NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Chelef is someone from Guam’s history you may not be very familiar with. But the fact that we know his name had all, means he was a consequential figure. He lived at a time when Chamoru culture and the Chamoru people were under heavy assault by the Spanish, and being forced to give up their way of life in order to become Christians.  He is not as famous as figures such as Maga'låhi such as Hurao, Matå’pang well-known for challenging the Spanish or even those like Maga'låhi Kepuha or So'on, who were allied with the Spanish.   But he was nonetheless very infamous and notorious in his day and age. The story of Chelef often begins with the story of Dikike’ and her family.  In 1676, Dikike’ was a young girl from the village of Orote or Uloti on what is today Navy Base Guam.  Unlike most Chamorus at the time who were passively resistant to the Spanish, apprehensive or outright defiant, she was an eager and willing convert, even to the point of being willing to marry a...

  Prior to World War II, Sumay was the second largest village of Guam and because of its location near Apra Harbor, was very economically important as a hub for the island in terms of communications and trade. Because of this status, the families with ties there had a great deal of pride in their village identity and community.   The Trans-Pacific Cable Company, which laid the first telegraph wire across the Pacific, set up its station in the village in 1903. Sumay was also the landing site for the China Clipper from Pan American Airways, which built a hotel there in 1935.    Most of the first bombs that fell on Guam in the Japanese attack on the island on December 8th, 1941 were dropped on Sumay because of its strategic importance. The US Marine Barracks and tanks from Standard Oil were both hit. Within days after the Japanese invasion, all residents were evicted.    The bombardment and subsequent re-invasion of the island by US forces in July 1944 almost ...

  Hagagas i sengsong-ta siha, gof prisisisisu para u ditetmina, para u sinangåni håyi hit. Gi tiempon i manmofo’na na taotao-ta, i sengsong gumo'go'te i hale' i familia yan parientes siha ya mina'gåsi nu i Maga'låhi yan Maga'håga'. Tåya’ rai yan rainai guihi na tiempo. Tåya’ emperådot para todu i taotao-ta. Kada songsong taiguihi un guafak, tinifok todu i familia siha. Guaha na biahi inachaki entre i sengsong siha put asunton tåno' pat yanggen guaha inale' palao'an. Lao ta tungo’ na achokka’ chaddek manmamu, chaddek lokkue’ manasi’i. Gi duranten i Geran CHamoru yan Españot, guaha na songsong siha mandanña' para u ma mumuyi i Españot. Gi 1670s Si Maga'låhi Agualin tumachu para u mumu kontra i Españot, på'go i pumalu taiguihi as Maga'lahi Don Antonio Ayihi tumachuyi i Españot. Gi duranten i mafa'na'an "Reduccion" manafuetsas i taotao-ta gi todu i Isla siha para u fanm...

Retellings of Guam history focus heavily on the end of the World War II on the island, and de-emphasize the start of the war. It is like this for some obvious and some less-obvious reasons. As I've written about before, where you place the narrative locus for these 32 months of Chamoru history will heavily affect what type of lessons or ideas emerge. If you focus on the end, the triumphant American return, where the Japanese are defeated and Chamorus are liberated from tyranny, the lessons seem pretty clear. American power and benevolence and propensity for liberation and democracy spreading. Chamorus become attached to the US and its history through that ending, as an object of their grandeur or their exceptional excellence and virtue. But if we switch the story's focus to the beginning things get much more complicated. We see at the beginning of war, an island where Chamorus trust the US to tell them the truth, to keep them safe, but they also understand in an important...

I first wrote an article "Happy US Imperialism Day Guam!" about 16 years ago. It was published in Minagahet Zine and later on this blog when I began it soon after. The writing of this article originally was a very formative experience. Part of it eventually became my Masters Thesis in Micronesian Studies. But I also wrote it at a time when I was first trying to find a way to become more public about my critiques and writing letters to the editor of the Pacific Daily News and creating websites/blogs were some of the obvious choices. This article was written when the second Iraq War was only eight months old and the War in Afghanistan was over two years old. It was written at a time when I was feeling frustrated over the deaths of the first few Chamorros in Iraq, Christopher Rivera Wesley being the first. As I said, it was also written at a time when I was first working on developing a critical consciousness and a public voice in terms of writing and philosophy. I had been...

I am staying up all night tonight to finish an article on environmental discourses surrounding the US military buildup to Guam as it was proposed in the 2009 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and later formalized in their Record of Decision (ROD). This buildup as it was proposed never happened, as financial problems in both the United States and Japan as well as local resistance efforts, including a lawsuit ended up stalling and delaying the process for years. The buildup looks and sounds so much different today than it did five or six years ago. There is a greater emphasis on environmental stewardship and also constant reminders that the Department of Defense (who currently control 28-29% of Guam) plan to control less total land once the buildup is over. Part of the change in tone is due to the fact that the island of Guam changed in the buildup debate process. This is a key feature of my article. When the buildup was first announced, public opinion on the buildup was op...

I collect nicknames for Guam. In fact I usually begin every Guam History class by filling a white board with different names the Spanish, the Americans, the Japanese and others have given Guam over the years. One of the most interesting one that few people here remember is "unsinkable aircraft carrier." Guam is not alone in terms of being given this designation. Other places such as Israel, Diego Garcia, Hawai'i and even Okinawa are all considered to be of similar strategic value to the United States. I have heard many different explanations as to where this term comes from and why it is apt for Guam. Think about it for a moment and come up with your own interpretation.  ****************** Protests Growing in Okinawa Over U.S. Military Presence Jon Letman 4/03/15 Huffington Post If you live in Hawaii, you probably have more exposure to things Okinawan than most Americans. According to the University of Hawaii Center for Okinawan Studies, an estimated 45,00...