LAST WEEK TONIGHT …. John Oliver: “Voting Rights are restricted in US Territories”!!

~~June 29, 2015~~ 

Watch John Oliver Cast His Ballot for Voting Rights for U.S. Territories

ROCK THE VOTE … A TAD LATE BUT ALWAYS INFORMATIVE

To help commemorate the 50th anniversary of the march on Selma, Alabama, John Oliver focused his Last Week Tonight ire on a topic that does not tend to generate headlines: voting rights for the U.S. island territories — that is, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Marianas Islands.

According to Oliver, there are 4.1 million people living in Puerto Rico and the island territories. Of that population, 98.4% are racial or ethnic minorities, none of whom have the right to vote in U.S. elections. According to Oliver, the more you look into the reasons that the U.S. territories don’t have voting rights, the harder it is to understand why these dated laws have not been changed.

Way back in 1901, it was said that the island territories were inhabited by “alien races” that couldn’t “understand Anglo-Saxon principles” and thus were denied the vote. That hasn’t changed, despite the fact that even at the time, American legal thinkers thought that the territories’ lack of voting power should only last for a limited time.

Fast forward 114 years and the U.S. citizens living on these territories still can’t vote, which Oliver compares to failing to update your computer operating system for over a millennium.

~~GALLERY~~ 

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But Puerto Rico is lucky compared to some of the other U.S. territories.

American Samoans aren’t even automatically granted U.S. citizenship, which, according to Oliver, renders the “American” part as moot as the phrases “social media expert” or “People’s Choice Award nominee.” Instead, they’re considered U.S. nationals, but not citizens. Over on Guam, 27% of the island is occupied by U.S. Navy and Air Force bases, and a staggering high number of Guam citizens are veterans of the U.S. military, but they still have no voting rights. Despite that, Guam holds a straw poll every presidential election and has higher voter turn-out than any other U.S. state — you know, the ones whose votes actually count.

It’s a valuable civics lesson and an important reminder to ask — if you don’t mind cribbing a line from Oliver — how is this still a thing?

“As it appears in … full read/full credit”

http://time.com/3736845/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-voting-rights/

What’s the historical justification for this?

Essentially, racism.

The US Supreme Court in the early 20th century ruled that these territories are inhabited by “alien races” that may not be able to understand Anglo-Saxon principles that guide American law. Although this decision wasn’t supposed to be permanent, governments as recent as the Obama administration have cited it to continue denying people in US territories equal rights.

“There are a lot of complicated issues surrounding what the precise status of all the US territories should be and what the people who live there would prefer,” Oliver said.

“But surely, when it comes to denying Americans the right to vote, we have to find a better reason than citing a 100-year-old legal decision written by a racist that was always supposed to be temporary.”

TURN OUT FOR WHAT?

“As it appears …. full read/full credit”

http://www.vox.com/2015/3/9/8174603/john-oliver-US-territories

~Last Week Tonight with John Oliver~

U.S. Territories

~Published on Mar 8, 2015~

A set of Supreme Court decisions made over 100 years ago has left U.S. territories without meaningful representation.

That’s weird, right?

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#WeAllAreOne #ItIsWhatItIs #DrRex #HortyRex #hrexachwordpress

I am very much aware of this situation in Puerto Rico, my country. However, I must confess that I wasn’t aware that this was the case with the other territories. I didn’t even know which other countries in this world were “territories”.

This is something that I wasn’t taught about in school.

Since I read the best selling book “War Against All Puerto Ricans” by Nelson A. Denis, I’ve been looking at the past. I have learned facts that are making me question the “nature of the beast”.

AMERICAN BULLY

I’ve been wondering what the historical relationship between the United States, Guam, the Philippines and even Hawaii has been.

“America’s five unincorporated territories and commonwealths: Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and the US Virgin Islands.”

From the “War Against All Puerto Ricans” book:

Don Pedro Albizu Campos expressed his amazement at how “owning a man makes you a scoundrel, yet owning a nation makes you a colonial benefactor.”

We ALL are ONE!! 

Marriage Equality ….. “Guam: first U.S. territory with the freedom to marry”!!

~~June 7, 2015~~ 

Victory: Judge strikes down Guam’s marriage ban

Where the sun rises in the USA

Congratulate the plaintiffs and legal teams who have fought so hard to end the marriage ban in Guam, soon to be the first U.S. territory with the freedom to marry!

