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Anonymous Mailer Hurts Democracy, Not Rep. Underwood

Democracy flourishes when there is open debate. No two people share the same position on every issue, so sometimes they have to “agree to disagree.” And as long as we can debate, we are ahead of the political bosses and backroom dealmakers.

Anonymous smear campaigns are the antithesis of democracy. They cater to fear, suspicion and prejudice. They are related to the rule of the torch and pitchfork-carrying mob. They have been used against women, minorities and social reformers by desperate candidates who see the electorate rejecting their positions as the campaign winds down toward Election Day.

In Guam, the westernmost territory of the United States, a recent, anonymous mailing sent with a Mississippi return address tried to smear the reputation of Rep. Robert Underwood, Guam’s five-term congressman who is now running for governor. Instead, the mailer has strengthened Underwood’s reputation in Guam and in Washington, D.C.

With a land area of 212 square miles, the island of Guam is about three times the size of the District of Columbia. Thirty miles long and between four and nine miles wide, it is located in the Marianas Island chain, 10 time zones and 9,500 miles west of Washington, D.C. It is so far west that it is actually closer to Tokyo (1,563 miles) than Honolulu (3,500 miles).

The history of Guam tells a lot about America’s past — and its future. The local Chamorro people first met Europeans when Ferdinand Magellan landed in 1521. Ignoring the locals’ protests, Spaniards claimed the island in 1565 and sent missionaries to begin colonization in 1668. Spain continued to control until it lost the Spanish-American War and signed the Treaty of Paris in December 1898. In that Treaty, Spain received $20,000,000 for renouncing rights to Cuba, ceding Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States, giving up possessions in the West Indies and selling the Philippine Islands.

From 1898 until World War II, the U.S. Navy ran Guam. The governor and all other executive officers of Guam were Navy officers. Japan briefly occupied and brutalized the local Chamorros during World War II, but the U.S. Navy regained control after the war.

Things changed dramatically in 1950, with the passage of the Organic Act of Guam, which established a civilian government and granted American citizenship to the Chamorros. The first civilian governor was elected in 1970, and the first delegate to the U.S. Congress was elected in 1972.

Half of Guam’s 150,000 people are Chamorro, but residents also include “statesiders,” Filipinos, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, East Indians and people from nearby Micronesian islands.

Before his election as Guam’s U.S. Representative in 1992, Underwood had been a high school teacher and academic vice president of Guam’s university. Because of the high marks he received from constituents and Hill veterans, he ran virtually unopposed for re-election in 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2000.

Congressman Underwood is one of the hardest-working congressmen I have met in my 20 years on the Hill. He has championed so much legislation, in fact, that a simple search on his civil rights bills alone results in a 17-page printout. Guamanians are clearly his top priority, as seen in bills he has sponsored or co-sponsored to address veteran benefits, pension, public health and other needs.

Underwood has also served as a powerful ambassador to the broader Asian Pacific American community by taking a leadership role on education, health, criminal justice and other issues important to the APA community. As chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific Caucus, he made sure that Pacific Islanders and permanent legal residents were included in the Gates Millennium Scholarship program, and that the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders was established.

Given this impressive record of achievements, I was shocked by the four-page mailer sent from the post office box owned by a group no one has ever heard of in Mississippi. Charging Underwood with being divisive, racist and out of touch with his constituents, the mailer was written partially in Tagalog — a tactic possibly meant to divide the Filipino American community from the Underwood campaign.

When the APA community was notified of these charges, there was a tremendous outpouring of support for Underwood. APAs, whites, Latinos and African Americans I have spoken with have had only positive things to say about him, and none believed the charges made by the smear campaign.

The people of Guam will go to the polls on Sept. 7 and have the chance to vote for Rep. Robert Underwood to be their next governor. I hope that they give him their votes both because he is a gifted political leader and because the senders of the smear literature should be sent a message: Those who favor democracy will not be deterred by those who undermine it. The people who sent that mailer should be identified, prosecuted and jailed, and all leaders of Guam should join APAs from around the nation in condemning these undemocratic campaign tactics.

Testimonials from the Community in Support of Underwood

I was born, raised and educated on Guam. I had the privilege and honor of taking an education course with Dr. Underwood at the University of Guam back in the mid-1980s. Dr. Underwood’s pedagogy then was to diffuse critical thinking skills to students like myself who felt like second-class citizens in a country that touted freedom, equality and the “American Way.” I learned to use critical thinking to engage my world in a precise way, coming to the realization that “no man is an island.” I became sensitized to the harsh reality and history of colonialism in the Mariana Islands. I became aware of how colonialism is thoroughly embedded in the structural historical consciousness of the Chamoru people, and how I had internalized and continued to reproduce this ideology to the detriment of my people and myself.

Suffice to say, little has changed since I moved “off-island” 11 years ago. My liberating hopes and vision, however, remain steadfast, which I owe in part to Dr. Underwood. I am inspired by his passion for social justice, vision of a just world and courage to stand up for what is right in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.

This is not an endorsement of the gubernatorial candidate, but rather it is an attestation to Dr. Underwood’s character and integrity as a human being and as a professional. I am convinced to this day that Dr. Underwood remains a person of integrity and honor because he fights for the dignity of all people. To Dr. Underwood, I am humbly grateful.

Antonio M. Salas
MDiv, Mass.

From my own experience here in the Washington, D.C. area, I can attest that Congressman Underwood has been a unifying voice for APAs, especially while he was the chairman of the APA Congressional Caucus. As a Chinese American, I always felt that Congressman Underwood was inclusive in all his actions and words. He did and continues to speak out against inequities, against exclusion of any APA groups. And, most importantly, he stood for equal access by APAs to economic and educational opportunities that this wonderful nation has to offer.

Bel Leong-Hong,
President, KAI
DC-based APA community leader

During the Clinton administration, I was director of the Office of Insular Affairs at the Department of the Interior, which provided financial and policy assistance exclusively to the U.S. territories. I had numerous opportunities to work closely with Congressman Underwood on a broad range of Guam-specific issues, such as political status, environmental protection, tax, trade, immigration, labor and natural resources. In all my interactions with Underwood and his staff, I have always had the impression of him as a strong and tireless advocate for the interest of all the people of Guam. In particular, as a Filipino American, I noted his efforts in working with my office to persuade the Department of State, the Department of Justice and the INS to promulgate special visa waiver policies for Philippine citizens wishing to visit Guam for vacation or family reasons. This was an important issue for the sizeable local Filipino community in Guam, who wanted to obtain easier access for their relatives. Despite Congressman Underwood’s strong efforts, however, the federal government indicated it could not include the Philippines. Nevertheless, this particular issue demonstrated Congressman Underwood’s determination to work for all the people of Guam.

Danny Aranza
Former director of the Office of Insular Affairs, Department of the Interior

For info on the Underwood campaign, please go to www.underwoodada.com.

http://www.politics1.com/gu.htm.