Patrick Pihana Branco remembers his great-grandfather telling him about being beaten during a time when there was a ban on speaking Hawaiian in schools.

Now, 25 years later, as a member of the state House, Branco (D, Kailua- Kaneohe) has introduced a resolution formally apologizing for the treatment of his great-grandfather and untold other Hawaiian-language speakers between 1896 and 1986.

“He shared with us that as a child he would go to school and he would get beaten for speaking Hawaiian,” Branco said. “And when he would go home, he would also get lickins for speaking English.”

Edward Pihana was 100% Native Hawaiian, born at a birthing stone on Makena Beach, and grew up in Ulu­palakua, Maui, until he supposedly stowed away to Oahu at 13 in search of work, Branco said.

After learning that his great-grandson had begun Hawaiian-language studies at Kamehameha School’s Kapalama campus, Pihana began sharing painful memories with Branco when the lawmaker was 10 or 12 years old, he said.

Branco recalls the two of them often talking story while sitting on a bench on the sundeck of Pihana’s house in Kailua under the canopy of a mango tree.

Pihana developed dementia as he grew older and would sometimes speak in Hawaiian, Branco said. But he used English when recounting his stories about being punished for speaking his native tongue as a youngster at school, even though Branco was one of the few family members who had studied Hawaiian.

“A lot of Hawaiians have this story. And these are generational stories that stick with many of us Native Hawaiian families,” Branco said.

His resolution, which is moving through the legislative process, would offer a formal apology to Native Hawaiians for the ban on speaking their native language in schools for nearly a century.

House Concurrent Resolution 130, which is written in both Hawaiian and English, also acknowledges the consequences of the law that made English the only language allowed in schools. Branco said he hopes the resolution also will address the historical and contemporary issues between the U.S. government and Native Hawaiians.

Before the language ban, an estimated 40,000 Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians in the state were literate in Hawaiian, and several newspapers were printed in Hawaiian.

By the end of the 90-year ban, however, the number of Hawaiian-language speakers had fallen to about 2,000, according to the resolution.

“There’s a lot of hurt out there for things that either the state has done or the federal government has done to Hawaiians or the institutions of Hawaiian culture,” said Benton Kealiikiamoku Pang, president of the Oahu Council of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs.

Once the ban was in place, Hawaiian leaders encouraged Hawaiian speakers to maintain their language at home, according to Jonathan Kay Kamakawiwoole Osorio, dean of the University of Hawaii’s Hawaiinuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge.

Native Hawaiians’ emotions over the situation varied from outrage to helplessness, Osorio said. Others encouraged their children to speak English in order to better assimilate into a changing society.

For Branco’s great-grandfather’s generation, it was considered shameful to speak Hawaiian.

“That’s where we took English names or our last names were shortened,” Branco said.

By the early 1900s much of the younger generation was unable to recognize some Hawaiian words. Native Hawaiian political leaders expressed alarm but a sense of helplessness persisted, according to Osorio.

The language ban was a typical tactic in colonizing Indigenous communities, Pang said.

“You take away their language, which is the foundation of their traditions, to sort of brainwash-slash- assimilate them into the new Western or European culture,” he said.

The restrictions on Hawaiian language and cultural practices were a betrayal of Native Hawaiian sovereignty, culture, values and dignity, Osorio said.

The state Constitution was amended in 1978 to require the promotion of the Hawaiian language, culture and history studies, and Hawaiian was declared one of the two official state languages, according to HCR 130. Hawaii is the only state with a native language designated as one of its official languages.

But Osorio believes there is still a lack of commitment to restoring and promoting the Hawaiian language. There aren’t enough teachers fluent in Hawaiian who are certified to teach in the state’s Hawaiian immersion schools, he said.

“It’s disheartening because in a lot of ways the Department of Education treats Hawaiian language immersion as a kind of experiment,” he said.

DOE officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

As a result of the 1978 constitutional amendment, the state in 1987 established the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program, in which select schools were designated to offer the option of instruction solely in Hawaiian until fifth grade.

Currently, 21 DOE schools and six public charter schools offer the immersion program. Licensed Hawaiian immersion teachers receive a pay differential of $8,000.

In recent years the number of Hawaiian-language speakers has slightly increased. The Hawaii State Data Center’s 2016 census found that over 18,000 people spoke Hawaiian at home, although it did not specify whether they were fluent.

Osorio believes that the state must take more initiative to fund the cause.

“The Hawaiian language immersion experience should not be an inferior experience to those students who are going to Mililani High School or Farrington,” Osorio said. “It should be as good, as well staffed, as well prepared, as well supported by curriculum materials as any English-speaking school in the state.”

Branco understands that his resolution can’t undo the wrongs done to the Hawaiian community, but he hopes it will serve as a step toward healing.

“‘Hawaiian’ isn’t some fixture or some decorative object,” he said. “The state has two official languages, and we need to make a commitment to not only use the English medium, but also the Hawaiian medium as well.”

Osorio acknowledged the resolution’s good intentions but stressed the importance of applying political muscle and money to further efforts in recovering what was lost.

“You don’t get to introduce a resolution that merely apologizes for that loss of dignity,” he said. “You give us the tools so that we can build back.”