Re: Fitial: NMI illegals now over 9,000

An article came out in the Tribune today called "Fitial: NMI illegals now over 9,000," in which our beloved genius of a governor says that he is more than willing to deport over 9,000 people from the CNMI. This man would be removing many people who have been living and working in the CNMI (and thus contributing greatly to the community and economy) for decades, and separating parents from their US citizen children or otherwise forcing the children to decide between their home or their parents; and he is perfectly fine with doing so! We knew he was bad news before, but now we see just how heartless and truly evil this man is. How he won a second term in office, I will never understand.

“I told them that if you cannot deport overstayers, give me the authority to do so because I am very good in deporting overstayers,” he said in an interview on Saturday. (From the article) If that's the case, why don't you go ahead and deport yourself, since you're an overstayer too…. an overstayer in public office! You don't deserve to be our governor, and our people KNOW that. YOU know that. So, since you're so proud of being "very good in [wrong article, by the way; you're supposed to use AT, not IN…..learn some English, it'd do you good] deporting overstayers," PLEASE, Governor Fitial, do everyone in the CNMI a huge favor and deport yourself outta office!

“I don't understand what humanitarian parole is. My humanitarian issue here is my people who are not working because we have an underground economy going on because of too many legal overstayers,” he added. “Everybody who is not contributing to the community should not be here. In other words, get out. I cannot be more clear than that.” (From the article) So, everyone who is not contributing to the community should not be in the CNMI, eh? Are you going to tell that to the thousands of people of Northern Marianas Descent who are unemployed and living off of food stamps and other forms of welfare? People who have been doing it for years, and some even for GENERATIONS? Because last I checked, they don't contribute to the community, either. IN FACT, most of the foreign workers in the CNMI have contributed a whole LOT more to our community than those career foodstampers, so if your main concern and priority is getting everyone out of the CNMI who doesn't contribute to our community, why don't you start with the career foodstampers? Oh, that's right, that's because you're NOT actually concerned about people who aren't contributing to the community; you're actually concerned about foreign workers because you hate them so much and you just want them all gone. I think someone's forgetting where one of his loved ones came from….

“We need to remove all these overstayers because they are not contributing to this community,” he said, adding that when the Department of Homeland Security found out that the CNMI government was planning to sue over the one-year parole that USCIS has been starting to grant, “they requested that we talk. So talk is continuing.” (from the article) Yeah, because that is this GEINUS's idea for solving everything: sue the federal government as much as possible, as often as possible, for whatever reason possible! Yeah!! Let's go ahead and waste the CNMI taxpayer money with pointless lawsuits! You spend millions on these lawsuits, and then complain that our economy is bust and you blame the foreign workers for it? These people have been contributing to society in the CNMI since way before you even started the Covenant Party, you fool. You want to see who the REAL cancer to the CNMI is, go look in a damn mirror!

And also, if you're going to deport these thousands of people, what do you plan to do about getting them their tax refunds and rebates? And what about the wages that their employers owe some of them? Are you just going to brush that off as well and say "Oh too bad, better luck next time?" What a disgrace. If you're going to say that you're going to deport all these people, you'd better get them their money first, or you're going to have more problems than just people "not contributing to the community."

These 9,000+ people have been living in the CNMI for decades and contributing to the community in more ways than one (culturally, economically, socially, etc.). The REAL reason he doesn't want them to stay is because he knows that these people are finally waking up from a long slumber; the very slumber that living and working in the CNMI has put them in…. they are starting to wake up and realize their true power, and they know that they CAN fight for their rights. And that scares the bejeezus out of our beloved Governor, because he knows that when these people win their fight and get their long overdue rights, the entire political arena in the CNMI will change and Fitial & Co. will lose the stranglehold that they have over politics in the Islands. He can't have that happen, so his simple solution to it all is to just try to deport them. That's a HUGE slap in the face to the thousands of people who have been living and working in the CNMI for decades, who have raised families there, and who have been contributing to the country for all this time. He's basically saying to them: "Thank you for your help with developing my country, but your usefulness has run out and I have no more need for you here (HAH!); no get the hell off my island and go back to where you came from!"

