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Published in the Brownsville Herald on May 22.
The local political season just ended and like many of you I am politicked out. I now have the opportunity to focus on another of my passions.
In the Brownsville Herald, Education Section on May 4 there was an article describing May as “Asian Pacific American Heritage Month”. In the article contributions of the people of many nationalities were noted such as Chinese, Irish, India, Japan and the State of Hawaii. While I am convinced that the Irish are capable of great things, moving the Emerald Isle to the Pacific isn’t one of them.
Not to diminish the achievements mentioned or those of Australia and New Zealand there are many peoples and places, that should be honored during the Month of May, that were not mentioned.
I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to travel extensively in the Pacific Area thanks to my government service. Places like Chi Chi Jima, and Iwo Jima, in the Ogasawara Islands (Formerly the Bonin Islands); Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, in the U.S. Commonwealth of The Northern Mariana Islands; The U.S. Territory of Guam; Yap, Ulithi, Truk, Eauripik, and Pohnpei, in the Federated States of Micronesia; Enewetak, Bikini, and Kwajalein in the Republic of The Marshall Islands, and The Republic Palau are not just names on the map; to our soldiers in World War II they were places where their friends and comrades remained; to me they are places where so many warm friendly people made me feel welcome, and places where in many cases they are just as they have been for hundreds if not thousands of years. The People of Yap for instance still preserve the loin coverings and “grass skirts” of old times, as well as the famous stone money that is too large to move. I remember visiting one island where they had not seen an outsider for decades. At the same time in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Bikini and Enewetak Atolls stand there still, in evidence of the horrors of the Atomic Bomb, despite many years of attempts to clean up after the tests. On the other side of the coin, due to the “free association agreement” with the United States and flexible business laws the Marshalls are becoming a popular place of convenience to register Corporations.
Palau is a beautiful vacation destination, Guam, the crossroads of the Pacific, is the “Niagara Falls” for Japanese newly weds and Chi Chi Jima is a renowned ecological tourism destination. Some others are peopled by races that don’t seem to exist anywhere else on earth; all are unique and hold a prominent page marker in our growth from a fledgling country to a world power and deserve to be recognized.
A country that I believe contributed as much or more than any mentioned was America’s only colony, from the end of the Spanish American War until its independence in 1946. I have worked and lived in the Philippines at different times over the last forty years; and must admit to a considerable amount of positive bias. More »