By Lily Hiott-Millis
Jun 05, 2015 at 08:40 am

On June 5, a federal judge in Guam struck down the U.S. territory’s ban on marriage between same-sex couples

George W. Bush-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Frances M. Tydingco-Gatewood ruled from the bench last night, after hearing oral arguments in a case. The case, Aguero et. al. v Calvo et. al., was brought by Loretta M. Pangelinan and Kathleen M. Aguero in April after they tried to get a marriage license and were denied.

The ruling is stayed until Tuesday, June 9, 8 am local time, which is when Judge Tydingco-Gatewood will also release her written opinion. The judge ruled in line with the 9th Circuit’s previous decision in favor of the freedom to marry in Latta v. Otter, which ended the marriage ban in Idaho, and Sevcik v. Sandoval, which ended the marriage ban in Nevada:

Guam’s marriage laws are unconstitutional because they violate the plaintiffs’ rights under the 14th amendment of the United States Constitution. Accordingly, the court shall permanently enjoin the territory of Guam and its officers … from enforcing … any laws or regulations to the extent they prohibit otherwise qualified same-sex couples from marrying in Guam.

Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, emphasized the momentum for marriage ahead of a decision from the United States Supreme Court on the question of the freedom to marry:

Guam’s same-sex couples and their loved ones want and deserve the freedom to marry and all that marriage can bring — protections, security, and respect. We can now add Guam’s voice to the momentum across America, and hope the Supreme Court will this month ensure that no other families, and no state, are left behind.
Last May, attorneys for the government of Guam wrote that they would respect a ruling to strike down the territory’s marriage ban.

Freedom to Marry congratulates Kathleen and Loretta, as well as other same-sex couples who are finally respected in Guam, on this decision, and applauds Judge Tydingco-Gatwood for ruling on the right side of history.

“As it appears in … full read/full credit”

http://www.freedomtomarry.org/blog/entry/victory-judge-strikes-down-guams-marriage-ban

~~GALLERY~~ 

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#MarriageEquality #Guam #JudgeFrancesMTydingcoGatewood #CongratulatePlaintiffsLegalTeams #FirstUSTerritory #MarriageEqualityWorldwide #AroundTheGlobe #LoveIsLove #LoveBeautifulAllForms #FreedomToMarry #TwentytwoCountries #FiveContinents #SameSexCouples #Netherlands #Belgium #Spain #Canada #SouthAfrica #Norway #Sweden# Portugal #Iceland #Argentina #Denmark #France #Brazil #Uruguay #New Zealand #Britain #Luxembourg #Finland #Ireland #Greenland #GlobalMomentum #SparkGlobalTrend #EvanWolfson #FreedomToMarry #LoveCantWait

#WeAllAreOne #ItIsWhatItIs #DrRex #HortyRex #hrexachwordpress

“On the right side of history”

We ALL are ONE!! 

~~RELATED~~ 

https://hrexach.wordpress.com/2015/05/23/at-the-end-of-the-day-marriage-equality-around-the-globe/

Chester Nez …. last living code talker has died!!

~~June 6, 2014~~ 

The topic of a “code talker” needs a post of its own. It’s a very interesting one, deserving of full research, information and presentation. Of this, I am aware. Soon I will prepare a post about it.

I find it fascinating. 

~~WHAT IS A CODE TALKER?~~

Code talkers were people who used obscure languages as a means of secret communication during wartime. The term is now usually associated with the United States soldiers during the world wars who used their knowledge of Native-American languages as a basis to transmit coded messages. In particular, there were approximately 400–500 Native Americans in the United States Marine Corps whose primary job was the transmission of secret tactical messages. Code talkers transmitted these messages over military telephone or radio communications nets using formal or informally developed codes built upon their native languages. Their service improved communications in terms of speed of encryption at both ends in front line operations during World War II.

The name code talkers is strongly associated with bilingual Navajo speakers specially recruited during World War II by the Marines to serve in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater. Code talking, however, was pioneered by Cherokee and Choctaw Indians during World War I.

Other Native American code talkers were deployed by the United States Army during World War II, including Lakota, Meskwaki, and Comanche soldiers. Soldiers of Basque ancestry were also used for code talking by the U.S.

