Pieces

When I was a kid I remember my elders shaking their heads in disapproval at the news that Angel Santos jumped the fence at Naval Air Station in Tiyan to protest on behalf of CHamoru rights and sovereignty.

“We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”

Guam and other territories have unsuccessfully relied on the federal judicial system to obtain the right to vote in presidential elections. Some of these attempts were direct and sought a court order expanding the Electoral College to include the territories.

I wrote this from the perspective of a native son of Guam, a retired U.S. Army veteran, and someone who has many ties and connections to our island and our people because of close family members and friends who still live on the island. I also add the perspective of someone who lives in the mainland, but continues to practice our customs and culture, along with others who have done the same while living in the Washington D.C. metro area for the past 20 years.

From the Artist: Cost of Freedom has been featured in Humanities Guåhan’s Picturing Guam and gallery settings at Guam Council on the Arts and Humanities (CAHA), the Government House and the Guam Gallery of Art. 

As the presidential election approaches, American liberals and leftists alike have grown increasingly concerned about the threats of voter suppression and disenfranchisement.