Is this really the kind of person you want running your country, CNMI? What happened to being a good Christian (Catholic) and living up to the words of your supposed savior and religious figurehead, Jesus Christ? I guess that your religious devotion, much like your political tact, is just a huge sham. Way to go, Governor. Making the CNMI look worse day by day…. You need to step down from office, I think.

That is all.

Re: Respect each other (Letter to the Editor, Marianas Variety, 03August2011)

I am not sending this letter in to the papers.  If you wish to comment on it, you may do so here.

You may read her letter at http://mvariety.com/2011080238992/letter-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-respect-each-other.php

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I would like to thank Ms. (Mrs.?) Winnie Atalig for her response to my letter.  It is great that the newspapers allow us to have such an exciting discourse.  I hope she is ready to take my response and understand that I am not attacking her as a person, for I do not know her personally.  I am simply replying to her letter and the beliefs and ideas she put forth in it.  Here goes...

Ms. Atalig believes that if someone was paid to help the CNMI grow, then “he doesn’t deserve credit for ‘helping’ the CNMI.”  If that is the case, then I suppose, according to her beliefs, none of our politicians deserve credit for “helping” the CNMI.  After all, they have been handsomely rewarded with lavish pay and benefits the entire time that they have been “helping” the CNMI, right?  Also, if we go by her beliefs, then I guess none of the other workers in the CNMI who have helped to develop our Islands (local indigenous included) deserve any credit for “helping” the CNMI.

She then goes on to give her own personal definition of what a resident is, which is inconsistent with the definition of the word “resident” in the dictionary.  She says that “a resident is someone who is born here, who has lived all his life here, who owns property here and is a voter.”  Having been born and raised in Saipan, and having lived there my whole life until after I graduated from high school, I consider myself to have been a resident at one point.  Unfortunately, I don’t meet the criteria set forth by Ms. Atalig.  Actually, if we go by her definition of a resident, that disqualifies a huge chunk of locals as well, considering that most of us can’t own land due to a controversial law which advocates racial discrimination.  Since we’re talking about legal issues here, let’s see which definition holds up in court; the Merriam-Webster dictionary definition, or her own personal definition.  I apologize if my definition hurt her, but the fact is, that is the dictionary definition of the word, and that trumps any personal belief of what it should be.

Apparently, she still believes that the granting of a better status to the non-indigenous resident workers of the CNMI will somehow cause the local indigenous population to lose their voice when it comes to the future development of our Islands.  I fail to see why many people believe this to be the case, so if anyone can please explain it to me, I would greatly appreciate it.  As far as I know, there is nothing in any current or proposed legislation that grants a better status to non-indigenous resident workers that will also take away the right to vote from the local indigenous population.  Again, if I haven’t done my homework, please, do correct me.

Then, she defends her Chamorro blood, saying that it separates her from the “nonresidents,” and she says that she wants to protect what is theirs, meaning “what we have been given the right to own and claim under the law.”  I have some news for her, and anyone else who aligns themselves with her idea of Chamorro supremacy: WE ARE ALL HUMAN BEINGS.  WE ALL BLEED RED.  Take down the racial and cultural barriers for once and actually look at these human beings.  They wake up each day and think of how they can sustain their family.  They brush their teeth, they shower, they eat meals, they go to work, they love their family.  They try to make an honest living.  How are they so different from you and I?  

As far as her wanting to protect what is theirs, I didn’t realize that you had the right to own and claim racism under the law.  That’s really the main thing that I can see that they want to protect: their ages of racist ways and taking advantage of slave labor.  You won’t find a foreign contract worker in the United States who has lived here for over fifteen years and is still considered a foreign contract worker, because Americans believe in equal rights for all human beings and provide a way to gain lawful permanent residence, and possibly even citizenship.  Slavery was supposed to have been abolished in the United States a long time ago, but apparently, it is alive and well in the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

