wfn.org | UCC President supports imprisoned former senator from Guam

[powellb@ucc.org]

May 25, 2000
Office of Communication
United Church of Christ
Nozomi Ikuta, press contact
(216) 736-3280
On the Web: <http://www.ucc.org>

United Church of Christ President supports
imprisoned Chamorro protester

     CLEVELAND -- The Rev. John H. Thomas,
president of the 1.4-million-member United Church
of Christ, today (May 25) joined a number of
religious and human-rights organizations in
expressing support for Angel Santos, the now-
imprisoned former senator from Guam.
     "As you may know, Mr. Santos is serving a
six-month prison sentence for entering and occupying
his grandfather's land, which had been among the
10,000 acres labeled 'military excess lands' in 1993,"
Thomas wrote to President Clinton. He also based his
support for Santos on a 1995 resolution adopted by
the church's General Synod, which calls on all
settings of the UCC "to accompany, support, and
advocate for colonized peoples in their struggles to
overcome mental, spiritual, and physical
colonization, and in their struggles to assert their
rights for land, culture, language, and other aspects of
self-determination."
     Thomas concluded his letter to President
Clinton by expressing his support for former Senator
Santos and the struggle of the Chamorro people to
live on their ancestral lands in peace.
     The United Church of Christ, with national
offices in Cleveland, has some 6,000 local churches
in the United States and Puerto Rico.  It was formed
by the 1957 union of the
Congregational Christian Churches and the
Evangelical and Reformed Church.

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[EDITORS: Here is the resolution adopted by the United Church
of Christ Council of Racial and Ethnic Ministries regarding Mr.
Santos.]

"A Resolution Supporting Mr. Angel Santos

"Whereas, the United States began the colonial rule over Guam in
1898 as a result of acquiring Guam as one of the spoils of the
Spanish-American War;

"Whereas, the Chamorro are the original inhabitants of Guam;

"Whereas, the year 2000 has been proclaimed by Protestants and
Catholics alike as the Year of Jubilee, when land was to be
returned to its rightful owners and prisoners were to be set free
(Leviticus 25 and Luke 4);

"Whereas, the ancestral land of Mr. Angel Santos, a Chamorro,
had been declared "excess property" in 1993 by the U.S. military;

"Whereas, Mr. Angel Santos, served as a Senator in the Guam
legislature for two terms;

"Whereas, former Senator Angel Santos is living out his
responsibilities to his ancestors and to their mandate to protect
Chamorro lands which are considered sacred from time
immemorial;

"Whereas, Mr. Angel Santos is supported by the following
organization; Colonized Chamorro Coalition of Guam, Ka
Pakaukau, Kanaka Maoli Tribunal Komike, Pro Kanaka Maoli
Independence Working Group, Hawaii PAAM, U.S.-Japan
Committee for Racial Justice and many other groups;

"Whereas, Chamorros contend that over 10,000 acres labeled
"military excess lands" in 1993 be returned to the original
landowners or their descendants at the acquisition price at the
time of condemnation by the U.S. government;

"Whereas, in Sept. 1999, Mr. Santos wrote to the U.S. Attorney
on Guam and Attorney General Janet Reno informing them of his
intention to reoccupy his grandfathers' land in defiance of the
restraining order issued by the District Court of Guam;

"Whereas, Mr. Santos proceeded to clear his grandfather's land
in October 1999, was tried in December 1999, and was sentenced
on January 8, 2000 to six months in a southern California federal
prison;

"Whereas, Mr. Santos was following a spiritual higher authority
when he claimed his ancestral lands and is now a political
prisoner of the United States;

"Whereas, the Colonized Chamorro Coalition sent a petition to
President Clinton to keep Mr. Santos on Guam and to commute
his sentence on January 8, 2000;

"BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Council of Racial
and Ethnic Ministries (COREM) of the United Church of Christ,
at their meeting on February 23, 2000, unite with the Colonized
Chamorro Coalition in requesting President Clinton to return
Angel Santos to Guam and to commute his sentence immediately;

"AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that COREM joins with
Angel Santos in calling for the return of over 10,000 acres of land
which are now considered military "excess lands" to its rightful
owners and that the U.S. military be responsible for cleaning up
toxic wastes left at its military bases;

"AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that COREM commit to
the following actions on behalf of the Chamorro people:

"-- continued prophetic witness, in church and society for the
return of ancestral lands to the rightful owners -- the Chamorros;

"-- in partnership with all covenanted ministries of the UCC or
their predecessor bodies, the development of strategies to
educate the wider church about the U.S. Colonial relationship
with Guam, the struggle of the Chamorro people for
decolonization, and the desire of the Chamorro people to live on
their ancestral lands in peace

"-- to link the struggle of the Chamorro peoples with struggles of
indigenous peoples in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Okinawa, Cuba and
the Philippines.

"-- to write to Angel Santos #01949-093 at Metropolitan
Detention Facility, P.O. Box 1500, Los Angeles, Calif. 90053.

"AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this
resolution be sent to U.S. President William J. Clinton, U.S.
Attorney General Janet Reno, and Attorney General of Guam,
the Guam Legislature, the Colonized Chamorro Coalition, and
the people of Guam (through a press release to the media in
Guam. and  Hawaii and California)."

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