NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

It remains a tragic, frustrating but also telling statistical anomaly that Guam has one of the highest concentrations of US veterans, but ranks amongst the lowest areas in terms of spending by Veterans' Affairs. A few years ago this led to the PBS program American by the Numbers flying out to Guam to do a documentary on what it is like to come from a place that signs up and serves in such high numbers, but does not translate into high levels of spending to thank those who have served for their sacrifices. I am not a patriotic person in any form really, and I do not take much pride in the high levels of military service Chamorros and Guam in general sign up for, but this poor treatment of our local veterans is something that anger and irritates me as well.

Below is an article that discusses an overview of the PBS documentary, which was titled Island of Warriors.

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"Guam's Wounded Warriors"
by Marlon Bishop
LatinoUSA
July 6, 2016

Every July 21st, Guam…

Democracy Now! is doing some great coverage of the protests over the North Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. Here are some interviews and a column from Amy Goodman after a warrant was put out for her arrest in response to her coverage. If you are able, please consider donating in order to support their continuing efforts.

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Native American Activist Winona LaDuke at Standing Rock: It's Time to Move On from Fossil Fuels
September 12, 2016
Democracy Now!

While Democracy Now! was covering the Standing Rock standoff earlier this month, we spoke to Winona LaDuke, longtime Native American activist and executive director of the group Honor the Earth. She lives and works on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota. She spent years successfully fighting the Sandpiper pipeline, a pipeline similar to Dakota Access. We met her right outside the Red Warrior Camp, where she has set up her tipi. Red Warrior is one of the encampments where thousands of Nati…

Misty Upham: The Tragic Death and Unscripted Life of Hollywood's Rising Star
Kristen Millares Young
The Guardian
6/30/15

When Misty Upham was 12, she announced herself to a Seattle classroom of aspiring performers. “My name is Misty Upham, and someday you will know that name as the best living Native American actress.”

Years later and against all odds, her prophecy became true. She acted alongside some of Hollywood’s best: Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Benicio Del Toro.

Last October Misty was found dead, skull and ribs broken, flies abuzz, in a wooded ravine in Auburn, Washington. Her body lay just above the turbulence of the White river. She was 32.

This story is about her demise. How she went missing for 11 days. How she was found by folks enlisted by her family, and not by the police. How she was mocked when she most needed help. How she survived rapes. How she inspired kids. And how as an indigenous woman, she was not alone in facing injustice.

Born on 6 July 1982, Misty…

PBS recently did a short documentary about Guam and veterans here as part of their program America by the Numbers. It was a pretty good piece. I was interviewed for the program at the WWII Memorial Asan Overlook as seen in the picture for this post. The interview was pretty long covering a whole range of topics. As usually happens with these sorts of things, very little of it was used in the actual interview. I still think it was a good piece even if I was barely in it, although there was a glaring, but expected lack of discourse around Guam's political status.

The issue of Guam's colonial status is always something that mainstream media in the states have difficulty with. You can describe it in a hundred different ways, talk about it from this angle, that angle, give a wide range of options for how to approach it, but ultimately it is for your average media person, something they can't engage with. It would require too much discursive muster, it would consume any piece …