Open letter to Mr. Gary Dubrall

My dear friend: I cannot help but disagree with you when you said that “I am part of the problem, not part of the solution” (May 23, 2014, Saipan Tribune and Marianas Variety). You got it all backwards—“You are part of the problem, I am part of the solution.” Too often, a new visitor to our island will tell us: “This is good for you,” “You cannot do that,” “That’s not how we do it,” etc. I am sure they mean well with good intention. But how in the world would they know what is good for us when they just got here? You fit those characteristics, for you are smart, seems to know all the answers, and insisting “one size shoe fits all” mentality.

Our Carolinian elders would definitely label you as “mwaal ye esoor scheel faschal.” Sorry, this old dumb “bigot” does not know how to translate “mwaal ye esoor scheel faschal” into a foreign (forked) tongue.

If I seem to impose my belief on you, it was never my intention to do so. I sincerely apologize to you and to others that I may have offended, if that indeed is the case.

You do not have to believe me, but I am sometimes invited to share my rich Carolinian cultural heritage with those who are curious and interested to know about us. A majority of these people are not from the island. We usually end up good friends afterwards, and I immensely enjoy sharing my heritage with them! I am inspired by their stories as well. To mention a few: I’ve shared with elementary school children, junior high school students, college students, in Guam and elsewhere, and as a cast member of the Honolulu Theater for Youth in the production of a play, Song for Navigator, a play that celebrates the people of Micronesia. Song for Navigator was so well received that it was accepted into the prestigious Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Also, the entire cast was invited by the Australian government, all expenses paid, to perform in Adelaide the following year, where the play eventually ended. I helped and encouraged my brother Pius “Mau” Piailug to share our sacred knowledge of the Carolinian celestial navigation with our native Hawaiian friends, to the people of Polynesia, and to the world, for that matter. The University of Hawaii board of regents bestowed an honorary doctoral degree on Mau for all that he did and contributed to the humanities. I only helped in a small way, for I was there and wrote his acceptance speech.

I usually keep things to myself, but I sincerely hope the above will help to show that I am not imposing my beliefs on anyone. Rather, this is a struggle to keep my simple life simple and my identity as a human being in a high-tech, modern time.

Do we need to forget our ancestral history, be it American or world history? I need that history in written or oral form to guide me and make me a good person in 2014 and beyond. You compare us with the KKK. These are white supremacist KKK. I’m brown KKK. We are very different in spirit and belief, and we do not hang black people simply because they are black. You are not going to see a Carolinian showing off his “personal” excellence, like you do, in the newspaper either. You really do not know us, and you will continue to confuse yourself by comparing us with others.

You ask me if I “try to heal the divisions in this [our] community?” As I have already mentioned, I also participated in public forum, with public education, as a guest speaker on traditional healing, at village meetings, etc. and will continue with that struggle to bring healing, good spirit, peace, and harmony to our island community and elsewhere. It’s an old, old, Carolinian teaching and belief! But then you don’t have to believe me.

Since we’ve never met, I am personally inviting you and sincerely hope you join me at our house in Chalan Kanoa behind the former Pacific Gardenia to share some of our stories in hopes of bringing peace, harmony, and understanding.

Lino M. Olopai
Chalan Kanoa, Saipan