NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The Fanohge Coalition formed earlier this year in part as a way of continuing the energy that was captured during last year's Fanohge: March for CHamoru Self-Determination. So far the group has written letters to elected leaders, organized forums and is planning to also send out a candidate survey this month. The Fanohge Coalition is made up of 37 different groups, and represents a wide swatch of Guam society. There are political status task forces, non-profits, small businesses and cultural organizations. Some are more conservative, some are more progressive. All are united however by the idea that the Chamoru people deserve to be treated with dignity in their own land and part of that is protecting their right to self-determination. Another unifying aspect to the coalition is the belief that Guam's political status should be changed to something more equitable. The coalition isn't untied by any particular options, but believes that a new status where Guam and its communit

The clock is running out for the Government of Guam to decide if they plan to appeal the recent 9th Circuit Court's affirmation of the Dave Davis case. After the federal district judge in Guam, Francis Tydingco-Gatewood ruled in Davis' favor in 2017, the government of Guam appealed. They lost that appeal earlier this year. In a few weeks the Leon Guerrero administration will reveal their plans for the Davis case and hopefully the issue of a self-determination plebiscite in general.  For those unfamiliar, the Davis case deals with a non-binding political status plebiscite codified in Guam law, that would be limited to only those who were made US citizens by the 1950 Organic Act and their descendants. Although not strictly a racial definition, the US federal courts have ruled that this classification known in Guam as "native inhabitants" is unconstitutional.  The question that remains for Maga'håga Lou now is, what is Guam's next step? As she is the head o

Every year, at some point during at least one of my classes I'll mention the name "Janet Benshoof." It isn't a name commonly known on Guam, at least among the general population, but it was a name that was notorious for a short period in the early 1990s, and one that probably deserves more attention. Janet Benshoof was the ACLU attorney who came to Guam to lead the fight against the strictest and harshest anti-choice, anti-abortion law within the US and its empire as of 1990. She was the only person arrested under that harsh anti-abortion law that made national headlines. Reading her obituary though I saw that her work was truly international, joining causes for the betterment of women's lives across the globe. In her obit below from the New York Times there is even a section that deals with her time in Guam and a quote from Former Governor of Guam Joseph Ada. One day I'm gonna write an article about that time in Guam's History, because it represents

When I was writing my dissertation more than 10 years ago, one question that I constantly had, was what is the "Department of Interior" in the United States, especially in relation to the territories. The easy answer is that it is the office to oversees them. It is the office that oversees the natural resource, the parks, the relations with Native Americans, but also the way the US connects to its insular areas and colonies. We can refer to the Department of the Interior as the make-shift colonial office, a colonial office in denial that it is a colonial office. The office manages resources and helps to remind those of us who live in the territories that we are a resource, that our lands, our lives are more explicitly than any other place within the US and its empire, thought of as a commodity. The fact that our strongest link to the federal bureaucracy is the DOI is key in understanding our relationship to the US. We may have a variety of fantasies about what we are to

Commentary from 44 different political leaders, community activists and artists about what Trump has or hasn't accomplished in his first 100 days. Some very insightful remarks. ********************** 44 Leaders, Legislators and Artists Sum Up Trump's First 100 Days by Paige Lavender Huffington Post April 29, 2017 In October 2016, before  Donald Trump defeated Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton , he  outlined a plan  of all the things he hoped to accomplish during his first 100 days in office. But in the wake of failure and unfulfilled promises  as his 100th day approaches, the president has changed his tune. Last week, he criticized “the ridiculous standard” of the first 100 days, slamming the deadline in one sentence. To mark the milestone, HuffPost asked lawmakers, activists, lobbyists and influencers to offer their own (roughly) one-sentence takes on Trump’s first 100 days. Here are the responses, which have been lightly edited for cl