Educator apologizes for remarks about Chuukese people

Weekender #36

You’re reading The Husk's Friday Saturday edition, our Weekender, a countdown/roundup of miscellanea from Micronesia, Guam, and Earth.

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quotes from this Marianas Variety article about a Guam educator who apologized after she made insensitive remarks about Chuukese people at a professional development training. The story was written by K-Andrea Evarose Limol. ¹ Click here to read the full article, which I highly recommend, to get more context beyond these three quotes. After the training, Elle Rayphand Sablan, a teacher in the CNMI wrote to the trainer expressing her hurt and displeasure about the comments made by the presenter.

• “Since that day, I have been restless, angry, hurt, and sad. I hope you are able to find it in yourself to reflect on what transpired that day. I don’t want to believe anybody, especially an educator, can be that nonchalant, that casual, about racism. I want to hear that it was a mistake and that it will never happen again. Nothing short of a public apology will do. ... I hope you are willing to do the right thing,” said Sablan.

• In her email to the trainer, Sablan said, “You were publicly racist against my people and I demand an apology. Your apology should be as loud as your disrespect, not just to me, but to my coworker who is full Chuukese and also ended up walking out of your presentation; to my colleagues who were in that same room and are descendants of Chuuk and were also insulted; and to my other colleagues who have zero drops of Chuukese blood but understood that what you said had no business being said, not just in a professional setting, but anywhere.”

• The woman who made the comments wrote in reply, “This letter is to apologize to you and your friends, family, and colleagues about my insensitive remarks and examples about the Chuukese people during my training last week. I am so ashamed of myself and what was said. It was not necessary for me to use the Chuukese community in my examples. You are right; I did not need to reference that in my training. There was no point.

  “Honestly, I am usually very fair and alert to the words I use. This is not me. I can only think in my rush to get through a three-day training in one day, I did not present myself well and was insensitive and rude at times to the Chuukese community. I often lecture to the Guam teachers about how they need to know and understand all their students and not to marginalize any group, so I am even more ashamed at my words and how they were received. I should not have singled out that community in any way. Please know that I have taken what you have said to heart and will not do it again.”

U.S. - Micronesia stories

• From the Honolulu Civil Beat, an opinion piece headlined, The US Must Keep Its Promise To The Micronesian Nations

• The FSM and the U.S. recently signed an extended shiprider agreement. According to the U.S. military, it’s a first-of-its-kind agreement. The article states:

  • Through remote coordination, this agreement, the first of its kind, will enable the U.S. to act on behalf of the country to combat illicit maritime activity when an FSM law enforcement officer is not present. More specifically, the agreement provides a coordinating mechanism and process for U.S. law enforcement personnel to work with the FSM National Police through command centers to receive approval from the FSM to act.
    
    Shiprider agreements allow maritime law enforcement officers to observe, board, and search vessels suspected of violating laws or regulations within a designated exclusive economic zone (EEZ) or on the high seas. These law enforcement activities bolster maritime law enforcement operations and maritime domain awareness and provide a mechanism to conduct integrated operations within the Pacific.

bumper year for the Marshall Islands

• Lot of copra made in the RMI last fiscal year, per The Marshall Islands Journal.

Every week (that the Weekender comes out) we’ll leave you with a send-off song curated by my brother, Henry, whose musical tastes have left a lifelong impression on me and, now hopefully, you. This week’s song is by Pepper, one of my favorite bands, thanks to my brother lol. I actually haven’t heard this song before! (So that makes me a fake fan I guess?)

Have a great weekend!

-Jasmine

1. If you wanted to know more about K-Andrea, the reporter who wrote the article, I had the pleasure of speaking with her for a Micronesian Monday Feature last year.

Journalist and scholar K-Andrea Evarose Limol