She says that in protecting their assets and culture, “nonresidents should not be permitted to fish, hunt, make children, get married and take anything from our environment for free.”  I swear, I feel like I am reading this out of an American History textbook!  Her line of thinking sounds eerily similar to the racist caucasian population of 1950s America.  How is it possible in today’s America that anyone could be so self-righteous and ignorant that they believe they are superior to anyone not of their race; that people who are not of their race do not deserve to enjoy the same rights and freedoms that they enjoy?  That these non-Chamorro people don’t deserve to fish, hunt, make children, and get married?  This is ABSURD!  I cannot believe that anyone can honestly sit back and let this kind of thinking go unchecked.  I hate to break it to you, but we are all the same race.  We are all members of the HUMAN RACE.  Therefore, we all deserve equal rights.  You aren’t better than me or anyone else who isn’t “Chamorro” because we are all HUMANS.

She says that their culture is now dominated by other cultures and that “we are forced to change our language and our behavior.”  I have said it before, but I will say it again, for those of you who seem to have forgotten.  The changes you see in the Chamorro culture today are NOT solely the result of all these foreigners coming to live in the CNMI.  In fact, the only change in Chamorro culture that I see as a direct result of the foreigners coming to live in the CNMI is that it is apparently now a growing part of Chamorro culture to be extremely racist, hating all other races and believing in the supremacy of their own.  The other changes you see, whether it be in the way people talk or the way they act or dress, is a result of cultural globalization due to the television shows, video games, movies, and magazines that “your people” are exposed to.  If you cared so much about preserving your culture, perhaps it is not the non-indigenous residents you should be worried about, but the TV shows, movies, magazines, and video games that your children are so addicted to these days.

If she considered it such a threat for foreigners to come in and live on island, why on earth was she ok with it back when they invited all the foreigners to come develop their island and perform the jobs that the local indigenous population did not want to do?  She wants them to go through the same process as everyone else, but the laws in the CNMI prevent them from doing so.  In the U.S., foreign contract workers are provided with an opportunity to become permanent residents for their services to the country.  There is a process that they follow in order to do this.  Unfortunately, no such process has ever been set up in the CNMI; therefore, they are NOT able to “go through the same process as everyone else.”

No one started judging locals.  The “locals” brought it upon themselves when they decided to blatantly display their racism.  There is no judging involved; there is only the simple observation of the truth.  I don’t hate her for stating her opinion, because that is a right that she is entitled to under the Constitution of the United States of America, which I swore to protect and defend at one point in my life, even though I was not afforded those same rights while serving in the military.  I simply hate her opinion, which is so obviously rooted in racism and Chamorro supremacy.  I never said that I built the roads, airports, and hospitals.  Apparently, Ms. Atalig is so emotionally blinded that she now associates me with the non-indigenous resident worker population.  Sorry, Ms. Atalig, but I was born and raised on Saipan, and I am proud to be a local of the CNMI.  Furthermore, I never said for her to get out, or that this land was mine.  She misses my point every time because she is so blinded by her false beliefs.  In case anyone else misses my point as well, let me state it for you here and now:  My dream is for everyone in the CNMI, Chamorros, Carolinians, Filipinos, Chinese, Bangladeshis, Indians, Thais, and all other races alike, to live together in peaceful harmony with equal rights in a prosperous CNMI.  A CNMI where it’s not “you vs. me” or “Chamorros vs. non-Chamorros,” but US, UNITED as ONE people; the PEOPLE of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.  A CNMI where we can ALL work together towards the constant growth and improvement of our Islands and our people.

The foreign worker population in the CNMI does not desire conflict with the Chamorros.  All they want is an honest chance for a better life.  All they want is to no longer be treated as slaves.  All they want is a voice.  A voice, so that they can work together in equal standing with the Chamorros to help the CNMI become a better place.  They want the CNMI to succeed just as much as the local indigenous population wants to.  Please erase all thoughts in your mind that the foreigners are trying to steal the Islands from the Chamorros.  The non-indigenous population does not wish for a hostile takeover of the Islands.  They do not wish for any takeover.  They wish for harmony and equality and a peaceful life.

