.png)
5 hours ago
2
Guam Sen. William Parkinson told residents gathered at the Tamuning Senior Center Wednesday night that the island must choose its political status soon or risk having Washington, D.C. make that decision without local input.
"There are conversations in D.C. about deciding Guam's fate, potentially merging it with other territorial assets without our consent," Parkinson said during the fourth in his series of village town halls on decolonization. "It is incumbent on us to make a decision about our political status before somebody else makes it for us."
But the path to that decision remains tangled in legal and political obstacles, with Wednesday's meeting exposing deep divisions over a fundamental question: who gets to vote?
The 2017 Davis v. Guam court ruling struck down the island's plan to limit voting to those present in 1950 or their descendants, calling it unconstitutional race-based discrimination. Since then, Guam's self-determination effort has stalled.
Parkinson pitched several alternatives Wednesday, including changing the eligibility date from 1950 to 1997, when the Commission on Decolonization was created. He argued this would survive legal challenges because Guam was already diverse by then, making it harder to claim the date serves as a proxy for race.
Other options included a 10-year residency requirement suggested by a youth forum or opening the vote to all registered voters, as Guam did in its 1982 plebiscite.
Mongmong-Toto-Maite resident Paul R. Suba III rejected any shift from 1950.
"1950 is a legitimate date to use," Suba said. "1997 is purely administrative."
He argued that 1950 marks when the Organic Act granted U.S. citizenship to Guam residents after more than 50 years under American control without self-government, making it the most historically significant benchmark for defining voter eligibility.
Nolan Flores, a member of the Free Association Task Force, agreed, saying any other date "weakens that continuity" and disrespects those who lived through colonization from 1898 to 1950.
"They're this group that is special because of their political status," Flores said. "Citizenship was bestowed upon them without consent. Self-determination was deprived from that group."
Commission on Decolonization Executive Director Melvin Won Pat-Borja acknowledged the 1950s weight but said the legal reality is clear.
"We lost at the Ninth Circuit Court. We were denied written certiorari in the Supreme Court, which effectively means that it's done," Won Pat-Borja said. "Within the U.S. system of government and justice, it's done."
He explained that government funds cannot be used for a referendum that limits eligibility, though a nonprofit could potentially hold a vote. Still, he questioned whether Congress would take seriously a race-based plebiscite from a private organization.
Judith Guthertz, representing the Statehood Task Force, urged pragmatism.
"If we continue to place 1950 as a cutoff date, we're not going to get support from Congress," she said. "We're going to be kept from moving forward."
Parkinson, stepping down from his moderator role to speak as a private citizen, revealed his support for statehood as the strongest deterrent against regional threats.
"I want that to be clear to anybody in the Pacific that if they were to attack Guam, that we have the full backing and faith of the United States, and we will bring holy hell down on anybody that attacks us," he said.
He compared Guam's potential relationship with the U.S. to that of Israel, describing it as a heavily subsidized strategic partner. The comparison drew immediate backlash.
"Israel's crazy. Don't ever say that again," Sinajana resident Alyanna Barrera said, her voice rising. "They are actively killing people, children."
Parkinson clarified he meant only the financial relationship, not military actions, but the exchange highlighted raw tensions in the room.
Independence Task Force representative Josh Laurente pushed back on Parkinson's security argument, saying the island faces threats precisely because of its territorial status and military presence.
"What have the CHamoru people done to the Chinese to deserve them having a Guam killer missile?" he said. "These countries threaten us not for anything the CHamoru people did. They are threatened by the fact that there are military bases here that the political status quo does not give us control over."
Barrera asked why not many people attend the town halls compared with earlier meetings.
Parkinson blamed the lack of momentum, saying people lose interest without a concrete goal. He wants a vote in either 2026 or 2028.
"If they are not certain that this is leading to a vote, this is leading to something concrete, then energy will flag," he said. "But if we tell them that in November we are actually going to vote, that some legitimate consequences are going to come, now people will have a greater interest."
By evening's end, Parkinson acknowledged that opening the vote to all registered voters might be the cleanest path forward, free from legal challenges that could delay or derail the effort.
"Really the path that would lead us forward that would be free of the legal challenges would be an open plebiscite open to everybody," he said.
He plans to introduce legislation after a final town hall next week in Dededo and additional meetings in spring. To get a vote on the 2026 ballot, lawmakers must act by June, Parkinson said.
Won Pat-Borja summed up the frustration many feel about the legal constraints: "The right to be colonized is the right of the colonized."
