NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Just a few more days until ChaNoWriMo. Kao listo hao esta? Ti bei puni na gof ti listo yu'. Mamange' yu' kada diha, lao ti hu hassussuy i estoria-hu para ChaNoWriMo. Esta tres anos maloffan di hu tutuge' este na estoria, put i Lihenden i Chamurai. Gof malago' yu' na bei hu na'funhayan este na estoria, lao chachago' ha' i hinichum este na chalan. Kada sakkan ani mata'ta'chong yu' para bai hu tuge' este, hu tulailaika gui' gi este na banda, hu na'ladadangkolo gui' gi este na banda. Gi humuyongna esta mas ki 150,000 na palabras i tinige'-hu.  Gi un lepblo, diposti na i titige' i ma'gas. Guiya fuma'tinas i petsona siha, guiya gumiha i estoria ni' minalago'-na yan matuge'. Gi este na manera, un titige' kulang un Yu'us. I lepblo i mundo-na. Guiya muna'fanhuyong este na tano' yan todu i manasaga' guihi. Lao para Guahu, ti taiguihi i siniente-ku put tumutuge...

Last week I visited the Yoko Gushiken museum in Ishigaki island. It was an interesting moment because of the way it connected to the many discussions of the week relating to decolonization, nationalism and activism. Gushiken is a celebrity in Japan and in the international world of boxing. He was the WBA Flyweight Champion for five years, with a record of 23-1, 15 wins by KO. Although he came from the small island of Ishigaki he fought in rings around the world. In a two-story house on the edge of the tourist area of Ishigaki City, you will find his museum. It has his trophies, images of him and a mock practice ring with highlights from his matches playing on a TV nearby. Throughout the museum was images of eagles, as the eagle is an important animal to Ishigaki Island and it was his symbol that he put on his uniform and on his promotional materials. You might wonder what a boxer like Gushiken might have to do with the conference I was attending, where Okinawan ...

I interviewed so many cool people over the last week in Okinawa and Ishigaki Islands. I did so with the help of Okinawan activist Shinako Oyakawa who I first met in 2010 during a demilitarization study tour to South Korea. I was fortunate enough to join her, Bruce Gagnon and Corazon Fabros on on a trip to South Korea where we visited areas affected by US military facilities and training. Later I met Shinako in the context of solidarity activism in connection with Okinawa. She is a member of an academic association which is pushing for Okinawan, Ryukyu or LewChu independence from Japan. Her group has invited me to several conferences in Okinawa over the years and she is usually stuck translating the mindless things I say into Japanese. Another connection I have to Shinako is that she is a language revitalization activist. She is from Okinawa, one of many islands in what most people consider to be "Okinawa" or the Ryukyu Islands. Most people in Okinawa speak Japanese, but t...

This past year I was fortunate enough to help Dr. Kelly Marsh-Taitano and Tyrone Taitano with the annual island review for Guam to be published in The Contemporary Pacific. I've been reading these annual reviews for years now and they are always a wonderful resource for people who are trying to trace trends or movements in the island. These reviews sometimes have a good way of highlighting certain things that the mainstream media in Guam ignores or doesn't give much attention. For this year's review I focused on the section dealing with the Commission on Decolonization. This is one thing which the reviews often times draw alot of attention to, even if the island community in general isn't paying attention or doesn't care. I'm pasting below the Guam review from 2003, written by Chamorro Studies and History professor from the University of Guam Anne Perez Hattori: ******************** Guam - Island Review by Anne Perez Hattori The Contemporary Pacific 200...

The Great California Genocide by gjohnsit DailyKos 8/14/2008 What do you think of when someone says "California"? Beaches? Sunshine? Hollywood?   How about the largest act of genocide in American history? "The idea, strange as it may appear, never occurred to them (the Indians) that they were suffering for the great cause of civilization, which, in the natural course of things, must exterminate Indians."  - Special Agent J. Ross Browne, Indian Affairs  California was one of the last areas of the New World to be colonized. It wasn't until 1769 that the first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá, was built in California at present-day San Diego. It was the first of 21 missions, which would become the primary means for the Spaniards to subjugate the natives. The leader of this effort was Franciscan friar Junípero Serra .  Despite whatever the movies portray, the missions were coercive religious, forced l...

  Questionable Shootings Raise Tensions in Custer County Brian Daffron 1/14/14 Indian Country Today Media Network   Within the heart of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal jurisdiction in western Oklahoma sits Custer County. The county’s namesake made a name for himself as an “Indian Fighter” by attacking Black Kettle’s village on the Washita River in 1868—four years after Black Kettle survived the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864. In the past few years, Custer has found itself linked again to the mysterious deaths of Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal members. On June 28, 2012, police officers in the city of Clinton, within Custer County, shot and killed 34-year-old Benjamin Whiteshield outside of their police station. According to the Oklahoman , Whiteshield’s family took him to the police station to get help for an alleged delusional episode. The report said that Whiteshield was armed with a crescent wrench, but nothing in the news report stated whether ...

This week I am in Taiwan, I'll be attending and presenting at the 2015 International Austronesian Conference. People from Guam have been attending this conference for quite a while and I am honored to be the most recent attendee. I'll be presenting a paper titled, "The Austronesian Sakman: The Role of FESTPAC in Chamorro Efforts at Cultural Revitalization." I am attending on behalf of the Guam Council on the Arts and Humanities Agency (GCAHA) and so I made certain my presentation was connected to FESTPAC which will be held in Guam next year. I'm pasted below my abstract and I'm sure I'll be sharing more about my experiences on this blog. Chamorro culture of the Mariana Islands has been dramatically influenced by centuries of colonization by Spanish, Japanese and American forces. Despite these changes, the Chamorro people have maintained various forms of continuity to their Austronesian ancestors that are still manifest today in ...