Perhaps it's time for a second liberation for Guam
On July 21, 1944, U.S. soldiers began their quest for the recapture of the island of Guam. When liberation was complete, people began walking out of the concentration camps, deeply thankful that their war cry song, “Sam, Sam, my dear Uncle Sam, won’t you please come back to Guam,” had been fulfilled and Uncle Sam came back.
The people began their difficult journey of re-building their lives. Almost all lost their homes. For some, Sumay village disappeared from Guam’s scene, lost forever to military needs. Old villages were transformed and new villages emerged to house those who had been displaced.
The survivors received compensation for property damage, loss of lives of their relatives and lands taken for military uses. Many believed their compensation was inadequate.
Despite many setbacks, the people’s love for their country and their desire for self-government never wavered.
In 1950, Congress passed the Organic Act of Guam. The people obtained the American citizenship which they fought so hard to get and further obtained limited self-government. Eventually Congress would pass the elective governorship and non-voting delegate bills, and authorized Guam’s Legislature to create an appellate court for Guam.
Guam, however, remains an unincorporated territory of the United States, and its people do not enjoy all the rights and benefits that those citizens residing within the states do. Guam’s different treatment by the U.S. remains visibly apparent today especially with our young.
E.J., a middle school student, asks his teacher why his father, who is currently deployed to Kuwait as a member of the U.S. military, cannot vote for president. His younger sister, Aubrey, learns about civics and asks her Nana why Guam does not have representatives in the Senate and the House making laws for us. Their younger brother Tano simply asks, “Grandpa, what’s Liberation Day?”
I ponder and reflect what I should tell them.
Liberation Day is that day when the prayers of the people were answered and the Americans came to liberate Guam. It is the day we pay tribute to America and all those men who selflessly fought to free Guam and its people. It is the day we honor the war survivors and cherish their spirit. It is a day when we remember all their pains, sufferings and their enduring fight for American citizenship and equal rights.
The spirit of liberation reminds us to rekindle their deep thankfulness for Uncle Sam’s return to Guam and their love for country. That same spirit pushes us to seek incorporation with our country so that every person in Guam would enjoy the same rights as any person living anywhere in the states.
With this in mind, maybe we should pray for a “second liberation” and invoke the war cry of the liberated war survivors to remind Uncle Sam not to forget those who seek equal footing with their brothers and sisters in the states.
Judge Joaquin V.E. Manibusan, Jr. is the U.S. magistrate judge and a former judge of the Superior Court of Guam.