Radford Officials Concerned Fight Involved Gangs

Educators Say Racism Doesn't Appear Factor In Saturday Fight

HONOLULU -- School officials worry two gangs may be involved in a fight over the weekend at Radford High School that left some black students and their parents complaining about racism. However, some of the suspects in the attack on the black students are black themselves and are also military dependents, sources told KITV 4 News.

The fights happened Saturday night around 8:30 p.m. after a Radford basketball game. About 10 black students said they were attacked by a group of 20 "local" students as they walked home to military housing at Aliamanu Military Reservation.

Sources said witnesses have identified several of the attackers as black students themselves and who also live at Aliamanu.

School officials said parents and students report two gangs may have been involved.

"Well, I'm very sad about that. We don't want to have gang activity on our campus," Radford High School Vice Principal Bob Frey said.

School officials said they haven't had any reports of gang activity at Radford for 10 years or more. They say they're taking the claims seriously.

"We believe that by enforcing small things, small rules, that prevents the attitude of exploiting larger things like gangs," Frey said.

He said Radford already bans students from wearing bandanas, sweat bands and "do" rags that could identify gang color. All students are required to wear IDs so that people who don't belong on campus are easily spotted.

The school is working with the military, which could evict a family from military housing or send a dependent back to the mainland if they are involved in a gang.

"Of course, it depends on how substantiated these rumors are. And we are determined that we are not going to have gang activity on our campus," Frey said.

Meanwhile, NAACP's Hawaii president said he's concerned about this racism allegation and six others he's received at other Oahu schools this year.

"There are allegations of striking students by students, bullying and harassment, naming calling using the 'n' word," NAACP Hawaii President Alphonso Braggs said.

"The investigation is still ongoing. We have no evidence right now that it is a racial incident. If we find that it is racially-motivated, we will take swift action," Board of Education Chairman Breene Harimoto said.

School officials said the Radford fight had more to do with gangs than racism.