DNC Day 3 - War Reparations and Self-Determination are on the Table

Here is an image from the floor votes earlier in the day.

When it came time for Guam to report its votes for the party nomination (Hillary pat Obama) there was some confusion. Guam has a total of 9 delegate votes, five super delegates and then eight regular delegates, which each get half votes.

When it came time to report the votes, former Guam Senator and current Guam Democratic Party Chair Pilar Lujan stated four votes for Barack Obama and three votes for Hillary Clinton. This being two short of the total they were supposed to provide.

In addition to this confusion, Pilar Lujan also made an impact on the proceedings with her short, but to the point introduction to Guam, prior to providing the tally for the Guam delegation.

She began by invoking that they were the delegation from Guam, "Where America's Day Begins" which was met by applause. She followed up this statement with a reminder that the Guam delegation seeks self-determination and war reparations from the United States. She again repeated a moment later, the reminder about self-determination for Guam.

Interestingly enough, in the draft Democratic platform, self-determination is something which they party is proposing to support for Guam. Even more interestingly, one of the issues which both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama spoke of during the Guam primary in May, namely war reparations, was not.

Considering that much of my interactions with Guam's delegation have focused on joy of being included and desire to move the island closer to the United States (and this participation being one way of feeling and doing that) I was naturally surprised and excited by this statement by the Guam Democratic Party Chair.