Hami, i Taotao
Hami, i
Taotao Guahan
by Michael Lujan Bevacqua
The Marianas Variety
July 29, 2015
On December
17th, 1901 a group of more than thirty men, primarily Chamorros
gathered in Hagatna. Most prominent on their minds was the political status of
their island Guam, which had been taken by the United States during the Spanish
American War three years earlier. Since the transfer of power, confusion over
Guam’s future hung like dark foreboding clouds. Although the American flag flew
over Guam, the United States had not set up a government in which Chamorros
would now enjoy the glories of American democracy. They had established a
military regime which the US Navy total control over the lives and lands of
Chamorros.
The group
that gathered in Hagåtña represented some of the largest landholders, the
wealthiest families and some of the most educated Chamorros of the day. They
carried last names familiar to us today, such as Perez, Torres, Dungca,
Quitugua, Martinez, Diaz, Calvo, Untalan and Sablan. The result of this meeting
was a document, a petition directed towards the United States of America and
its Congress, requesting that they please do away with the military government
they had created and instead allow a permanent civilian government on the
island. The petition begins like so,
We, the undersigned, citizens of
the Island of Guam, a dependency of the United States of America, respectfully
and humbly petition Congress, asking its attention to the following exposition
of the actual conditions that obtain in this island.
The present government was
established in August, 1899, its legal status being that of a military
government of occupation, under the authority of a naval officer, the commandant
of the naval station established in the island.
By
1901 it was apparent that the United States had little interest in living up to
their ideals in Guam, and was going to govern the island in a paternalistic
manner, treating Chamorros like children, too immature or primitive to know
what is good for them. Faced with this basic contradiction of American
principles, these men had to choose between an acceptance of their new American
colonial status (which was actually a regression from their status under Spain)
or seek to improve their status, through whatever means they could. From the
language of the petition, we can see that the men who drafted it knew what they
were talking about and had no illusions as to their colonial situation. Here
are two quotes from the petition that I have found to be particularly important
in showing the quiet, but profound critiques the Chamorros launched at the
United States:
We believe that
actual conditions contain grave defects, inherent in the system of government,
which can be remedied only by Congressional action. A military government at
best is distasteful and highly repugnant to the fundamental principles of
civilized government, and peculiarly so to those on which is based the American
government…
It is not an exaggeration
to say that fewer permanent guarantees of liberty and property rights exist now
then when under Spanish domain. The governor of the island exercises supreme
power in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, with
absolutely no limitations to his actions, the people of this island having no
voice whatsoever in the formulation of any law of the naming of a single
official.
UOG
President Robert Underwood in his afterword for Penelope Bordallo
Hofschneider’s book Campaign for Political
Rights on the Island of Guam refers to this moment as the height of
Chamorro chutzpah. An unexpected moment as we look back in time, where
Chamorros spoke plainly about their colonial status, seeking some way of
changing it, instead of finding ways to blind themselves or justify their
colonization. There is an intelligence in this petition, an ability to see both
the limits of their connection to the United States, but also the
possibilities.
This
document is a petition that should be given to all students in our schools to
read. As an island that has been a colony of the United States for 117 years
texts like this should be just as important, if not more important to our
understanding of the world than the Constitution of the Declaration of
Independence of the United States. Things have thankfully changed over the past
century, but the fundamental political relationship, that of Guam being a
possession of the United States has not.
On
Guam, we spend so much energy creating an illusions of our relationship to the
United States. Each July for example, we imagine that the political connection
that people here have with their colonizer is one based on suffering and
starving Chamorros in Manenggon reaching up to the helping hands of liberating
Marines, who carry with them chocolate, powdered milk, Spam and applications
for food stamps. These are powerful images and moments from our past, but these
are not what defines our political relationship to the United States. This is
too often the moment where we forget colonial realities, cover over them with
patriotic reds, whites and blues and fantasize that we are just another part of
the United States.
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