North Korea threat prompts Guam natives to assert rights
HAGATNA, Guam — The threatened missile attack by North Korea on Guam has prompted calls for peace from the island’s indigenous people, who are weary of yet another conflict after enduring centuries of hostilities.
About one-third of the U.S. territory’s 160,000 people identify as Chamorro, the indigenous group that is believed to have migrated to Guam from Indonesia and the Philippines an estimated 3,500 to 4,000 years ago. It is believed to be one of the world’s first seaward migrations.
They have since endured colonization by Spanish settlers, bloody skirmishes during World War II and a steady escalation of American military presence on the island. An expert on Guam says it would be “disastrous and tragic beyond words” for the island’s indigenous culture if it were targeted in a war between the U.S. and North Korea.
“These islands are the home of the Chamorro people,” said Michael Lujan Bavacqua, an assistant professor of Chamorro Studies at the University of Guam. “Literally our bones are buried in the soil.”