07 December 2011

Lawsuit against Guam self-determination termed a 'perversion'

Davis lawsuit a perversion


Peter J. Santos
Letter to the Editor
Davis lawsuit a perversion
THE history of how Hawaii became the 50th state is a dark and sad chapter in U.S. history. The sovereign Hawaiian nation and people were overthrown by non-native settlers with the help of U.S. military forces. The non-native settlers then formed a government which excluded the Native Hawaiians. The newly formed government petitioned for statehood and was accepted into the union. This has been the paradigm for the newer states. This was not present in the Philippines, Cuba, or Puerto Rico.
The U.S. Congress later issued an official apology for the involvement of U.S. military forces and the dubious manner in which the State of Hawaii became a state. But what’s done is done and there’s no turning back. The official apology has been deemed as a symbolic gesture of the United States to the Native Hawaiians and cannot be used as a basis for any legal claims against the United States.
The Native Hawaiians are, to this day, trying to figure out how to proceed as a sovereign group. They were disenfranchised in their own homeland and their efforts to re-establish their sovereignty has been, and is still being, challenged by outsiders.
Mr. Arnold “Dave” Davis and his lawsuit are trying to repeat the history of Hawaii on Guam and put Guam on the track to statehood. He effectively wants to silence the native inhabitants, but this time using legal maneuvering. His legal claims are not in spirit of the 14th or 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution or the Voting Rights Act. He is perverting the justice system and the political process.
The situation on Guam of the plebiscite and decolonization is very messy because the political status of Guam and Guam’s history during the last 113 years is nothing like any of the other paradigms we have ever seen. Well, it doesn’t really need to be messy at all. This is a political process that should be allowed to finally take its course.
Enter Davis and his misguided and false legal claims and the waters get very, very muddy indeed. Instead of respecting the political process, he wants to claim rights in something he has no right in. He wants to make Guam into Hawaii. He’s also rabblerousing other non-natives to adopt his thinking and he’s playing on the fears and lack of understanding of what he claims are the “majority” of native inhabitants, to support his assertions. It’s tragic, but history tends to repeat itself. Should the U.S. Supreme Court get this wrong in principle, those natives too will be known to have betrayed their own people.
Don’t fret, after all is said and done, the natives of Guam will get an apology from the U.S. Congress like the Native Hawaiians did. It may take 100 years and the apology will be virtually useless, but the apology makes everything right. Just go and ask the Native Hawaiians. If you don’t believe them, go ask the Native American Indians and the Native Alaskans.
Peter J. Santos,
Ghazni, Afghanistan
##
Special to the Marianas Variety
Peter J. Santos,Ghazni
Afghanistan
The history of how Hawaii became the 50th state is a dark and sad chapter in U.S. history. The sovereign Hawaiian nation and people were overthrown by non-native settlers with the help of U.S. military forces. The non-native settlers then formed a government which excluded the Native Hawaiians. The newly formed government petitioned for statehood and was accepted into the union.
This has been the paradigm for the newer states. This was not present in the Philippines, Cuba, or Puerto Rico. The U.S. Congress later issued an official apology for the involvement of U.S. military forces and the dubious manner in which the State of Hawaii became a state.
But what’s done is done and there’s no turning back. The official apology has been deemed as a symbolic gesture of the United States to the Native Hawaiians and cannot be used as a basis for any legal claims against the United States.The Native Hawaiians are, to this day, trying to figure out how to proceed as a sovereign group. They were disenfranchised in their own homeland and their efforts to re-establish their sovereignty has been, and is still being, challenged by outsiders. 
Mr. Arnold “Dave” Davis and his lawsuit are trying to repeat the history of Hawaii on Guam and put Guam on the track to statehood. He effectively wants to silence the native inhabitants, but this time using legal maneuvering. His legal claims are not in spirit of the 14th or 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution or the Voting Rights Act. He is perverting the justice system and the political process.
The situation on Guam of the plebiscite and decolonization is very messy because the political status of Guam and Guam’s history during the last 113 years is nothing like any of the other paradigms we have ever seen. Well, it doesn’t really need to be messy at all. This is a political process that should be allowed to finally take its course.Enter Davis and his misguided and false legal claims and the waters get very, very muddy indeed. Instead of respecting the political process, he wants to claim rights in something he has no right in. He wants to make Guam into Hawaii.
He’s also rabblerousing other non-natives to adopt his thinking and he’s playing on the fears and lack of understanding of what he claims are the “majority” of native inhabitants, to support his assertions. It’s tragic, but history tends to repeat itself. Should the U.S. Supreme Court get this wrong in principle, those natives too will be known to have betrayed their own people.
Don’t fret, after all is said and done, the natives of Guam will get an apology from the U.S. Congress like the Native Hawaiians did. It may take 100 years and the apology will be virtually useless, but the apology makes everything right. Just go and ask the Native Hawaiians. If you don’t believe them, go ask the Native American Indians and the Native Alaskans.


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