Adios Senadot Ben
Senådot Ben was known for being an outspoken and highly
principled person. One of the ways in which this manifested was through his and
his office’s support for the decolonization of Guam and his work to help make
possible a political status plebiscite. Senådot Ben was born in Saipan and
traced his Chamorro lineage to Saipan. This made him ineligible to vote in a
political status for Guam. This did not deter him from seeing decolonization as
a critical issue and one he should take seriously in his life, as a matter of
justice worth supporting and fighting for. Because of the efforts of his
office, thousands of people were added to the decolonization registry, pushing
it closer than it ever had been before to meeting the 70% registered threshold
needed prior to the holding of a plebiscite.
Senådot Ben was one the few amongst Guam’s elected leaders
today who could fluently speak the Chamorro language and would use it in his
campaigning and in his speeches on the floor of the Legislature. He was well
known for his passionate use of Chamorro while in session, reminding others,
both Chamorro and non-Chamorro of the importance of Guam’s native language,
especially when fewer and fewer people are using it. A’gang i bos-ña Si Senådot
Ben, ya på’go mas suabi i bos Chamorro gi halom i leyeslatura.
I remember his presentation for the 2nd Marianas
History Conference in 2013 held at the University of Guam. Titled “Galvanizing
Past and Present Threats to Chamorro Homelands” he covered the importance of
the Chamorro Land Trust, a GovGuam agency created through a mixture of
government reform, grassroots activism and attempts at restorative justice. He
presented the struggles to get the Land Trust implemented, but also the need to
be vigilante in terms of keeping Guam’s land, the most sacred heritage of any
native people safe. As he noted in his presentation, “Manteni I Tano’ ya ta
susteni I taotao” hold onto the land and we will sustain the people. A simple, but profound truth. Senådot Ben, a
fine orator filled his articles and his speeches with many such powerful
points. For his memorial service, his staff and friends gathered together
portions of his writings and statements over the years and provided copies for
those gathered. His power and passion is
still evident in these words. Some of them I’ve gathered below:
*********
“My prayer and wish for you today is that you will not let
present day conventions and institutions mute your voices, clip your wings or
keep you from flight. That when the walls of today’s institutions confine and
obstruct your vision, that your imagination leads you to add new things to
these institutions and when that is not enough, you find the courage and
tenacity to raise them and build new ones. Don’t just think outside the box,
dismantle the box and you will have real freeom in your revolution.”
“Today, in a time full of cynicism, political sound bites
and press releases, we must remember who we are as a people. We once mastered
the navigation of the seas; surely we can determine our political future. We
survived a world at war; surely we can build an economy which leaves no
hardworking families behind. We are the inheritors of an ancient land; surely
we can leave this place better than we found it.”
“Despite hundreds of years of influence and suppression, the
fundamental principles that make our people unique remain intact. The values of
inagofli’e’, inarespeta, inaguaiya, ika and chenchule’ teach us a respect for
oneself and for another – that we take care of one another, especially in times
of need. Our values teach us that giving back is as important as standing up
for truth and justice – that our actions are a reflection of the people who
raised us, and the respect we pay them extends beyond their lives on earth.”
“We are no longer a generation rooted in the gratefulness of
a liberation. We are a generation whose hearts have been hardened by unkept
promises and transgressions unresolved. Knowing this, you have no reason to be
surprised as you are met with arms raised in opposition, rather than arms open
to accept your plans to take our lands again, change our way of life forever,
to once again suit your needs.”
************
The last time I saw Senådot Ben was at the movie theater a
few weeks before he passed. I was taking my kids to watch “Edge of Tomorrow”
and we bumped into him in the concession area. I had my kids fanginige’ him and
we talked for a bit. My daughter Sumåhi had gotten a hotdog and in Chamorro,
taking our cue from a prewar joke, we call it “maipen ga’lågu” which means
literally a hot dog (as in the animal). As we added ketchup to it he overheard
me refer to it as “maipen ga’lågu.” He started laughing and congratulated us
for keeping the language alive. In my last image of him, he was walking away to
watch “The Fault in Our Stars” with that “maipen ga’lågu” smile still on his
face.
Adios Senadot Ben.
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