A GUAM educator has issued an apology for racial comments made during a professional development training for CNMI Public School System staff earlier this month.
Concerns over the trainer were raised by Elle Rayphand Sablan, a Chuukese educator based in the CNMI, after attending the training at the Pacific Islands Club on Saturday, Oct. 8.
Sablan, who holds a master’s degree in education, sent an email to the trainer, expressing her concerns about microaggressions toward Chuukese during her presentation.
“It was fairly early on in the presentation when I started to feel uncomfortable with some of the things you were saying. Initially, I noticed that whenever you would talk about your low performers, you would indicate the fact that they were Chuukese. When you referenced your non-English speakers, you noted that they were Chuukese. This happened several times. It got to the point that when you spoke about a school on Guam where students of low socioeconomic backgrounds attended, I already knew what was coming; I was already bracing for it. I cringingly glanced at my coworker and said, ‘Here we go again,’ and sure enough, you made it known that they were Chuukese,” said Sablan in her email to the trainer.
She added, “I have to ask why you felt it necessary to point out that they were Chuukese each time. Could you have done the training without mentioning what ethnic group they belonged to? Would you have lost anything fundamental to your presentation if you had done so? Surely, you have had low performers, non-English readers, non-English speakers who were of ethnic backgrounds. I guess I am wondering why you felt the need to name any ethnic group when talking about your low achievers. What was the point?”
“I heard you say that when you teach your grandchildren how to properly speak, you don’t directly address it,” Sablan said. “All you do is repeat something over and over and they will hear it, learn it, and internalize it. And I have to say, I believe your method works. One year, when I was teaching high school math, there was a young Chuukese boy in my class. One day, after being in my class for a while, he randomly raised his hand and said, ‘Ms. Rayphand, I don’t believe you’re Chuukese.’ I paused for a minute and said, ‘Oh? Why do you say that?’ and he said, ‘Because you’re smart.’ It stopped me in my tracks.
“This kid, this Chuukese kid, had heard everything I had been hearing all my life, and her learned it — just as your grandchildren learned from hearing you say things over and over again. I doubt anyone had ever told him this directly, but he heard it repeated over and over enough times, and over time, he internalized it; he believed it. So, obviously, your method works… I was listening to you repeat a few things about my people,” said Sablan to the Guam trainer.
She noted that this was her first time taking professional development training from the Guam trainer.
“Had I not known anything about my own people, I might have come out of your training with [the notion] that Chuukese, as a group, consist of uneducated, illiterate, non-English-speaking people who were chronically late because we ride boats to work. Literally fresh off the boat,” Sablan said.
Moreover, she said, “I feel that an educator of educators should know that these types of comments are, at the very least, microaggressions, and at the very worst, straight-up discrimination or racism. Up to that point, I still gave you the benefit of the doubt and told myself that it was possible you did not realize what you were saying, and I resolved to speak with you after the training — respectfully, of course — and help you see it from my point of view.”
“Your interaction with a small sampling of my people does not mean you can make such casual statements in a professional setting,” Sablan said. “That can be perceived by the people you educate as truth, or even accurate generalizations. We have already established that both you and I agree that, when something is said enough times, even indirectly, people learn it and believe it to be correct. We were learning about ‘The Science of Reading.’ Why were Chuukese even interjected in your presentation in the first place?”
Sablan said she wanted the trainer “to know that your words are dangerous…because you are in a position to influence so many who, in turn, influence others. You have the potential to do so much good, and I am sure you have, in fact, done a lot of good. But your comments perpetuate stereotypes that are harmful, demeaning, and hurtful to my people, who are already marginalized and a minority outside of our own state.
“The fact that you have been educating educators makes me fearful. I wonder how many times you have made such comments in other training sessions. I wonder how many people have walked away from your training sessions with the mental image you painted of my people, filed away in their brain somewhere, or even worse, how many of my own people have heard you and felt humiliated and too embarrassed to speak up,” she said.
Sablan said that last straw was when the trainer said that she was going to get a Chuukese to wipe her own father’s buttocks.
