“We are U.S. citizens, but we're not able to vote for the United States president.”
“A third of our island is occupied by the U.S. military.”
“The United States could have made Guam a state at any time. It hasn't.”
In Part 1 of this series, I looked at how Guam became a colony of the United States.
In this part, I want to look at what it’s really like to live in an American territory,
and how some people are envisioning a different relationship between Guam and the U.S.
For tourists, the five populated U.S. territories seem like great places to take a tropical vacation.
But the people who live there face higher unemployment
than the national average and the worst poverty rates in the country.
On Guam, the poverty rate is 50% higher than the rest of the U.S.
The military presence here is huge, with installations taking up 27% of the island’s land.
With all of this in mind, many young people on Guam see the military as an opportunity.
“I joined because I felt like I needed a foundation to start off my career.”
Chad wants to work in the entertainment industry, but with limited options on Guam,
the military seemed like a good stepping-stone to reach his dreams.
“Buenas and hafa adai, guys! Good morning! Today is a brand-new day!
My pineapple sweetheart and love, my pineapple sweetheart…
I’m from Yona, a little village. The village of Yona in Guam.
There’s this one house that we all grew up in, in my grandmother's house,
like everyone from my great-grandmother to my grandmother to my mom.
I was like, what am I going to do? And my dad was telling me,
he was like, you should just join the Air Force.
And I was like, really? The Air Force, I don't think I'm fit for that or cut out for that.
And so when I did decide to join, what made me go through it is my dad,
my brothers who joined – if they did it, then I could do it.”
Being in the military is like having an all-access pass to steady work,
cheaper prices, and a chance to explore the world.
Life on base can feel like a privilege compared to many neighborhoods on the island.
“You kind of just, like, get tired of the same routine and get tired of the same minimum-wage pay.
And so you're thinking like what can I do to get better financial stability?
The only answer to that, to me, I think is the military.”
“It's really a local islander thing. It seems like it's beyond patriotic. It's engraved in our blood, you know.
It's a family traditional thing. I joined the military when I was in high school, my senior year.
And I was 18 years old.”
Guam actually has a higher military enlistment rate than any state --
as many as one in eight adults here are veterans.
But that doesn’t mean they have the same rights as most U.S. citizens.
Rodney served two tours in Iraq and has since created an organization
to help veterans recover from the trauma of war.
“In here, we have, right now we have hens. We have a couple baby chicks.”
-- “And so how does this help veterans who come here?”
“It really takes your mind off what you’re going through. Or what you’ve experienced downrange.”
While Rodney is proud of his military service,
he wasn’t happy with how he was treated by Veterans Affairs when he retired and returned to Guam.
“It's taken me 15 years, um, to finally get actual services for treatment.
Currently, I fly to Hawaii to receive my counseling through a psychologist.
When you look at the appointment wait times, they've exceeded 30 days, some as much as eight months,
some as a year. And that's why veterans just give up on the VA. They give up on the system.”
Many veterans on Guam believe that they’re treated differently because they’re a territory.
There’s only one outpatient clinic on the island with two doctors to serve thousands of veterans.
And it’s common for vets to take a 7-hour flight to Hawaii for services like specialized PTSD treatment.
Rodney’s tours in Iraq have taken a toll.
He’s experienced depression and survived a suicide attempt.
“To lose people in battle, to see that, to pick up the body parts of American soldiers,
being diagnosed with PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, spinal problems, stuff like that.
Not being able to vote for president is…it's like a piece of me is missing.
Even though when I say I am an American, I say it painfully.”
If Guam were a state, it would have more political power to get better resources
and have a say in who gets to be president.
“I know what's better for me and my family. And if I had a choice, that would be pushing for statehood.”
Rodney’s taking this fight to the Supreme Court.
He’s joined a lawsuit that's fighting to give the 4 million Americans who live in the territories the right to vote.
It’s an uphill battle.
I couldn’t stop thinking that despite Rodney and Chad’s service,
they still can’t vote for president. I wanted to know what the military thought about all this.
