Father outraged as teenage daughter banned from walking to graduation wearing traditional Hawaiian necklace

A furious father has lashed out at his daughter's school after she was not allowed to wear a traditional Hawaiian necklace at her graduation.

Sophia Noelani Iliana Benzon was set to graduate from Eastlake High School in Chula Vista earlier this month and sported a beautiful necklace around her neck.

But shortly before she was supposed to participate in the ceremony, Sophia and her family, some of whom were also wearing leis, were arrested by school staff.

A heated encounter between Sophia's family and a teacher was filmed and uploaded to TikTok, where the school staff member apologized for the situation but insisted the student could not wear the lei because it was against school policy.

Sophia's father was furious: “You're not sorry. I don't want to hear sorry, I want my daughter to walk in that field in her traditional costume, like everyone else in my family who graduated “

Apparently they had to get permission from the school district for Sophia to wear the necklace, but the Benzon family insisted they do it.

Kainoa, Sophia's brother, has since uploaded the clip to TikTok and it has been viewed almost seven million times.

He captioned the now-viral video: “My sister was denied the right to walk minutes before her graduation ceremony because school staff wouldn't let her wear traditional Hawaiian leis.

“After obtaining approval from the district board to wear them, faculty members then restricted access to her phone and forced Sophia, A MINOR, to verbally say that she was not going to participate in the ceremony so that she can contact her parents afterwards.

Kainoa's long caption continues: “They detained her in another building while the graduation ceremony was taking place and there she was discriminated against and excluded from her peers as she cried in disbelief while waiting for the arrival of his family.

“Eastlake High School took what was supposed to be the end of a chapter to celebrate and turned it into a tragedy for them and their family.

“Hawaiian culture should in no way be excluded or dictated by school policies. So much for inclusiveness and diversity if you want to discriminate against the tradition of all Pacific Islanders.”

The video was also shared on Reddit where people shared their thoughts.

“I am even more stunned by what happened, in San Diego as well,” someone said. “It's not like she has 10 leis or something like some graduates end up having after walking. I can see it's a bit weird for a stage walk, but it's just ridiculous.”

Another added: “My sister's high school doesn't allow collars of any kind. It makes no sense, it doesn't disrupt anything from the ceremony. I understand some students overdo it, but just set a limit , don I'm not going to ban them outright.”

Elsewhere, netizens applauded Sophia's father for defending his daughter and their Hawaiian culture.

Sophia ultimately chose not to participate in the ceremony and instead performed the ceremony in the parking lot and at her home.

UNILAD has contacted Eastlake High School for comment.

Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@kainoa.b / Instagram/@kainoa_2005

Topics: Education, Social Media, Hawaii, TikTok, Viral