 This is Steak Tech Hawaii, Community Matters here. From the Perspectives and Global Justice Steak Tech Hawaii program, this is your host, Beatrice Cantelmo. Today's program was designed with immigration and social justice reparations for indigenous peoples and specifically with Pacific Islanders in mind. Not many people around the globe, but in the US and even here in the state of Hawaii, know what COFA is and why it was created. Most people are not even familiarized with the role that the US government had in the creation of COFA to repair one of the most serious social injustices against innocent peoples in the world and how contemporary social injustices continue to play an integral role in negatively impacting the lives of many COFA citizens who live in the state of Hawaii and also in all the states of the United States. A lot of people do not understand why COFA citizens are here in the US, as well as their right to be here under sacrifices they have made and continue to make, as well as their resiliency and positive contributions to our society and country. We are fortunate to have a very special guest with us today, Joaquin Jojo Pita is a doctorate student at UH Manoa and is also the first Micronesian to serve on the Civil Rights Commission of the state of Hawaii. I have close thoughts with Jojo, my first year living in Hawaii and in my view Jojo is one of the most resilient Soviet leaders that our community has been gifted with. And lucky for me I get the privilege of being his Brazilian sister. On that note darling, welcome to our program. Thank you very much. How are you doing today? Good, thank you. Awesome. So Jojo, you are about to become a doctor. Do you mind telling our viewers of what are you going to be a doctorate? I don't know if being a doctor is the right word, but yeah, well, I've been in a PhD program at the University of Hawaii. It's a special education program, it's called Exceptionalities. And for the last five, six years, like all good things, it must come to an end. And for my case, it takes a little longer than I'd expected, but yeah. So yeah, it's a long process and hopefully it'll come to an end soon. It's coming to an end soon. So what are you writing on for your dissertation? One of those things that really caught my eye when I first moved here was the engagement of the newly arrived my clinician citizens with programs here. And I think it came in 1991 at that time when PHH and the basic health away and all of the other issues were going on for co-father health care. And so I wanted to look at, you know, my clinician families with children with disabilities were, you know, faring in the system and living in a way. So you're writing about basically education and disabilities in the context of Micronesian children with disabilities. And not only education, because I think, you know, for the most part, it includes a lot of things. Such as? You know, such as, you know, how are they doing with, you know, what are their issues and, you know, where do they go to get help and what are the challenges? And we find out that there's a lot more than, you know, just going to schools and being in IEB meetings, for example, and parent-teacher conferences and that there's a lot of other issues that affect their outcome and the outcome of their students and their children in school. For example, you know, homelessness is a major issue. Access to services, be it basic safety and health safety programs, employment and all of the other things that everybody else was phasing, but because of the special designation, their immigration designation as migrants and unqualified migrants and aliens in the system, you know, they have limited access to those. So that means that really they do not qualify for public assistance for housing? Well, for housing, they're qualified for housing. There's no special treatment, you know, in the way they have to, you know, go about getting into public housing just like everybody else. But things like TANF for the, you know, temporary assistance for, you know, food and other things, the federal programs, because of the 1996 reorganization of the Medicaid and Medicare programs, the COVID citizens were excluded from that, although they are legally present in the nation as a result of the treaty called the Compact of Free Association. So, Jojo, let's talk a little bit about COFA. To our viewers who might know a little bit or to those who have no clue of what COFA is, please explain. Well, COFA, COFA is actually referenced the treaty. It's a compact, it's called a Compact of Free Association. Freely associated states are the states, are the Micronesian nations, or states, but they're independent nations that are under this compact treaty with the United States. All of these, you know, current nations were former territories of the United States after World War II. So, when post-colonialism came to fruition for a lot of the Micronesian people, I mean, leaders, they started to think about ways in which they would want it, you know, in terms of their independence, you know, what it looked like. But at the same time, everyone is cognizant of the fact that the United States' interest in the island was very strong given the World War II's ending. So, let's talk a little bit about the United States' vested interest in those islands back in that time of pre-World War II. Well, at