‘We the future’

The recent “We The People Conference” sponsored by the NMI Humanities Council was a huge success. The students of many public and private schools in the CNMI had the opportunity to be immersed in an intellectual and educational experience that yielded the arguments, the principles of America and the inside story on the negotiations of the Covenant and the creation of the CNMI Constitution. Having two of the founding fathers of the CNMI present to explain to students the inside story and to field questions by students was an educational opportunity that will come only once in a lifetime for an overwhelming majority of students. I haven’t been a part of an educational experience of the same caliber since I was a student at Georgetown University and we visited the Supreme Court to talk with justices and senators about the U. S. Constitution.

A social transformation of the CNMI’s future is well under way and it was very obvious at the conference. Over the past decade or so our leaders have been deeply indulging in politics and politicking, spending money and not making new money that the “social evolution” of the CNMI was never given the attention it needed but the conference revealed that students are clearly looking forward to their future. Unlike their parents and grandparents, the students today attend schools where equality prevails with a variety of ethnic groups and ethnicity is not a prerequisite for social interaction on school campuses. In many classrooms and activities the local students are the minority. Students don’t see the CNMI today in the same light or perspective of their parents. I’m sure they see the future as being much different from their parents’ past and it was obvious when the founders fielded their questions.

Just as it took America several hundred years to go from condoning slavery and denying women suffrage to promoting equality by law for everyone in America, it was obvious in the youth’s questions to the founders that, after 30 years as a Commonwealth, the CNMI’s society is well on its way to eliminating one of its first major obstacles to real prosperity—“the wall of social imperialism” that separates Chamorro and Carolinian Americans from ALL the other Americans. Students truly see the value of being “one people on an equal basis” in the CNMI and they demonstrated their intellect when they asked the founders “why is the CNMI’s Covenant in violation of the U. S. Constitution on the right to own property and won’t investors come if they can purchase the land for their business.” Another question that didn’t get to be asked was: “Why not develop other islands and preserve one island for locals only because its not fair to limit the populated land on Saipan, Tinian and Rota for locals only,” which tells me students see the bigger picture of the CNMI and have a better plan for the future of the CNMI.

One of the founders mentioned the warning by the Feds during the Covenant negotiations that “land alienation” would be a significant legal and moral challenge in the CNMI’s future, which is why a vote on land alienation by all registered voters of the CNMI is mandatory in 2011, and I can easily predict this day after attending the conference that “land alienation will be struck down or significantly changed in 2011.” I must say the future looks bright for the CNMI given these questions alone and it also explains why the top successful professional people and organizations are always looking for new people with new ideas—to stay ahead of the times for the future.

The biblical scriptures tell us that we can learn from our children and even the ants. The history of mankind’s evolution has also proven that our children continue to attain a higher level of intellectual knowledge, skills and performance (physical and cognitive) beyond their parents. Both of these phenomena were proven anew in the We The People Conference. Our leaders would do well to give serious consideration to the questions asked by our children on their future. The two weeks of studying the Covenant and the Constitution by the students in preparing for the conference and having a dialog with the CNMI’s founders was a life-changing event for many students because their eyes were truly opened to their future. I’m sure the students left the conference with the realization things must change and that they are indeed the future!

Kudos to the Tinian, Kagman High and Cha Cha team for winning the Q&A Jeopardy game on the Covenant and the Constitution and to Mrs. Rita Sablan, the Humanities Council and all the teachers and sponsors of the We The People Conference.

Ambrose M. Bennett
BoE Teacher Rep.