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<h1 id="reader-title">An Open Letter from Guam to America</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">Victoria-Lola M. Leon
Guerrero</div>
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<p>Aug 11, 2017</p>
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<p>On becoming the collateral damage of American
warmongering.</p>
<p>Dear America,</p>
<p>I am glad that you are finally paying attention to what
is happening in Guam. Many of you, as I am reading
online, are asking for the first time, “What is
Guam?” Every day growing up here, we have been told all
about you. I am sorry that it is only when we are the
subject of bombs that you even attempt to say the word
Guam; there are so many more interesting things I wish
you would want to know about us. We, on the other hand,
are not as surprised by the latest bomb threat. We are
quite used to hearing Guam and bomb in the same
sentence. Every month or so, when another missile is
tested, or rhetoric fired, we hear how North Korea, or
China, or Russia could bomb Guam. I have even saved
pictures of China's infamous “Guam Killer” bombs on my
computer so our Independence group can use it in
Independence 101 presentations as an example of why we
need to get free NOW. Yes, there are people in Guam who
want independence from you. But there are also people in
Guam who hear these threats of bombs and cower to the
hype. They start to believe that we need your mighty
military bases and beg for more, because then we would
not be bombed, right? But you have been the source of
all our bomb problems.</p>
<p>The worst bombs that have ever been dropped on Guam
were yours near the end of World War II. At the
beginning of the war, you left us defenseless to the
Japanese, knowing full well that they were planning to
invade Guam all along. You safely boarded your white
military wives on ships and sent them home months before
the attack, but did nothing to protect us. That's right,
the last time an invading nation that you said you would
protect us from attacked, you surrendered in 2 days and
left 20,000 people to suffer, many falling victim to the
most atrocious of war crimes. But we are strong and we
survived not just that ugly war but also the losses that
came after. When you returned in 1944, you leveled our
island with your bombs, leaving most families without a
home to return to. We were scattered and displaced so
you could build your enormous bases. And we were so
grateful to you that our people served and continue to
serve your military and die for your freedom in higher
numbers per capita than you.</p>
<p>The worst bombs that have ever been dropped on Guam
were yours.</p>
<p>Today you occupy nearly one-third of our island, and
station bombers and nuclear powered submarines here to
flex your might to our neighbors. You play endless war
games emitting fumes and dumping waste into our air,
water, soil, bodies. We breathe in the fallout when you
test your bombs on our sister islands upwind—those
clouds make their way down here. We eat fish from the
waters you bomb around us. Grieve the beached whales who
rot at the shore, led astray by your sonar testing. We
are being made to sacrifice—with no consent (and for
many of us, against our will)—access to sacred ancient
villages and a thousand acres of a lush limestone forest
habitat that you want to destroy to build a firing range
for your Marines. You fly bombers over my home at
ungodly hours. Come on, America, I am raising babies
here. Little ones, who notice when your flag is flown
above theirs, and don't like it. Who hide under the
slide at their playground and tell their friends to duck
when your blaring B-1s, B-2s, be everything in their
safe zone. There is a sign on the road that reads, “Slow
down, children at play.” </p>
<p>Will you please slow down and allow my children to
play? I want them to grow up here. This is their/my/my
mama's mama's mama's homeland. There is no other place
in the world I want them to be. I understand that for
many “Americans,” you had to flee your homeland. That
America became your better life, or at least the promise
of it. That many of you long for your homeland and can't
return. And sadly, many of you don't think enough about
the indigenous Americans whose lands and lives were
stolen to manifest this destiny. But this land, this
beautiful island everyone wants to bomb because of you,
is my land, not yours. And I don't want to flee. I left
my land once for your college education. But I ached for
home the entire time. As soon as I got my degrees, I
came back to use them here. My home is my better life. I
am nourished by my land, where my family grows our own
food. I am raising bright babies, with the jungle as
their backyard, and this is the life my ancestors wanted
for me and for them. I want to go to sleep peacefully
knowing that my family is safe in our home. So please,
stop all this bomb talk. And instead, ask yourself why
Guam is still your colony in 2017.</p>
<p>Good night and good morning, <br>
Victoria-Lola Leon Guerrero <br>
1:40 a.m. August 10, 2017<br>
Yo'ña, Guåhan(Guam)</p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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