She wonders how I was treated here in the U.S., for me to have “all this hateful judgment” against her thoughts.  I was treated by my fellow Americans with kindness and acceptance, even though my skin color and ethnic background differed from theirs.  They gave me the same treatment that they expected me to give them.  I served alongside people from all over the United States and the world to protect and defend the Constitution that gives you the right to speak your mind.  We lived and worked together in harmony, regardless of where we came from.  THIS is why it upsets me so greatly to see that there is such great racism going on in MY homeland.  I cannot believe that I have been defending people’s right to speak racist thoughts and ideas back home.  It sickens me.  It disgusts me to a level I have never been disgusted before, and I have seen some pretty disgusting things in my time in the military.  

“Sadly, I thought that if you want to be part of a group, you should make friends, respect each other and help each other.  But many among us would rather fight for power than work as a team.”  Those were her exact words, and in saying them, she unknowingly tells us that she does NOT want to be part of the group that is the CNMI population.  Instead of making friends with and respecting the non-indigenous population, she insists that her race of Chamorros is superior and should always have a say in keeping the slaves as slaves, no matter how long they have been living and working legally in the Islands.  It’s absolutely disgusting.  “The CNMI should have the right to decide who should stay here?”  Well you obviously have decided that it was ok for them to stay there, since they have been living and working there for over 10 years (many even as long as 20!).  Why suddenly change your mind now?  Is it because they finally decided that enough was enough, and that they were tired of being treated like slaves?  Oh, so you’re alright with foreigners working for you and staying on island, as long as they obey your every word and live in conditions you give them and don’t complain.... I see.

“Yes, those born here have the right to become one of us, so I agree they should be residents.”  I had to laugh at this ridiculous statement.  First of all, who is she to say whether or not she agrees with U.S. citizens being residents of the CNMI?  Last I checked, the CNMI is a U.S. territory, and U.S. citizens can live there with no problems.  I think she is under the false impression that the CNMI is a sovereign country and that they have control over even the U.S. citizens who decide that they want to take up residence in the Islands.  I hate to burst her bubble, but that is simply not the case.  Secondly, what does she mean by “become one of us?”  If, by “one of us,” she means a racist xenophobic local, I think I’ll pass on that offer.  I prefer to live in a CNMI that gives all its residents fair and equal treatment, no matter what the color of their skin, their country of origin, or their religious beliefs.  Mutual respect for all human beings is truly the only way to live in this day and age.  

Her letter definitely explained her thoughts better than her last one.  Unfortunately, it also painted her as a racist xenophobic Chamorro supremacist.  Whether she truly is that, or if she is merely misguided into thinking that way, I do not know.  I do not know her personally, so I will refrain from passing judgment on her.  Everything that I know about her, I know from the letters that she sends to the papers.  I can only judge the ideas and thoughts that she puts forth in her letters, and it is very obvious that she has racist thoughts about the current situation.

Thank you for reading my letter.  I appreciate your time.  However, I am but one person.  Alone, I cannot make a difference.  But united with those of like mind, we CAN and WILL change the CNMI for the better.  I encourage all of you to stand up and speak out against the injustices that you see happening around you today.  Let your voice be heard; you never know who is listening and willing to support you.  Check out www.facebook.com/cnmiyouthrevolution, and if you agree with our manifesto, “Like” us and join the Revolution today!

Re: Testimony regarding H.R. 1466 (Letter to the Editor, Marianas Variety, 15July2011)

Hafa Adai CNMI!  I hate for this to be my debut “return to the press” piece, but I feel so strongly about this particular subject that I could not let another day pass without writing this letter.

I am writing this letter in response to a letter that was written by Susana Blas Deleon Guerrero, the president of the CNMI Women’s Association, on Friday, July 15, 2011.  This letter will cover many points that she mentioned in her letter and explain why I, as a human being, believe they are misguided statements or otherwise simply inaccurate.