Marines during World War II in areas where other Basque speakers were not expected to be operating.

~~TODAY I WISH TO HONOR THE LAST ONE LIVING~~

He had never seen an ocean before enlisting in 1942, a few months after Pearl Harbor.

He had herded sheep with a slingshot.

At 122 pounds in 10th grade, he barely met the minimum weight requirement for the Marines. But his thin frame — and, after an impoverished childhood on a reservation, healthy appetite — was a plus on a boat approaching Guadalcanal.

“I liked the smell in the galley area, although lots of Marines complained about it,” he wrote later. “I guess I’ll always be drawn to the aroma of cooking food, after spending my early years in boarding schools where I was never able to eat what I wanted, when I wanted, or as much as I wanted.”

At one of those boarding schools, he’d had his mouth washed out with soap for speaking his native tongue.

But Chester Nez would help design a code based on Navajo that proved invaluable in the Pacific theater during World War II.

Born in 1921, Nez grew up on “the Checkerboard” — an area near the Navajo reservation that crosses the borders of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Chester Nez, who was the last living member of the Navajo code talkers during World War II, passed away this past Wednesday, June 4, at age 93. Nez was one of 29 of the original Navajo who were recruited into the United States Marine Corps in 1942 to aid the U.S. in communications during battle.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.

Chester Nez was an American veteran of World War II. He was the last original Navajo code talker who served in the United States Marine Corps during the war.

~~Early years~~

Nez was born in Chi Chil Tah, New Mexico, to the Navajo Dibéłizhiní (Black Sheep Clan) for Tsénahabiłnii (Sleeping Rock People). He was raised during a time when there were difficult relations between the U.S. government and the Navajo Nation. Nez recalled children often being taken from reservations, sent to boarding schools, and told to not speak the Navajo language. It was from one of the schools, in Tuba City, Arizona, that Nez was recruited into the Marine Corps.

~~Code talker~~

Nez kept his decision to enlist from his family and lied about his age to meet enlistment requirements. He was assigned to the 382nd Infantry Regiment at Camp Pendleton, where he and 28 other Navajo were tasked with creating a code for communications during WWII. The Navajo language was chosen because its syntax and tonal qualities were nearly impossible for a non-Navajo to learn, and it had no written form. Nez stated the developers used everyday words, in order to easily memorize and retain them. In 1942, he was among the code talkers to be shipped out to Guadalcanal, where they worked in teams of two—one to send and receive, the other to operate the radio and listen for errors. Nez also fought in Bougainville, Guam, Angaur and Peleliu.

He was honorably discharged as a Private First Class in 1945 and returned to serve stateside in the Korean War from which he was discharged as a corporal.

~~Post-military life~~

From 1946 to 1952, Nez attended the University of Kansas (KU) to study commercial arts. Following his military service, he worked as a painter for 25 years at a V.A. hospital in Albuquerque. In 2011, he wrote the memoir Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir by One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII with Judith Avila. In November 2012, he received a bachelor of fine arts degree from KU.

~~Congressional Gold Medal~~

In 2001, Nez was one of the four of the five living code talkers who received the Congressional Gold Medal from President George W. Bush:

“Today, we marked a moment of shared history and shared victory. We recall a story that all Americans can celebrate and every America should know. It is a story of ancient people called to serve in a modern war. It is a story of one unbreakable oral code of the Second World War, messages travelling by field radio on Iwo Jima in the very language heard across the Colorado plateau centuries ago.” — President George W. Bush

~~Death~~

Nez died on June 4, 2014, from kidney failure in Albuquerque.

~~SOURCES~~ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Nez

https://www.facebook.com/NationalVeteransArtMuseum?fref=photo

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/06/05/chester-nez-last-of-the-world-war-ii-navajo-code-talkers-dead-at-93/?tid=hp_mm

http://www.stripes.com/navajo-code-talker-chester-nez-telling-a-tale-of-bravery-and-ingenuity-1.253099

~~The last original Navajo Code Talker~~

~~Published on Nov 16, 2013~~

The last original Navajo Code Talker Chester Nez talked to Stars and Stripes while he was in Washington, D.C., to accept the Audie Murphy Award. Nez shares his story, and what it was like growing up as a Native American.

Continue reading: http://www.stripes.com/1.253099

We ALL are ONE!!