{"id":301433,"date":"2019-06-13T06:06:24","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T20:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=301433"},"modified":"2019-06-13T06:06:24","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T20:06:24","slug":"hunter-issues-a-call-to-action-at-mhs-graduation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/hunter-issues-a-call-to-action-at-mhs-graduation\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunter issues a call to action at MHS graduation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Glen Hunter delivers the keynote address for the MHS Class of 2019 graduation. (REICA RAMIREZ)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Glen Hunter, a vocal critic of the Torres administration, who was the keynote speaker at the Marianas High School Class of 2019 graduation, urged the CNMI community to demand answers from the administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must hold our leaders accountable. We must ask the tough questions. We must demand answers,\u201d said Hunter in his keynote speech.<\/p>\n

Hunter, who owns The Shack Saipan, Airstream Cafe, and GoHydro LLC, encouraged the graduating class of MHS to become active citizens in the community.<\/p>\n

He talked about recent issues in the community such as austerity measures and public corruption, about the \u201chemorrhaging\u201d healthcare system, infrastructure, and school system. <\/p>\n

Hunter called out government leaders, stating that they have failed to \u201cplan properly\u201d and \u201cprioritize spending.\u201d He accused them of widespread corruption that benefits their political self-interests. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey say we get the government we deserve. I believe we deserve so much more than what we have had in recent history and what we have today,\u201d Hunter said. He blames the government for spending more money than it takes in, saying this is the cause of the CNMI\u2019s economic quagmire.<\/p>\n

Hunter challenged the graduates, the community, and business owners to stand up to the government, against political pressure, and to exercise their public voice. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need [to be] willing to tell the government that we will not be intimidated. We will not be silent. \u2026It is all very possible. You have so much power,\u201d Hunter added. <\/p>\n

He also encouraged people to do their own research, read, ask questions, and demand answers\u2014to exercise their \u201cpower as active citizens to better these islands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunter expressed himelf stunned by the lack of graduates willing to come back to the CNMI in 10 years. He believes that his generation and the generations before him were tasked to create a \u201cbetter place\u201d the future generation could call home and return to it. \u201cYet 80 percent of you on stage don’t envision yourself living here 10 years from now\u2026We talk about the fact that so many of our youth leave and never return after graduating. Yet we have done so little to make these islands more inviting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunter explained that he was not speaking out of hatred or anger but because of his love for the islands and his hope for the next generation. <\/p>\n

\u201cI realize now that I can\u2019t ask you to be active citizens, you already are. I ask you instead to build on that and to continue to be active citizens,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

Administration supporters have taken to social media to criticize Hunter\u2019s comments, mostly saying the speech was inappropriate for a graduation ceremony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Glen Hunter, a vocal critic of the Torres administration, who was the keynote speaker at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":301435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[365],"class_list":["post-301433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-mhs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}