In Search Of A Lost Identity By: Anthony Pellegrino, Part I

Today most of us in the CNMI are searching for an identity. Do we pledge allegiance to the CNMI or to the United States or to both? Many of us feel that we are first, citizens of the CNMI and second, citizens of the United States. This can be seen at public functions and in schools. The CNMI song is sung at all functions, but the American “Star Spangled Banner” is rarely sung. The “Pledge of Allegiance” to the American flag is rarely recited. I am willing to bet that eight out of ten people do not even know the words.

We hold a U.S. passport and desire all the benefits that it bestows on the holder. Yet many people feel little if any kinship with the United States. They proudly proclaim to be citizens of the CNMI because they were born here. However all U.S. residents, whether born or migrated here, are being forced to seek an identity.

My main concern is what are we teaching our children? Do we discuss with them about being citizens of the CNMI and/or citizens of the United States? What are we planting in their fertile minds about to whom they should pledge allegiance?

The Legislature has embraced a philosophy of protectionism. They are passing laws which discriminate against non-native born people although these same people hold a U.S. passport. In the recent election, several initiatives were sneaked onto the ballot which could drastically alter the relationship with other U.S. passport holders. The government is engaging in obscurantism, a bad policy of withholding knowledge from the general public thereby causing deliberate vagueness or abstruseness.

All of these will cause debilitating results in our society and in our relationship with the United States, the country we overwhelmingly voted to join with for our future. The present attitude chips away at the very fiber and core of democracy. To prevent our beloved CNMI and its citizens from making foolish and uneducated decisions, it is best that we reread the documents that brought us to our present status. After refreshing ourselves with their philosophy, we will then be better prepared and more astute to engage in altering our Constitution, Covenant, and our relationship with the United States. These documents are the bedrock upon which we built our house.

Let’s read or reread the following books to assist us in understanding what our relationship should be. Read and discuss them with your children. To do less is gross ignorance. If you don’t own these books, borrow them from the library or purchase them at the NMC bookstore or on the internet.

A. The Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

B. The Covenant of the Commonwealth of the Northern, Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America.

C. The History of the Northern Mariana Islands, written by Don A. Farrell

D. SelfGovernment and Citizenship in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. USA, written by Samuel F. McPhetres

E. The Constitution of the United States of America, 1787

F. The Bill of Rights. 1791

G. Any history textbook of the United States

Borrowing words from President John F. Kennedy’s “Inaugural Speech” of January 20, 1961, the search for our lost identity can best be summed up: “All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days’ .. nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.” Your and your children’s future is in the balance. (continued)