that time, you know, the United States and continues to be as a strong military-strategic interest in the area. If you look at the map, the area between Hawaii and Japan is a pretty large area, an expensive area. And, you know, they had under the trusteeship strategic agreement a right of refusal, or what we call strategic denial, the time that they got from, you know, through the United Nations Security Council, that only the United States has access or had access to that area, military, basically. So, the military then had access to the air, the ocean, and the whole territory. Yeah, that's Northern Marianas at that time, what is now the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas, or CNMI, was, you know, a district also. So, you have Northern Marianas as a district, Palau, Yap, Truc, which is true, but they don't pay. And Cuesraya became a state much later on through some arrangement, but the Marshall Islands. So, you look at Guam, which was already a territory that the United States had gotten from the Spanish-American War. So, you have Guam in the West, and then Marshall Islands all the way to the Marshall Islands in the East. Then all of that area was controlled by the United States under the strategic trust territory agreement. And they were responsible for, as part of UN's territorial program, is to develop, you know, economically, socially, education-wise, and, you know, and the goal, be it that one day these islands must be independent. So, you have this conflicting thing where the goal is independence, but the United States must maintain its military interests. So, that was a complicated issue for the United States and for the Micronesian Deeders. We wanted to maintain that and balance that, you know, the wish for independence versus the wish for, I mean, to fulfill the need of the United States military interests. So, in many ways, if the intention was to really have this fair exchange of full exclusivity of that region for military purposes, but also in exchange to improve people's lives and the land's abilities to be self-sufficient and independent, that's a prophecy that did not really come through. Well, that was the, that was the role that was from the trust territory period on part of the, I mean, the role under the trusteeship program was to improve the lives of Micronesians, improve their education, improve the social and economic infrastructures, health, education. But at the end of that, by the time the 60s and the 70s are all around and, you know, independence, I mean, post-colonialism or, you know, started happening around the world, you know, that was not, you know, there's still some debate as to, you know, how well they fulfill that part. So then they have to start looking at, okay, so how do we move, how do they then move forward, you know, with this idea that, you know, there has to be some shared, continued and shared responsibility for the development issues, continue to develop the healthcare system, continue to develop the education, infrastructure, commerce, and the other things. And we also have to take into account how COFA citizens were impacted by all of the nuclear bomb testing and retesting in that region and how the impact of radioactive exposure have really negatively strained, and not only in the environmental resources of these regions, but also people's health. Oh, yeah, I think the area that bear the biggest brunt of that nuclear impact is the area of the Marshall Islands. And there were, there are still some islands that are like Bikini and a couple of others that are still inhabitable to this point. So it created their first ever in the Pacific, the nuclear nomads, people then have to be removed from that island, they can't go back to it. And then move to other places. Some people move to, you know, move them to the mainland and other places throughout. So they're no longer in their own place, but there's also continued, you know, lingering issues about that, about the remnants of those nuclear testing, the storage of the, you know, the byproducts of the nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands still. And the cleanup that is needed to make sure that those, you know, don't continue to affect the life of the people from the Marshall Islands. And then, of course, there is that the Quadruple at all in the Marshall Islands, that is still a military base until today. And that's the issue that the Marshallese and the United States leaders continue to argue over. And if you look at the other areas, because there are some other islands that are within close proximity, geographically, like areas of our island of Pong Bay and, you know, what not, those other islands that if, other people would make the argument that the fallout, you know, needs to be reexamined quite, you know, again to see the effect on the health of, you know, other related population. But I think what also needs to be understood is the nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. You know, you have to look at it as part of this larger context of how the effect of this presence and the arrangement of the trust territory, you know, within that region affect, you know, the quality of development, for example. And there are a lot of United Nations reports that continue to point out at that time that the United States was not doing enough to do its role under the trusteeship