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A yes vote
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Posted on Nov 05 1999
My advise to indigenous people is, if you know what’s good for you and you want to protect the only right you have left that keeps you from being completely over run by non indigenous groups, then vote yes on Legislative Initiative 11-1. Don’t be misled. The only indigenous who will vote against the initiative are those who are acting as secret agents for non-indigenous persons and corporations who illegal own land in the Commonwealth. These are the holes in the loop that need to be plugged.
Yes, we may have to endure court challenges, but we have endured far greater oppositions in the past. That is why our ancestor were literally massacred to the point of extinction; to preserve what they believed in. Within the first decade of the next century there could be enough non indigenous voters in the CNMI to silence the voice of the indigenous people. They’re promoting the Commonwealth on Channel 3. Just check out how many indigenous there are in that film.
Other than the Indian Reservations, American Samoa and Palau this is the only other place in the free world with land ownership protection for the indigenous. The land we have title to rightfully belong to the next generation. Believe me, they are going to need that edge. We are just a drop in the sea of people waiting to overtake us. We may not be able to hold back the river forever, but there’s no reason why we should chip holes in the dam. If we allow non-indigenous persons the right to determine the outcome of a Constitutional law that is intended to preserve land ownership for the indigenous then we are defeating the purpose for having that Constitutional law (Article XII) in the first place. It’s like inviting the wolf to guard the chicken coop.
If we should ever allow non-indigenous persons to vote on Article XII questions then they must have lived in the Commonwealth for at least 27 years and 6 months. That should give them enough time to own a bonafide stake in the quest for a better Commonwealth and not just be opportunists and prospectors passing by, which is who they mostly are; here today and gone tomorrow. Grab the money and run. Most of us are here for good.
Jose C. Mafnas
