NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The one the reasons why so many scholars, activists and often times community members feel the need to rethink or rearticulate or reimagine "Liberation Day" is because of a recognition of hope integral it is or has been to our relationship to the US. World War II changed dramatically the relationship between the Chamorus of Guam and the US. It changed it somewhat from the US perspective, but it was dramatically altered from the Chamoru side of the equation. Chamorus who felt a clear distance to their colonizer, even if some were eager to be patriotic, prior to the war, emerged from the war eager to find whatever way possible to express their loyalty, their newfound attachment to America. But as I've written many times before, what Liberation Day does as the basis for Chamoru identity in an American context, is create the Chamoru as a subordinate subject, a minor footnote, that must always be superpatriotic for fear that America will withdraw funds, support, recognition an

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

On Thursday, December 12th, from 4-6 pm, a public hearing will be held on Resolution No. 255-35 (LS) titled " RELATIVE TO SUPPORTING GUAM’S APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP TO THE UNREPRESENTED NATIONS AND PEOPLES ORGANIZATION (UNPO)." Please consider testifying in person on Thursday or submitting testimony via email in support of this resolution.  Written testimonies may be delivered to the Office of Speaker Tina Muña Barnes at 163 Chalan Santo Papa, Hagåtña, Guam 96910or via email to speaker@guamleg islature.org . Joining the UNPO could bring an higher level of visibility Internationally and nationally to Guam's issues. Manny Cruz and I wrote as much in recent weeks in columns and letters to the Pacific Daily News.  ***************************** Group connects marginalized people across the world Michael Lujan Bevacqua Pacific Daily News November 21, 2019 Speaker Tina Muña Barnes has proposed a resolution that would seek Guam’s membership in the UNPO, or the Unre

People frequently ask me why I'm such a publicly critical person. They assume it is because I am half Chamorro, that I must be trying to compensate for my lack of cultural identity, and even I can acknowledge that there is some truth to that. It could be simply part of my personality, maybe I've always been an oppositional person, who challenged authority in some way. My father says it is because of the way I was forced to confront certain racial realities during my childhood. Some say it is simply because I have an artist temperament and so I am seeking creative ways out of systems, thinking about what could lie ahead on the next horizon of imagination. Hekkua', ti hu tungo'. While searching from some of my early writings on an old laptop, I came across a draft of this letter for the editor pasted below. It remember helping my mother write it about 13 years ago, and it was submitted to the Pacific Daily News. This was a time, when I was first speaking out publicl

Connections between colonies are intriguing. They come most naturally from the gaze or the perspective of the colonizer. So colonies tend to be linked together as sites of corruption, incompetence, primitivity and overall negative binary possibility. We see this in terms of how the US looks at its colonies, describes them, produces them as objects of the law, and assume so much in the way of their nature without an ounce of self-reflection. As a continuation of the Obama Administration, the Trump Administration is now holding up foreign worker visas to Guam. They claim to be doing so because of corruption and abuse in the past. Whatever abuses have taken place are a sliver of a drop in the ocean that is American political or economic corruption. Often times people assume that the corruption begins in the colonies, but it is just as feasible that the corruption was imported or taught to the natives by the colonizer. For those of you with fancy literature backgrounds think Heart of Dar

I have too many things to do this week to waste much "ink" on Dave Davis or his case on this blog, but that doesn't mean I am not writing about it in other forms. Here are some articles about the Davis case, the Respect the Chamoru People Rally and also a recent letter to the editor connecting Davis' case to a longer history of disrespect that Chamorros have experienced. ****************************** Appeal Made in Plebiscite Ruling by John O'Connor Guam Daily Post April 8, 2017 "A lot of the Chamorros here and the community feel (the ruling) was an attack on them, calling us racists for not allowing somebody to register to vote in our plebiscite or register land." – Amber Benavente-Sanchez, rally organizer Hundreds of people descended on the pristine front lawn of the governor's office at Adelup late yesterday afternoon to join the "Respect the CHamoru People" rally that was being held in response to a March 8 District