‘I love Saipan, pare’

Some of my closest friends on Saipan are non-local, construction/contract workers from the Philippines. Sure I have a number of other friends, local and otherwise, but I (more often than not) find myself imbibing and sharing chasers in the company of my few close “pares,” usually after a grueling day’s work on any number of projects—we like to joke about being jacks-of-all-trades but masters of none. Occasionally, we stumble into conversations about “status” and the immigration situation as it relates to them.

One of my friends is prone to saying, “I love Saipan, pare. I want to stay here…imagine, I’m more than 20 years already on this island.” And that despite the countless stories they tell of people stiffing them on hundreds of dollars in pay (even at the time when their hourly rate was $3.05 an hour). “If someone tells you, ‘guaaaarantee, honest to God I pay you next week,’ don’t believe them,” they’d say with a hearty laugh and heads shaking in disbelief.

The truth is some of these guys have endured some of the most dehumanizing, demoralizing, and downright disgusting behavior from numerous heartless people here on Saipan, but that hasn’t blinded them to the simple fact that we still live in the greatest country in the world (and, arguably, the closest thing to a slice of paradise that our country has to offer). No doubt some of these guys are jaded and a little worse for the wear, but that’s life and the more you get beaten down the harder it becomes to get back up. Still, each of them strives to get by on the sweat of his own brow and strength of his own back. I wish more of our own people from the islands could say the same.

The issue of our long-time nonresident residents certainly has political and economical implications, but more importantly it brings us to a crossroad (uniquely our own) with questions implicating the most basic sense of humanity: Do we turn our backs on a handful of downtrodden people who already call the CNMI their home and charge forward into some fictional utopia of golden citizens or do we invite them in for a bite to eat? Don’t get me wrong, I am all for strict border control, but in this case I’m not talking about drones of misfit foreigners (or even the entire population of CWs) looking to “invade our way of life.” Rather, I’m talking about a small number of people who’ve given their youth to our islands and walk among us today as old men and women threaded neatly in the fabric of our lives—“Why wouldn’t we want to give [these particular] people a chance at a better life?” (Joan Taitano)

I sometimes ask myself this same question when I hear people gripe about the “special privileges” that people with disabilities get in different areas of our society. And yes, some people actually complain about why (for instance) people with mobility impairments (which include some of our elderly) should get special parking spaces? Or, why they should get reasonable accommodations in the workplace and at school?

Again, why wouldn’t we want to allow for some measure of accommodations to give people a chance at a better life? The Americans with Disabilities Act is founded on the basic premise that people with disabilities should be afforded a level playing field to allow them equitable access in pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. It was never about how much more people can get or about putting people ahead of others, but even if it was, so what? “When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you” (Luke 14: 12-14). In other words, do something good for the sake of doing something good.

I suspect that at the heart of both issues lies a very sad notion of human insecurity wherein some people just don’t want to see others succeed regardless of whether or not it has any direct effect on them. Sure, the hardliners will argue that the “political landscape” will change if too many nonresidents suddenly get to vote—but even if that were actually true, so what? Whether the governor of the CNMI is of Filipino, Bangladeshi, or any other ethnic descent other than Chamorro or Carolinian has zero bearing on what I do on my land and in my life…we live in a democracy under the American flag. And, news flash: the political landscape is already changing and will continue to change regardless of “improved status” for the existing few, so give me a break with the fear-mongering propaganda.

None of my Filipino friends or any of the true advocates for people with disabilities are asking for a free handout to live among us…just a chance.

For more on the “special privileges” of people with disabilities or about the Americans with Disabilities (ADA), feel free to contact the NMPASI office at (670) 235-7273/4 [tel.] / 235-7275 [fax] / 235-7278 [tty] or on-line via www.nmpasi.org.