The intent of that misnamed “plebiscite,” a term properly used to describe a vote by all the people, is to assess a preferred political status for Guam now and into the future.
Incredibly, the voting process as now described in local law would exclude more than 60 percent of Guam’s resident U.S. citizens on the basis of race.
There’s nothing subtle or indirect or even at all ambiguous about the law. The purpose and intent are transparent and straightforward — to exclude anyone who is not a member of the Chamorro racial group from voting. Filipino, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, African American, Caucasian and other resident U.S. citizens on Guam will not be allowed to vote on the “plebiscite” solely because they are members of the wrong racial groups.
There’s abundant evidence to support the exclusionary intent and purpose. Guam Speaker Won Pat was recently quoted as saying: “There have been a countless number of viewpoints about self-determination in the local media describing a misleading opinion that self-determination is a Chamorro-only vote.” Misleading? Really? In April 2011 Guam’s Legislative Majority Leader Rory Respicio penned a letter to Governor Calvo in which he cited an urgent need for “the long awaited Chamorro-only vote, as prescribed in Title 1, Chapter 21, §2110 of the Guam Code Annotated.” That law, entitled “Commission on Decolonization for the Implementation and Exercise of Chamorro Self Determination,” contains disclaimers to the effect that the vote is not racial in nature. Yeah, right.
Our Guam license plates carry a logo translated as “Land of the Chamorro.” Home to the ancient Chamorro it certainly was, but that was then and this is now. Guam is today the land of the Guamanian, and every citizen is constitutionally entitled to equal access to public lands and to equal protection of the law. That’s not the way things now stand here, but that will change. The government of Guam is supposed to be a government of all the people: not a government of, by and for any ethnic group or politically distinct class of citizen. That’s also not the way things now are, but that too will change as Guamanians find their true political voice.
The Center for Individual Rights — a Washington, D.C. public interest law firm — recently filed a lawsuit in U.S. Federal District Court on my behalf and on behalf of all other individuals who are being excluded from participating in the decolonization process solely because we belong to the wrong racial groups. The lawsuit is straightforward: it asks that the federal courts order Guam to allow all registered voters to participate in the political status vote regardless of race or ancestry, as provided by the U.S. Constitution and numerous federal laws which prohibit racial discrimination in voting.
As we embark on the first phase of our mission to change the way things are to the way they ought to be, we seek and applaud the active support of the great majority of Guamanians now relegated in many ways to second-class citizen status. Some 50,000 ethnic Filipinos comprise the largest group so affected. Participation in the decolonization process is critically important to every one of us, and is our right as patriotic American citizens who deserve and insist upon a level playing field.
There will be wringing of hands and pronouncements of oppression and exploitation from ethnocentric activists. Do not be deterred. Do not allow the radical few to steer you down a path that may jeopardize American citizenship for future generations, separated forever from the country and the people that have given you so much. Stand tall and affirm your commitment to place the United States Constitution and laws above petty political agendas and racialist ego trips. Our country may not be perfect, but it’s certainly far better than whatever is in second place.
DAVE DAVIS
Yigo, Guam