In her fifth paragraph, she mentions that the CNMI indigenous people who attended the hearings for the implementation of Public Law 110-229 rejected “any improved status of thousands of aliens.”  She says that the reason behind this “is not that those in opposition refuse aliens to have some status, but the people oppose being displaced in their own ancestral homeland.”  Unfortunately, I don’t think she understands the meaning of the word “displaced.”  According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of “displace” is: to remove from the usual or proper place; specifically :to expel or force to flee from home or homeland.  Now, I may be wrong, but I don’t think that any foreigners who have come to the CNMI to work have gone around forcing locals to flee from their homeland.  Have any of you seen a contract worker holding a gun up to a Chamorro or Carolinian’s head and telling them that they need to leave the islands or die?  If you have, please let me know so I can stand corrected.  

Now, some of you might be thinking at this point, “Why use such an extreme example?”  I used the gunpoint example because when I was in the military, all my superiors would ask us during hard times if anyone forced us to sign the dotted line and join the service.  To those who would say “Yes,” they would respond, “No one forced you to join the military.  Did anyone hold a gun up to your head and tell you that you had better sign on the dotted line if you want to live?  No?  Then no one forced you to do anything, and you did it completely of your own free will.  Now you must live with the consequences.”  So, Ms. Deleon Guerrero, you can claim that the indigenous people of the CNMI are being displaced by the foreign contract workers all you like, but all it will ever amount to is a claim, because according to the dictionary definition of the word “displace,” your statement simply is not true.

She then makes the claim that most of the 30,000 U.S. citizens residing in the CNMI are   Chamorro and Carolinian, but she immediately follows that claim with saying that there are approximately 23,000 aliens residing in the CNMI.  She says that “it is arguable that there are more aliens residing in the CNMI than there are indigenous Chamorro and Carolinians.”  This simply cannot be logically sound, based on what she has written.  If there are approximately 23,000 aliens residing in the CNMI, and even just half of them are married couples who have children born on island, and if the average household has 3 children, then that equals about 17,000 non-Chamorro or Carolinian U.S. citizen children.  This number is over half of 30,000, therefore, I do not see how she can honestly say that most of the U.S. citizens in CNMI are Chamorro or Carolinian.

She tries to avoid blaming the CNMI Department of Labor and Immigration by saying that “many agencies over the years have failed to control the immigration of aliens into the CNMI.”  Now, I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that until the federal takeover, the CNMI DOLI was the sole authority on foreign people entering and exiting the Commonwealth.  I honestly don’t know 100%, so if I was under the wrong impression, please, do let me know.  

She then talks about the live births in the islands from 1990 to May 2011, and she goes into the demographics of it all, saying “out of 31,180 live births, 18,431 were of Filipino, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Indian, Nepalese, Bangladesh Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Burmese, and Sri Lankan descent.”  I fail to see where this is a problem, but apparently it is a huge problem for her, as she goes on to say that “This appalling number of 18,481 live births of aliens in the CNM has begun to disenfranchise the local indigenous population.”   Disenfranchise?  I’m beginning to wonder if she truly understands the meaning of the words that she is using, because I, for one, cannot see how the children born to alien workers are disenfranchising the local indigenous population.  

Let’s refer back to the Merriam-Webster dictionary for the definition of this word: to deprive of a franchise, of a legal right, or of some privilege or immunity; especially : to deprive of the right to vote.  Can someone please tell me how the births of all these children (whom she also wrongly calls “aliens”) in the CNMI has deprived any of the local indigenous population of their right to vote?  If there is something going on in the shadows that I don’t know of where children born to alien workers are preventing local indigenous people from voting, then I am sorry for my ignorance in this matter.  Also, I must say that it is a shame that she thinks of the children born to aliens as also being aliens.  These are children, mind you, who were born and raised in the CNMI as U.S. citizens and have contributed to the society just as much, if not more, than the average Chamorro or Carolinian child.  Take, for example, John Edward M. Elenzano, who was recently credited with an NMI first when he took home the gold while representing the CNMI at the NFL Nationals in Dallas, Texas.  Is he simply just another “alien” to you, Ms. Deleon Guerrero?  Because to me, he is a CNMI youth hero and a bright example of how the youth of our islands should be.

