of NCLB. My argument-- irrelevant as it may seem...the governor has no passion for children and their parents tested her sick... I am basing this behavior on what I see everyday in the parks with pregnant women, new born and young children.
Teachers are liable for their actions just by the licensing process, loosing their jobs and home are by no means worth the risk. During the Kingdom years, the males paid a $1 a year for education. Teachers teach...that is where their challenges are everyday ...there is no rubric for understanding, and that is a fact. In a classroom all things are measurable and these are the building blocks that the Hawaiian Kingdom must build on/from.
I see and experience broken hearts/wings everyday and it takes a genuine effort on the part of that male $1 payment to the educational fund and it's Board of Education. So, where are they?
As Bumpy said, it is a waste to get arrested and I feel that is the truth in this instance. Much aloha Kaohi
To soon to tell, but I believe we lost sight of the very people we are taught to serve for ones own selfish gains. I believe we are hurting the very people we are trying to serve and should revisit our intentions. I believe NHLC should have taken into considerations all aspects to the problem not just on a 400 page document, but what is truly going on with their constituents (sp). Article 12 is the drive behind decision making and sadly, the history of these constinutional organizations has a bad foundation. It is a sick ground to walk on. The newbies were given careers in light of darkness and lack the diversity conciousness to the whole aspects of serving it's voters. There is much to say about Kauai and the bridge trolls. I will continue that argument at a later time. What's most important is that to ask who are we serving as the day continues it's changes and that we spot check those changes because I believe we are serving the military endeavors when we lack the plus in the designing for sustainable futures. This is unedited, and I am aware of the many mistakes..but that is life...Kaohi
If Hawaii's voters wants to make this a political issue then they should put it on the ballot and their pocket book. Drafting a donation from their small paycheck as the governor dwindle down what little medical care seems an intentional step to fixing the problem. Not true a direct hit to her ovaries will work wonders as in baron, and lack of passion for children and their care givers. One mindset needs to change.
Call it what you will, I totally agree,..when one grows up protective and have a great career...suddenly..stops and realize the pain and suffering of the better half of Public Education, however, at the end of the State of Hawaii Yiddish governor's career, the answers to social problems can be found in the bio-diverstity of the entire Pacific.
For a whole decade, Na Kanaka children's education had the power of one wing. Isolated in their own community and failing to gain a momentum to a quality of life--their half power so to speak kept the aina in it's pure state.
Now that is threatened by the very system that furthered your career to it's present state. I shall not dwindle upon the Yiddish Governor--it's hardly worth my time. However, the golden thread are to protect our environment, learn the causes that contribute to a sick environment and place resourcefull skills into our children hands so that they might be able to call Hawaii home.
For me that is the issue that the children of today are given the very encouragement to pursue aquisition of knowledge to assert their equitable reasoning towards their future in Hawaii. I don't think furlough is worth the energy, resources, and continued resistance. If anything getting arrested is utterly wasteful, and those that enjoy the thrill of such acts, should rut in hell. That is irrelevant too, the rutting part!
Mother's do not exist in the Hawaiian Kingdom under Section 8,9, and 10 (?) but mothers do have the sustainable code of caring for their children and the very earth their children stand on just by the very nature of things. Whereas the men have no jurisdiction here in Hawaii, but to say a $1's worth of total rubbish from a Yiddish.
At the time of the Yiddish governor's new path to hell, she realized the full power she aquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom and the present U. S. common law. However, I say Higa, by her credentials of Biology that superceeds the governor's jurisdiction, just by the mere 'tort' of law. The massive injuries of children should garner the right power to it's fullest potential--just on principle. She should sue the governor for injuries received by her handcuffs and what it caused to all children of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Good luck Kaohi