I JUST don’t know which description is more applicable to Rep. Pedro P. Castro: vicious racist or just plain stupid.
Only a racist would introduce legislation which would deny to one class of U.S. citizens one of the most fundamental rights guaranteed to all U.S. citizens: the right to run for and hold public office.
Only a very stupid person could possibly think that such a measure would be consistent with the Constitutions of the Northern Marianas and the United States.
Laws like Representative Castro seems to want have been unconstitutional in the United States for more than 130 years. If an elected official anywhere else in the U.S. even talked about introducing legislation such as Representative Castro has introduced, he or she would be thrown out of office as soon as the people could speak.
How would Representative Castro feel if, say, California passed a law that provided that only native born U.S. citizens could vote, hold office, or exercise any of the other rights which other U.S. citizens enjoy?
Representative Castro needs to realize that there are a lot of U.S. citizens who live, work, and pay taxes here, but who are not of the Northern Marianas descent. They have just as much right as he does to a voice in how our government runs.
Representative Castro’s actions are an insult to all Americans, Chamorro and Carolinian as well as mainland-born, who believe in the core democratic principles of freedom and equality.
He owes all of us an apology. I can forgive stupidity, but there is never an excuse for racism.MICHAEL A. WHITE
Susupe, Saipan
