#litekyan

Litekyan, Guam

Raising awareness about the important and ongoing environmental and cultural problem of military expansion in Guam. This is the island my grandparents came from and it's important to me that my family and every other chamorro family has a right to such an important place in the future, and that its unique ecosystems are conserved for generations. Much of the island is already under military control or owned by foreign tourism companies and is not being respected, conserved, or kept accessible to chamorro people who live off that land and have deep cultural connections to it. The military has no right to be using these resources, but they're currently trying to expand a firing range into Litekyan, where many latte stones (of ancient cultural significance) and ancestral burial sites are located. This is so so wrong, but isn't uncommon amongst the pacific islands where past and modern colonialism (including irresponsible tourism) continues to degrade the cultural preservation and lifestyles of their people. When we talk about tourism, American territories, and military growth I think it's so important to keep issues like this in mind and to raise the voices of those they affect because there's hardly any coverage on pacific islander issues despite the US "owning" so many islands.

From a 2020 protest of US military base construction in Guam.

From a protest over US military construction and desecration of sacred sites in the Northwestern part of Guam. 

Litekyan or Ritidian in Northern Guam

Even thousands of miles away, in Guam we can see the impact of the US federal shutdown. Although this is just an issue of federal employees working without pay, it affects my ability to visit areas of cultural and historical importance to Chamorus, that the federal government took and refuses to give back to the people. 

Trongkon Fadang giya Litekyan

Prutehi Litekyan