“I was shocked. So, we can’t do anything — can’t read, can’t write, can’t speak English, but apparently one thing we are good at is wiping your Chamorro dad’s butt? It was blatantly disrespectful and racist. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it — no pun intended. I looked around and only a handful of people at that point had reacted. Had I stood there as a Chuukese educator and told the group that I was going to get a Chamorro to wipe my Chuukese father’s butt, how do you think you would have reacted? How do you think the [people in] the room would have reacted, being predominantly Chamorro?”
Sablan said she had asked the educators seated near her if she had heard the trainer correctly, to which they said that she had.
She then raised her hand to ask the trainer if she really felt that way about Chuukese, to which Sablan said the trainer deflected the line of questioning.
“You saved face after blatantly and publicly disrespecting my people. That is when I could no longer give you the benefit of the doubt,” Sablan said.
The Chuukese educator said her boss had spoken to the trainer after the presentation, and the trainer asked for an apology for Sablan’s behavior.
In her email to the trainer, Sablan said, “You were publicly racist against my people and I demand an apology. Your apology should be as loud as your disrespect, not just to me, but to my coworker who is full Chuukese and also ended up walking out of your presentation; to my colleagues who were in that same room and are descendants of Chuuk and were also insulted; and to my other colleagues who have zero drops of Chuukese blood but understood that what you said had no business being said, not just in a professional setting, but anywhere.
“Since that day, I have been restless, angry, hurt, and sad. I hope you are able to find it in yourself to reflect on what transpired that day. I don’t want to believe anybody, especially an educator, can be that nonchalant, that casual, about racism. I want to hear that it was a mistake and that it will never happen again. Nothing short of a public apology will do… I hope you are willing to do the right thing,” said Sablan.
‘Racism has no place in our schools’
Following the incident, the CNMI PSS issued an official statement, condemning all expressions of racism.
“We are aware of a recent racial incident that occurred at a professional development training for school staff. We are in communication with the external presenter, and affected schools and employees have received a formal apology. PSS values the diversity of its staff, faculty, students, and families, and believes in honoring the many cultures that contribute to the vitality of all.
“PSS condemns all expressions of racism and will not tolerate division or the perpetuation of racial bias. PSS will engage with service providers and partners who uphold the same values. We acknowledge the harm this represents and the trauma it evokes, regardless of intention.
“In moving forward, we will continue to work towards a safe and welcoming environment in our schools that is free from bullying, and reduces mental, emotional, and physical harm. Racism has no place in our schools, and we are committed to the work of creating spaces where every individual belongs, as we proceed together in our mission to educate.
‘Insensitive remarks’
The trainer, who remains unnamed, issued an official apology to Sablan.
“This letter is to apologize to you and your friends, family, and colleagues about my insensitive remarks and examples about the Chuukese people during my training last week. I am so ashamed of myself and what was said. It was not necessary for me to use the Chuukese community in my examples. You are right; I did not need to reference that in my training. There was no point,” said the trainer.
“Honestly, I am usually very fair and alert to the words I use. This is not me. I can only think in my rush to get through a three-day training in one day, I did not present myself well and was insensitive and rude at times to the Chuukese community. I often lecture to the Guam teachers about how they need to know and understand all their students and not to marginalize any group, so I am even more ashamed at my words and how they were received. I should not have singled out that community in any way. Please know that I have taken what you have said to heart and will not do it again.
“I deeply apologize and will make amends for the rest of my life. Seriously. I often go to the FSM islands and will continue to give and give what I can — time, services, and treasure, without cost or without anyone knowing. It will be my penance,” she said.
The trainer said she is willing to step back from future trainings, and to remit funds she earns from the them.
“Since I cannot stop the purchase order or invoice system — that is out of my hands, I can at least provide this small amount for all the pain and hurt I caused. Feel free to use it for whatever you choose, for your family, for your school, for your classroom, for your church. I do not need to know. Also know that I am matching the amount here on Guam, too. This will help me be more accountable for my actions, and it is only fair.
“Again, I am truly, truly sorry. I have never done this before. I have friends from Chuuk and the other FSM islands, and they know my heart is not like that. I often speak up for people whenever I hear stuff like that. I made mistakes on that training that will never be done again. I have learned my lesson [and] I will continue to pay that lesson forward. Please let me know what else I can do,” said the trainer.
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, of the 46,329 people in the CNMI, 1,403 individuals, or 3% of the total population, identify as Chuukese.