In her next paragraph, she says that H.R. 1466 will have a negative impact on the amount of social programs that will be available to local residents.  What exactly is her definition of “local?”  I’m pretty sure if someone is born and raised in a particular place, that makes them “local,” doesn’t it?  I know I’ve always considered myself a “local” of Saipan.  Even here in the continental U.S., when people I meet ask me where I’m from, I always tell them I’m from Saipan.  That is home to me, and that is the only place in this world where I would consider myself to be a “local.”

She goes on to say that “H.R. 1466 will also place the local indigenous population at a disadvantage in terms of employment and voting in local elections.”  I’m sorry, but I’ve got some bad news for her: H.R. 1466 has absolutely nothing to do with putting the local indigenous population at a disadvantage in terms of employment.  Unfortunately, the local indigenous population put themselves at a disadvantage in terms of employment when they chose to look to foreign lands to provide the CNMI with a workforce.  This created the separation of “classes of jobs,” i.e. the jobs that indigenous locals were more than happy to do, and the jobs that they absolutely refused to do.  This led us to the situation we are in today, where the contract workers take whatever jobs they can, which usually, if not always, fall into the first category, and the indigenous locals take up all the government jobs.  Please don’t go blaming H.R. 1466 for something that you all brought upon yourselves.

As far as her saying that H.R. 1466 will place the local indigenous people at a disadvantage in terms of voting, well, hey, that’s democracy and fairness at work.  These people (because that’s what they are, PEOPLE, not ALIENS) deserve nothing less than a voice in the community that they live in and have been living in and contributing to for many, many years.  If you disagree with that, then I’d have to say that you’re trying to bring slavery back into the U.S., but instead of using African-Americans as slaves, you’re using Filipinos, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Thais, Indians, Nepalese...you get the picture.  

The last of her statements that I’m going to address is found in her second to last paragraph, where she says, “Not only will H.R. 1466 displace thousands of indigenous Chamorro and Carolinian people, it will also deprive them of full potential benefits from social programs and another small benefits provided by the CNMI government...”  I’ve already covered the displacement thing, so we won’t revisit that here.  Instead, I’d like to focus on the racist aspect of this statement.  Essentially, what she’s saying here is that ONLY Chamorro and Carolinian people are entitled to benefits from social programs and other benefits provided by the CNMI government.  Last I checked, we are all human beings here, so what, exactly, makes these legal alien workers so different from the Chamorro and Carolinian people, that they do not deserve to receive the benefits from social programs as well?  Obviously, they can’t receive the “other small benefits” provided by the CNMI government, since they aren’t local indigenous people with relatives working for the government who can hook them up with jobs and whatever else “other small benefits” covers.  But they do at least deserve every bit of benefit from the same social programs that Chamorros and Carolinians enjoy.

We are all human beings here.  It matters not what color your skin is, what country you came from, what god(s) you worship, or what political affiliations you possess.  What matters is that everyone gets the same chance to succeed and that everyone is treated fairly and equally.  A human being deserves nothing less than that.  To be against H.R. 1466 is to be against giving human beings the voice that they deserve.  It is to be against the very same fairness and equality declared by the United States Declaration of Independence’s famous opening line: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...”  

In closing, she says that they “humbly and sincerely ask your committee to think of our indigenous Chamorro and Carolinian people of the CNMI.”  Well, for my closing, I humbly and sincerely ask you all to think of our fellow human beings who have been working for us, building our roads and buildings, handling our garbage, washing our clothes, cleaning our offices, and bringing revenue to our local business establishments over the years.  They are just as much a part of our society as you and I are, and they deserve the same rights that are afforded to us.  Don’t let racism get the best of you, when you know in your heart that they deserve the same rights that you enjoy having.  After all, you wouldn’t want these rights to be kept from you if you were in their place and you knew you deserved nothing less for everything you’ve done.

-----------------------------------------------------

For those of you who are interested, you can read her original letter to the editor here: http://www.mvariety.com/2011071438469/letter-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-testimony-regarding-h.r.-1466.php