A poll that alienates rights and people

The results of the recent survey by NMC students were disturbing and not surprising to me but at the same time I must commend my fellow educator Mr. Sam McPhetres for having the foresight and awareness to start the education process on Article XII. I can see we are both faced with the same phenomenon as educators. I was sad for professional reasons, but I was even sadder because I can imagine how disappointed some of the professionals that have been “invited through recruitment” to work in the CNMI must have felt to see the results of the poll. The results clearly demonstrated the American dream of life, liberty and property for all Americans has a problem in the CNMI. I wish I’d had the opportunity to educate them on the opposing argument(s) to Article XII before they were surveyed, which really has the potential to make a difference in the result. But since I didn’t, I would like to share my opposing argument to Article XII with them and the general public since the poll was so highly publicized, I think it is important to hear both sides of the argument.

The land alienation procedure is not for the “complete” removal of the right to own land by all Americans. The purpose was to prevent businessmen and speculators from buying up the islands during its formative years, which had the potential of making the indigenous people a renter class on their own island like they once were under the Japanese. I’m sure the U.S. senators and president never intended for American citizens who are not indigenous to remain a renter class forever on these islands. The procedure is for “adapting or transforming” to rectify this clear contradiction with the federal Constitution. I’m sure there are federal remedies if we can’t satisfy the U.S. Constitution in a reasonable amount of time. So do we really want this to become another federalization issue sometime in the future or fix it ourselves in 2011?

It appears that the students have only “one perspective” on this issue. But I think the indigenous people and the students need to be educated on the other side of the argument before jumping to deny your fellow Americans anything. First, you must think about the over 10,000 lives it took to get your land back for you from the Japanese. You asked to be a part of the U.S. but you show your appreciation by denying a basic right of all American citizens. Think about the over $200 billion in mainland taxpayer money that has been sent to the CNMI over the years and it’s still coming but we haven’t sent one dime to the U.S. for expenditures on the general welfare of the country—with all that money coming from the mainland, you would think mainlanders wouldn’t have a problem buying a house and lot in the CNMI.

Put yourself in our shoes (a professional from the mainland) who have been asked through recruitment to come out here and work for 20 years. These people have to pay rent or lease property for 20 years and have no home to retire in and no home for their children, which makes them a “renter class” in their own society even though they are our top professionals—we are all supposed to be equal. We (mainlanders) should not be treated like aliens in our own country. Just think how it would feel if local people couldn’t own land in Las Vegas, California, Oregon or any state. I humbly beg of you to think long, hard and to walk a mile in a person’s shoes before you consider denying them anything, especially when it is a guaranteed U.S. Constitutional right—the supreme law of the land.

The indigenous people must be mindful that their requirement for owning land is seriously flawed with inequity, when any adopted child, regardless of ethnicity, can own land. There will also be a problem with the percentage of indigenous bloodline requirement because of the increasing number of mixed marriages. In less than a hundred years, there will only be a small handful of people who can qualify to own land and then we will have to change the law, so do we correct this gross injustice now or do we wait until the life cycle forces us to? On a final note, private landowners are also being denied their right to “free enterprise” when their “right” to sell their land to any U.S. citizen is being denied.

Ambrose Bennett
Kagman High School