NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The conventions for both political parties this year have passed. Because of the time difference on Guam, I wasn't able to watch them as much as I'd hoped, because I was usually in class when people were speaking. I followed the coverage as best as I could, even writing about the Guam delegations for both the DNC and RNC and the way they represented the island in their roll call spotlight moment. I have only attended one political convention in my life and that was in 2008 when I got to be the "Blogger from Guam" to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where Barrack Obama received the nomination for President. I has wanted to go back to another convention or two, and toyed with the idea of attending this year, but my teaching schedule made it impossible. While reflecting on this year's convention and my own experience 8 years ago, I sifted through my digital files and came across this article this article that I written fro AAJA or the Asian American

Here is an image from the floor votes earlier in the day. When it came time for Guam to report its votes for the party nomination (Hillary pat Obama) there was some confusion. Guam has a total of 9 delegate votes, five super delegates and then eight regular delegates, which each get half votes . When it came time to report the votes, former Guam Senator and current Guam Democratic Party Chair Pilar Lujan stated four votes for Barack Obama and three votes for Hillary Clinton. This being two short of the total they were supposed to provide. In addition to this confusion, Pilar Lujan also made an impact on the proceedings with her short, but to the point introduction to Guam, prior to providing the tally for the Guam delegation. She began by invoking that they were the delegation from Guam, "Where America's Day Begins" which was met by applause. She followed up this statement with a reminder that the Guam delegation seeks self-determination and war reparations from the

Senator Hillary Clinton is speaking right now and she just said, "...and the territories." I will write later about why, other than this being the way that Guam is mentioned and included in this great big Democratic tent, that this is interesting. Otro fino'-ta: Earlier in the evening her old campaign shark Terry McAuliffe came by the Guam Delegation on the floor and yelled at us "I Love Guam!" The Guam delegates, mainly the Hillary supporters swooned, because like Hillary, Terry has also visited Guam. (for clarification, in this photo Terry Mcauliffe is posing with Alaskan delegates not Guam ones)

An interview with Guam delegate Derrick Muna Quinata and page from Guam Derick Hills. From Campus Voices :

I've written before about the half-vote delegates that Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Americans Abroad receive in the Democratic Presidential primary process. For me this is just another sort of way in which the island is included and excluded, how it is never made a full part of the United States, but instead treated to small token gestures to make it feel more American then it really is. But this is my view on things, a member of the Guam delegation, Taling Taitano, a Democratic National Committeewoman and a superdelegate looks at it in a different way. She says that the rules have been such, with half delegates for a long time and isn't sure where the rationale comes from. But it is actually a bonus for territories such as Guam, which have small populations and are so far away from the United States. With half delegates, they can send twice as many members. If they received full delegates, then only four people, in addition to Guam's five super delega

I've only been here for less than one day, but I've already heard personally some say "Guam, isn't that part of Hawai'i?" A member of the Guam delegation told me that, they are here in order to celebrate and be part of the Democratic party and the United States, but they are also here to inform the United States about Guam, to let them know that we exist and that we are part of them. In order to facilitate this informing, the members chose to wear matching blue or red Hawai'i print shirts and dresses each day. The result is that thay have been very popular with the other delegates, and often receive "ALOHA!" shouts from random delegates. According to this Guam delegate, they usually cheerfully shout back "Hafa Adai!" I understand this point about informing the people in the United States about your existence, that is what every Chamorro in the United States has to do, all the time, whether they want to or not, and even Guam's non