Cape Fear in Cape Air

I lived in Greensboro, North Carolina but I never got east to Cape Hateras or Cape Fear southeast. Somehow, being a Pacific Islander, the ocean did not offer much allure, never mind that the historic Wright Brothers’ airborne experiment was in Kitty Hawk, and the Atlantic hurricanes (typhoons in these parts) slammed into the Tar Heel coast.

Cape Fear, however, was our first introduction to the State, compliments of a movie of the same title, acted by Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum in the ’60s, and reprised by Nick Nolte and Robert de Niro in the ’90s. The movie accents the American penchant for “fear” as the primary motivating factor, with the moralism that makes lawyers act like judges, in this case, withholding full defense to who they consider objectionable. The lawyer suppressed papers that might lighten up sentencing if not invalidate charges altogether.

The Pilgrims and Puritans’ desire to be out of Royal supervision were evident in Cape Cod; Jamestown’s was very defensive relative to the Native Americans. NatGeo once printed poster drawings of Jamestown and Werowocomoco in Powhatan’s chiefdom titled, When Cultures collided, and the difference is very telling. Werewocomoco was wide open and welcoming of strangers, fully integrated into the surrounding environment; Jamestown was all defense, moat and tall pointed logs for walls.

I am sure “fear” is not the motivating factor that had Senators Igosomar, Palacios, and Santos of the CNMI Legislature, and the Chiefs of the Micronesian nations, wrote letters of concern to the regional airline for rural America, Cape Air. Never mind that they get federal subsidy of almost $49 per passenger; they fulfill a needed air travel service to less frequent routes, albeit, mostly to businessman who will not be bothered by time spent on land and sea transport.

Service in Micronesia is, however, nothing to brag home about. Letters from Igisomar’s office showed that Cape Air’s service had not been exemplary. Cape Air’s online record shows it was supposed to have two ATR-42 320s in its hanger plying the GUM-SPN route. It was charged that only one functioning aircraft is available, and when it conks out, like the experience of a local family not too long ago, it meant being stuck at the GUM airport for three days.

I have taken the UA code-shared Cape Air toward three directions from GUM, to the Philippines, Shanghai, and Honolulu, and to get to GUM involved getting into a Cape Air ATR-42 (the craft is manufactured by the same firm as the AirBus in Europe with the 42 in the number approximating passenger capacity; the ATR-72 carries more passengers). Nothing extraordinary about the flights, one way or the other, but my frequency was a limited sample.

What appeared disturbing was the news of the alleged treatment of indigenous folks on the SPN-GUM-SPN flights where they were reportedly discriminated against, perhaps, for the absence of urban sophistication common among air travel clientele. I do not find this unusual for discrimination is more than a legal term; applied to this situation, it borders into racist treatment of indigenes that is not uncommon in many parts of the world. This is not to justify the treatment but to make it understandable.

If “fear” has not been the motivating factor in thesSenators’ concern, it is a big item in American human relations. China’s popular image abroad is the Fu Manchu as the ultimate boo-ga-boo underneath Xi Jing Ping’s watch; the U.S. accuses China of intruding into the China Seas as if the 7th Fleet was resident there. Yo! We do not call it “China Sea” for nothing!

The widespread “fear” evident in the U.S. began with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which was only repealed when China became an ally in 1943. The racism did not abate; much at the ground level still prevails. Chinese love to stick to their Chinatowns, many real estate laws confine them to that location. However, if the Honolulu “Chinatown” is any indication, the old-timer Chinese has moved to the suburbs while the newly arrived Chinese of Vietnam attend to the shops!

Canada’s Ontario and Quebec fears America’s “undue” influence on the Canucks but U.S. presence in Winnipeg to Vancouver, and especially Calgary during the annual round-up, the cowboy hats are vintage Texas.

Cuba and Mexico are the objects of our current fear of the Latino, and with The Donald’s heightened rhetoric against immigration, Obama’s friendliness to the Castro brothers, and the perceived determination of GOP-despised Admin-pushed connection to southern neighbors, many undocumented aliens in the U.S. are fearful of deportation after the election if Dem Bones do not prevail.

Senator Rubio, on his gracious exit from the presidential campaign before the Florida primary, affirmed that America is a nation of hope. The GOP rattled by fear mongering for now is also the party of Abe Lincoln.

Cape Air might be close to Cape Fear, but it also can be the Cape of Good Hope. A choice.