DEIS Rouses Youth Activism

DEIS Rouses Youth Activism

by Zita Y. Taitano | Variety News Staff

DYNAMIC young community voices are starting to rise above the public complacency toward the military’s voluminous draft impact study to give new breath to vital concerns of family, community and employment.

More than 500 residents listen to testimonies on the impact of the military buildup during the open house/public hearing of the draft environmental impact statement at the UOG Fieldhouse Saturday.

More than 500 island residents turned out to the University of Guam Fieldhouse in Mangilao on Saturday for the second in a series of village presentations of the military draft impact statement.

“The military buildup will attract 30,000 more jobs, but what they don’t want us to know is our people will only fill less than 20 percent of those jobs,” Melvin Won Pat Borja, one of the organizers of the new group called We Are Guahan, founded by emergent young activists. “But this is not about jobs, or culture or money. This is about community. This is about our family”

Scion of the of the storied Won Pat clan, the 28-year old further compelled the attention of the young adults in attendance by attesting to the rights of the future generations to be able to live free on their native island and without feeling oppressed.

“You are not alone. We must be united. We must never be silent!” he proclaimed. “I think in the past the larger community has been misrepresented as being in full support of this buildup. I think a lot of our people have been misled into believing the general population is in full support of this move.”

Won Pat Borja said it is clear the community is starting to coalesce and take note after observing the hearings this past Saturday and last Thursday.

“There’s been a lot of individuals from the community who have been coming out to speak out against this move and really voice their opinion,” he said.

Right before the hearing, members of the Taotaomona Native Rights group and We are Guahan walked in behind Danny “Pagat” Jackson and his wife Josephine Jackson as their grandson Cason Jackson sang Fanohge Chamorro.

Joint Guam Program Office is organizing the series of public hearings. They allowed others to provide their perspective on the military buildup as well, so long as they did not speak for more than three minutes.

ENDS

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