Speaking of outsiders

This letter is in response to Mr. Ambrose Bennett’s letter to the editor on Tuesday, July 13, 2004. As you read this letter, please keep in mind that I am aware of the saying: Two wrongs don’t make one right. As a local who just recently returned from New York, I can openly say that I was not welcomed as a fellow U.S. citizen. Even after making it known that I am a native of the Mariana Islands, both Guam and the CNMI, I was still regarded as a foreigner. Of course this came after I had to educate these self-described scholars from the northeast, touted as the best-educated region in America. I had to explain to these college seniors about the relationship between our islands and the country. Even so, I was still faced with the question: So, who is your president? After all that I’ve gone through trying to get this rather simple message across, I found that the best way was to compare our status with Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This wasn’t the beginning nor was it the end of my quest to educate our fellow U.S. citizens in the mainland about our islands and how we are allowed to call ourselves Americans. I traveled all over the mainland in two short years and I’m not saying that I experienced this sort of ignorance everywhere I went.

What I’m trying to say is that, even in this day and age, equality isn’t guaranteed when it comes to the way people see each other. No matter what anyone has to say about this subject, U.S. citizens living in U.S. territories are second-class citizens for as long as we are denied the right to vote for president and be represented by a voting representative in Congress. How can you expect the locals here in the islands to treat mainland U.S. citizens as equals when even the federal government doesn’t recognize us as equals?

The most valid reason why locals and mainlanders think differently is because we’re the ones who intend to live in these islands for the rest of our lives. We’re the ones who suffer the most when making wrong decisions. We’re the ones who carry the reputation of the islands wherever we go in the world. This isn’t just in the Marianas, ask the people of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and even Hawaii. We are all a part of the American family, but mainlanders need to understand that there are issues that respective island territories need to solve on its own and by its own people.

Mr. Bennett, give the locals some time. Even Hawaii, after almost 50 years of becoming a state, they still consider mainlanders as outsiders, too. The CNMI is America’s youngest child and we’re still learning to accept that we are fellow Americans. Until America rids itself of colonial-type jurisdictions, you can continue to expect division within the American family.

As for the mining subject, even if this project will assist the government in its current financial situation, it will take away so much more from the people. I’m sure you’ve heard arguments about the government jumping into any speck of possible economic recovery. Even if I don’t live there, I’m sure others can agree with me when I say that we aren’t at starvation level. We don’t have to sell everything we have in order to keep up with current financial troubles. Give the youth a reason to want to visit the Northern Islands and appreciate its natural beauty. Give the people of Pagan a reason to continue to live there. If the local government can’t afford to mine the volcano on its own, then maybe we just aren’t ready for mining in the first place.

Ronald Muna
Tumon, Guam