agreement, the, you know, the trusteeship program, to promote, you know, the economic development. And there are some books written and some articles written and even reports by the United Nations visiting teams that were very critical about, you know, that aspect of it. So if you look at it in that broader context and that all well, the people have been, you know, have been supported to bring their life out of the, you know, World War II situation, post-World War II situation, where program and prosperity in throughout the world is beginning to come back for, you know, rebuilding of Europe, rebuilding of Asia and rebuilding of, and then, of course, the United States economic boom in the 50s and the 60s. And you don't see the same thing happening in one of the areas where the United States is responsible for it. So let's take a quick break. And on the second segment, we're gonna go a little bit deeper into those issues, okay? I'm Ethan Allen, host of a likable science on Think Tech Hawaii. Every Friday afternoon at 2 p.m., I hope you'll join me for a likable science where we'll dig into science, dig into the meat of science, dig into the joy and delight of science. We'll discover why science is indeed fun, why science is interesting, why people should care about science. They care about the research that's being done out there. It's all great, it's all entertaining, it's all educational. So I hope you'll join me for a likable science. I'm Frima. She's sad. All the better to see you with my gear. What are you doing? Okay, cool. Research says reading from birth accelerates the baby's brain development. And you're doing that now? Oh yeah, this is the starting line. Push. This is over. You're dead. Read aloud 15 minutes. Every child, every parent, every day. Welcome back to Perspectives on Global Justice Think Tech Hawaii program. This is your house, Beatrice and Tamo. And we are here back with Jojo Peter. And so Jojo, you're talking about promises that were initially made and agreed upon by Kofa and with the compact and the United States and how it all kind of dismantled and fell apart and the involvement of the United Nations in perhaps and interjecting and also making recommendations and bringing a little bit more of accountability to the United States as far as the rules that should have been fulfilled back in the 50s and 60s war. And so my question to you has to do with Kuliana which means in the state of Hawaii the privileges and the responsibilities attached to agreements and also our role in everyone's lives and in situations. So to your mind, talking from a Kofa citizen's perspective, how is Kuliana shaping this process up in the present and not? Well, one thing, it took 13 years for our leaders and the United States leadership to work at a workable treaty that now they refer to as the Compact of Free Association. 13 years, 13 years of negotiations back and forth what's in that, what should be out of it. The one thing that they agree upon is that there needs to be continued involvement of in the economic development of the United States. So there is some financial assistance that go to each one of the three Highland nations. The other thing that I was agreeing about is that because of this uncertainty in economic development and whatnot that there has to be a safety valve for people to be able to move into the United States back and forth, that there has to be an open immigration. And to counter that, there's what the Islanders gave over and bring to the table was that they fully understand understood at that time and continue to do so the need for United States military interests to be guaranteed. You know, so those were the basic principles of the Compact. So in exchange for the US military presence and what they called shared responsibility is that in exchange for that, then you have financial assistance. And then when people talk about the Compact it's coming to an end in 2023. That's the part they're talking about. Those financial assistance packages. But is there a talk about also and the military presence in these islands? No, because the way the agreement went is that the United States as part of the Compact because a lot of the provisions of the Compact will continue to be in effect. So the only thing that, I mean those major parts will just dealt with the economic assistance will end. Open immigration is not part of that 2023. But again, this is a bilateral treaty. It's up to them if they wanted to put it back on the table or if they wanted to continue to maintain it the way it is or figure out how to make it work or you know, I suspect that there will be a lot of discussion in the next few days, few years leading up to that part. So the argument that you would have in favor of keeping the economic assistance would be? Would be because there's still very little economic output and complication with the way that the funding has been delivered or has been allocated or like for example in the case of the two island nations Marshall Islands and the federated states of Micronesia they have a commission made up of five people for each separate commissions for each between the FSM and the US and then the Marshall Island and the US and those two commissions they basically, they come together and there's like three members from the US and two members from the one of the jurisdiction and they have to