“What's the military’s response to the fact that so many people from Guam serve in the U.S. military
but can't even vote for their commander in chief?”
“I don't have a response for it.
That's a question that has nothing to do with the military.”
“Does the military support anything in terms of status quo, Guam becoming a state?”
“The DOD [Department of Defense] doesn't have an opinion on the political status of the island,
except to just be the best neighbors that we can be.”
“It’s always important to ask for permission whenever you’re entering
a place where there’s artifacts or the bones of ancient Chamorros.”
Not everyone thinks statehood is the best way forward.
Miget is part of the independence movement that wants to change Guam’s relationship with the military.
He took us to the cultural site Ritidian, also known as Litekyan,
which has caves with indigenous Chamorro markings dating back generations.
“You come in here and you get reminded that, man, a thousand years ago maybe,
somebody, there was a Chamorro who was standing here.
And it’s like a message, it’s like, ‘Hey, don’t give up.’”
Miget and the independence movement are fighting to preserve sites like these,
but the military plans to build a firing range right next door.
It’s part of a military buildup that would move 5,000 additional marines from Okinawa, Japan, to Guam.
“A lot of people who come to Litekyan – who sort of walk down this trail,
who see the medicinal plants here, who go into the caves –
for them, they’re like, ‘Why would you want to disrupt a place like this?’”
The firing range will limit access for locals who use this area regularly.
“Well, and it seems like even to this day,
people are coming here to get plants for healing, to come in here to go fishing…”
– “Oh, absolutely. This is why the firing range issue is so contentious.
A lot of these culturally significant areas are on bases.
As an individual, you can’t say, ‘You know what, I would like to go and visit a sacred site to my ancestors.’
Because there’s a fence. There’s a gate. There’s a pass procedure.
Just look at a map of Guam. 212 square miles, one-third of it military facilities.
All of these things are tied to us being a territory.”
Independent Guåhan is trying to get people to think about an alternative to Guam’s current status.
“Inspired by the strength of our ancestors, we educate and unify all who call our island home.
To build a sustainable and prosperous, independent future.”
“Independence is a way for us to redefine ourselves
and to really return to who we were intended to be by our ancestors.”
The threat of a nuclear attack from North Korea is in Guam’s recent memory.
But the independence movement doesn’t want to be caught in the middle of U.S. conflicts any longer.
“It became more urgent for me, as a mother,
because I often think, well, what do I want my children to inherit?
There is no choice. This is my homeland, this is their homeland.
I would rather that they be here and know who they are than anywhere else in the world.
So if this is the place that is their home, I want to make it safe.
I want to make it reach its greatest potential for them.”
Others argue that without the military to defend it, Guam would be an easy target,
especially when it comes to nuclear warfare.
“There's some people who are like, um, they quote, ‘Free Guam.’
And I'm like, free Guam for what? Free Guam so we can get bombed?”
But Miget says that independence doesn’t necessarily mean kicking the U.S. out.
He says Guam could have a defense agreement with the military.
The U.S. would keep its bases here, if they agree to defend the island in return.
“Over the past 70 or 80 years, about 80 different countries moved from being colonies to independent.
And in that time, Guam kind of remained stuck in the exact same place.
What we have now with the relationship between Guam and the United States is
the relationship between a colony and a colonizer. It’s a relationship that shouldn't exist anymore.
Just like most people would say a relationship between a slave and a master shouldn't exist anymore.”
In 2017, the UN decolonization committee voted in favor of a resolution calling for the U.S. government
to cooperate with Guam’s right to self-determination –
to decide whether it should be a state, independent or something else.
But that resolution is nonbinding.
Guam’s colonial past has created a system of dependency on the U.S., militarily and economically.
But there’s a growing group of young people on Guam who are looking to traditional Chamorro culture
to help change the future of their island.
Thank you for watching part 2. Keep watching!
Because in this next episode, we’re going spearfishing.
There’s an amazing group of young people on Guam
who are embracing indigenous traditions to create a more sustainable future.
I really want you to meet them.
Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe to keep watching Untold America.