Got citizenship?

The United States of America does not include the CNMI. By their own interpretation of the U.S. Constitution we do not fall under the definition of a “State” therefore they do not have to afford us the full protection of the Constitution. If you withhold the right of representation, and the right to vote, other parts of the Constitution start falling apart and become meaningless. The freedom of speech doesn’t mean much if you don’t have a voice?

Let’s take a look at the two rights they’ve decided to withhold from the people of the CNMI, but first I want you to think about this. What if the United States decided to chose two different rights offered in the Constitution, to withhold from the people, for example, the right to a fair trial, and equal protection. Everyone would say that’s ludicrous, are they crazy? Yet, it is equally absurd to call a group of people Citizens, and withhold any part of the Constitutional protection afforded all other citizens. Why aren’t we questioning this?

Why offer any protection under the U.S. Constitution, just call us U.S. citizens and leave it at that. Since the term “U.S. citizen” doesn’t really mean U.S. citizen anymore I don’t think anyone’s going to care or, notice, how you use it. We had to draft our own Constitution anyway so we’ll just use it. The real question is why you choose those particular “rights”.

After World War I the care and protection of our islands was turned over to the Japanese. It didn’t take long before the temptation became too great and they chose a military option to try and assimilate all that they had been entrusted with. After World War II a similar scenario took place and the United Nations turned the care and protection of our people over to the United States, and, sure enough, it didn’t take long before the United States succumbed to the same temptation, and instead of choosing a military option they chose the Hegemonic tools of citizenship, international status, and economic dependency, among other similar methods, to ruthlessly assimilate all they were entrusted with.

I know some people are going to have a problem with me comparing the U.S.’s involvement in this part of the world with the Japanese, but both the Americans and the Japanese violated a trust and went onto destroy something they had been given to protect.

Does anyone else see how surreal things are getting around here? We live under a fictional self-government, we’re walking around in the aftermath of 10 years of economic ruin, juxtaposed with remnants of earlier devastation our people have endured at the hands of others.

The biggest myth floating around our island is that we are incapable of governing ourselves. I just don’t see how anyone can possibly say that when we’ve never been given a chance to even try for the last 500 years.

And, the reason they chose those particular rights to withhold from our people is because, Its easier to ignore someone when you don’t have to worry about them voting for you in the next election

I’m associated with an organization that is going to try and make the U S accountable for what they’ve done to the CNMI. It’s not going to be easy but for the next four weeks you can find us here; Marianas Agupa every Saturday Morning between 9am and 11am on KWAW, Magic 100.3 FM.Or follow us at Fight Against Colonial Expansion, F.A.C.E.

You can become involved, or just tune in to watch us try, either way we truly appreciate your willingness to here what we have to say.