The shackles of racism

I’m more than disgusted in what should have been overcome with the newly elected President of the United States, Barrack Obama—racism. However, it has not and seems to still have a long road to extermination. What’s worse is to whom the racism is directed and by whom it is being displayed. Although I am a native-borne, full blown Chamorro, I have been witness to the ongoing elitist views of a small group of our own people.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought non-violently for years to realize a dream of equality amongst all mankind. Malcolm X similarly exercised his rights as an American citizen to prove the intellect and strength of an oppressed people. But there remains the mold of corruption in the hearts of few who are destroying what these leaders fought for—to shed light in the eyes of Washington. The targets of hate are now of a different face primarily, but are reliving the hate our black brothers and sisters supposedly overcame during the civil rights movement.

As a substitute educator in one of the high schools in Guam, I vividly remember hearing the quiet ramblings of younger Chamorro teens toward their Micronesian brothers and sisters. It was most times audible enough for the Palau or Chuukese students to overhear easily, but quiet enough to be below the radar of most educators. Words and remarks dipped in hate have a tendency to bury itself deep in the heart of its target. Reading the Saipan Tribune, I again see the brush strokes of racism paint an almost surreal vision of discrimination toward our foreign workers. Filipinos, Korean, Chinese, and others are targeted as less than equal, and therefore less than human.

Hate is a virus not easily overcome but can breed with enhanced speed and accuracy. Contrastingly as interesting, I read the cries of our people calling on our leaders to have our voices heard as equals to the mainland citizens of the United States and, in the same breathe, claim the U.S. citizens in our own islands who are not Chamorro or Carolinian are barely worth mentioning. It is the most atrocious of two-facedness!

We are no better than our foreign brothers and sisters! Our ethnicity holds no bloodline more royal than theirs! This mindset has to change in order for our people to have a solid foundation of reasoning to bring to the tables in Washington. How can we ask for what we cannot, or will not, give?! Many of our children hold mixed bloodlines and many more will be sure to have less Chamorro or Carolinian blood purity in their genes, as years follow. Are they to hate their family members who are not of our native land? Are they to deny their fellow brothers and sisters the right to an equal voice simply because they are born of foreign descent? There is no worse hypocrisy should that become!

And now I ask you, I implore you, what defines taotao tano or Chamorro or Carolinian?? What defines Y Nasion Chamorro?! Is it the ancestry of our bloodline? Is it the ability to engage in conversation via our native tongue? Is it the structure of our physical features or the size and stature of our person? Is it the residence of our family? My father is Chamorro, as is my mother and their parents before them, and their parents before them again, for generations before. Our bloodline holds the pride and fierce determination of our ancestors! Does that make me Chamorro? And if so, am I therefore better than Filipinos, Koreans, or Chinese? My mother resides on Rota and my father resides on Saipan. My grandparents are one with our native lands, as are hundreds of our relatives before. I reside in the mainland. Am I now less than Chamorro? Are my children now less than Chamorro, because of me? My features resemble that of my parents and yet I am often mistaken for Hawaiian, Filipino, Mexican, Puerto Rican, and on and on. Does this lessen my ethnicity? Does it lessen my right to voice my concerns in my native land?

Being raised primarily in the United States mainland and having a mother who wanted me to learn as much as possible in predominantly English speaking schools, she almost never spoke our language to me or my siblings, as she wanted us to be proficient in the language of America, and therefore I can’t engage in fluid Chamorro conversation. Am I now less a native than the Chamorros who can? No, I am not! I am proud of my heritage and our culture. I am educated enough to realize wrong from right and I will be the first to tell you, what is being said and done to our foreign brothers and sisters is WRONG! This treatment and mentality is worse than what white America did to the slaves in history past! American citizens died, bled, and cried in the streets of our nation to bring about change and equality.

Now, decades after, a man holding native African and White American blood in his veins is soon to take office as President of the United States of America. A man who lived in mainland America as well as Island America; who knows the culture of many ethnicities and has suffered the trials of the majority of Americans want. A man who has proven drive can bring about the realization of a dream! But while mainland America is realizing this truth, island America is intent on oppressing a select group of people because of their status, because of their ethnicity! Any of you, natives or elected leaders who hold the belief that merely because the CNMI is our native land and therefore natives are the only ones with a voice are more ignorant than the leaders of the Ku Klux Klan! Your hate is worse than the terrorist actions of the Middle East! Your pride will be the downfall of our culture!

Yes, we are Chamorro and Carolinian and it is the land of our ancestry, but the rights provided in the Constitution of the United States are rights for all American citizens, regardless of location! Their voices are equally important, as what Washington decides affects all residents of the CNMI. Those who are not American citizens and do not agree with the writings of the constitution can leave and will leave. Those remaining, if they are American citizens, should be given as much attention as any native.

Our people will not be free of the bonds of oppression while there are leaders watering the seeds of hate. We cannot expect Washington to heed our voice if we continue to allow the racial inequality to spread and grow. We cannot expect Washington to pay attention to our cause when all they find are elitist motivations from any few elected officials or from small groups of movers and shakers residing here. When we can freely open our arms to the other citizens residing with us; when we decide to vote for those representing integrity and drive for the progression of our people; and when we take action instead of talk, only then will the leaders in Washington truly see a reason worth their attention. Until then, the shackles of racism will continue to bleed our people and Washington will simply do what they are contracted to do, nothing more and I can’t blame them.
[B] Dwaine Blas Reyes[/B] [I]Sierra Vista, AZ[/I]