agree to bond how to spend the money in different sectors, education, health, commerce, infrastructure and I don't remember the other one. So in order to be talking about equity in terms of exchange and partnership it's not fair for military presence to continue to be a major force in these islands without also supporting the socioeconomic infrastructure of the people who are also impacted and are part of this process. And one of the arguments against that is that you don't want to militarize the whole agreement although there can be some military support to it or if you look at it in terms of like okay if you're part of your share of it continues this long then there has to be some kind of a, but all of that is we'll come to the, I am not at all knowledgeable about what's gonna happen but what I wanted to get to is because a lot of these things are happening at the governmental level between government to government and it's a complicated thing and a lot of the reason why sometimes in Hawaii it's hard for the state of Hawaii to get what it wants from these things is because it's a nation to nation agreement it's an international treaty. So the Hawaii being part of the United States and it has to work through the federal government to get all of this, all of these things but at the same time what we see a lot of the people doing it on their own because of the lack of like healthcare, proper healthcare, meaningful work, employment and education. People have taken upon themselves to find that beyond the borders of their nation and utilize that open immigration agreement. So they travel abroad for example because health is a major issue and there's a lot of health problem that it cannot be addressed at home. So let's address a little bit of that, that a much part of people's health issues you know from this region of the world is linked also to the radioactive exposure that their ancestors have had back in the days but they're here and they're receiving some assistance, some health assistance but is it equitable, is the access there? Yeah, well that's one of the argument and one of the problems that we point to is that it was okay before leading up to 1996 because we were eligible to, because we come in and we work, we contribute to all of the taxes and we contribute to the economy and we contribute to the community and the society in general, we're residents. We may not be citizens but we contribute just like everybody else. Very active in civil engagement. In 1996, that major eligibility was taken away and then that sort of precluded a lot of the Micronesians from the services that they needed to be able to establish themselves at the first generation and you know. And everything starts with foundation if you do not have good health, not much in your life goes forward because you're walking to just basically have a way to be sustainable in your own life and so health is one major area of concern. I know that I really hope that we can continue to do this and create new programs where we focus specifically on certain issues such as health and that we can devote also a program to talk about criminal justice system and education. So I would like to touch base very lightly with you with regards to like that and you know, fortunately like a program is coming to an end but if you could leave a message for our viewers to help them be open to learn more and to revisit and to reflect assumptions, great assumptions but also understand that COFA citizens are an asset to our society and the divisions that we have need to be bridged, what would that message be? I think we need to start from the cultural perspective and the fact that traditionally we've always been able to work together. My Canadians have Polynesians and the Greater Hawaii Society. I think recently the celebration of the Hokulea Surround the World trip is a really good example and a lot of Oceanians not just my Canadian Polynesians and but everyone here see that that's a great accomplishment and it's historical roots and that sort of points to the fact that if you put aside your differences of all of these policy differences and stuff and start working towards integrating incorporating inclusion for people that we don't continue this path down down the going down this path of discrimination and that we continue to work together to realize each other's strength and then how we can work together on those. I think there's so much to learn from each other. I think that is just one and a very powerful example of that the Hokulea trip. I was at Magic Island when the ship, I mean the canoes came in and just to be able to witness the pride and the uplifting of the Hawaiian people just see and listen to the sounds and the language of, you know, empowerment and it was something that it's true you maybe not see it in a long, long time and probably not for a while. And then we cannot think about Hawaiian revival without taking back to, you know, the amazing contributions, you know, of Pacific Islanders, you know, who came here with their knowledge, with their wisdom and their beautiful gift, you know, to be a part, you know, it's bigger microcosm we are in. So on that note, thank you so much for being here with us. Come back soon, I hope. Thank you. And thank you so much, our viewers, for watching us today. And I look forward to seeing you again next Friday. I hope we hope.