If you lend us a deaf ear, your fathers will scream from the earth at such hypocrisy. We have been patient and tolerant of the indifference shown toward our people. We have experienced domination by three nations with each one directing the lives of our people. With each period of domination various changes have resulted, including modernization and westernization. Now the time has come for us to take a decisive role in the destiny of our island, our home, and our people.

This Commonwealth Act represents our island's desire for greater autonomy and our yearning for a right long denied, the right to political self-determination. This statement reflects both the frustration and the hope that has gained momentum after years of suppression and denial of our inalienable right to political self-determination.

Your forefathers loathed to be a colony. So do we. Our political development is not directed by our needs and aspirations but by the needs and interests of our trustee, the United States. The very act American revolutionaries detested and sought to rectify, you continue to perform. Are you now prepared to extend the very basic principle of freedom for which your fathers died for? Let it flow, let it be nourished and let it come alive. Give rebirth to a principle hundreds of years old in which America takes pride. Such a measure on your part will truly give the people of Guam a taste of democracy, a taste of liberty, a taste of commonwealth!

The United States is generous in its support to other nations to provide them the opportunity to develop themselves politically, economically and socially. She strives to ensure that true democracy is exercised in other nations outside the United States. Yet, Guam's status as a colonial possession has long been overlooked. We are Americans citizens and take pride in this fact. However we are also the people of Guam, we have an inalienable right that belongs only to us as a people. We feel it is not only your political, but also your moral obligation to support the development of Guam's political institution to grant us Commonwealth!

Today's society presents many uncertainties to us as young people. We fear what fate may hold for us with the increasing drug problem, worldwide terrorism and the arms race to name a few. But, the youths of Guam have a compounded fear, a fear of the instability of their present political relationship with the United States. We think about what to do with our lives, with our future and are hopeful that we will be able to predict what the future may hold for us. Yet, we have no control over the very things that affect us and our island.

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Is this the legacy we will leave for our children? Is this what you want for your children and their children's children? A life where control is not theirs but is placed in the grasp of another to whom we are bound? We believe that if this grip is loosened, we could accomplish more with free hands.

A little child walks along a quiet beach, looking out toward the ocean wondering what lies beyond the horizon. Visions of different looking people and different kinds of languages flood her mind. But, what sort of languages? What sort of people? No one knows what lies beyond a horizon that one has never crossed. Some years later, that same little child has grown up and has traveled beyond the horizon that she once saw. Now she has seen what lies beyond the horizon and has decided upon her future.

In 1950, Guam was that little child who wondered what lay beyond her horizon, the horizon of the future. Guam then crossed that horizon when Congress passed the Organic Act of Guam. As an unincorporated territory of the United States, we tried to predict what the future would hold for us, for our government, and for our youth ... our future.

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And now, forty-nine years later, Guam is that little child grown up We have looked over our options and are finally ready to cross over our greatest horizon, to direct and ultimately secure our future.

The Guam Commonwealth Act is that vessel that will direct us towards this future and will allow us the opportunity to determine the destiny of our island. After all, it is our island, our home, our Guam.

We, the Youth of Guam, recognize that in our bid for security after World War II, our greatest commodity was our alliance with the United States. However, our present relationship is no longer acceptable. We desire to change our relationship. We want partnership not possession! Commonwealth will make this change. We want the American Flag which stands for liberty and justice for all to continue to fly over Commonwealth be the ground where the pole will stand.

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It is a paradox that while the United States is asking the Eastern Bloc Nations to reform and provide their citizens the opportunity to exercise their inalienable right, she has citizens, the Chamorro people, who have yet to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.

Allow us to exercise this inalienable right. We do not want to leave America where liberty and the pursuit of happiness is held in the highest regard. Rather, we want to become the showcase of the government, not the prize.

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Where does our future destiny lie if we continue as an unincorporated territory of the United States, if we continue to be controlled by federal agencies, if we have no say in the decisions made by Congress that directly affect our lives?

After forty-nine years the people of Guam are still longing to enjoy the full benefits of American citizenship and receive the constitutional protections that we are entitled to, yet have been denied.

We, as young adults, desire greater participation in the making of our future. Our American citizenship is precious. Our loyalty has been proven at the expense of the blood and tears of Guamanian men and women who have given their lives. However, the time has come we can no longer tolerate and accept our present political status.

The present relationship between the United States and Guam is that of a parent and a child. Just as a child must obey the rules that the parent sets, Guam is expected to adhere to all the policies and laws the federal government sets. Unquestioning obedience is expected in both instances.

Yes, there is a time when the hands of the child will need to be held by the parent. The child can be guided through life until a certain level of maturity is reached. When this time comes, the parent will slowly loosen the grasp of the child's hands, while still loving and caring for that child. When the child becomes an adult, the parent must release that hold and let the child grow-succeeding, learning and living with the assurance and confidence that the child will grow with the principles and morals taught by the parent.

We, as the Youth of Guam feel that now is the time. The United States government can no longer ignore that the child has grown. The people of Guam have grown politically and economically. No longer can you deny the people of Guarn their rights. We have come before you today to say "WE ARE READY, LET OUR HANDS GO."

We have come before you to say, "SET US FREE, LET US GROW, LET US SUCCEED, LET US LEARN AND LET US LIVE. AND LET US ONCE AND FOR ALL DECIDE THE DESTINY OF GUAM, OUR ISLAND, OUR HOME."

Our people, the Guamanians have made their choice. Rest assured that our generation will be relentless in our quest to fulfill the aspirations of our people. We assure you, our voices will be heard and justice will be served.

PA'GO NA ORA, NOW IS THE TIME, GRANT US COMMONWEALTH!!!

MS. SEBASTIAN. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, Hafa Adai.

I am Annalynn Sebastian. I am from the village of Dededo, Guam. I am here before you today as an independent member of Guam's youth supporting Guam's Commonwealth Bill.

In order to fully express my views, I wish to share with you a story once told to me.

On a calm day an 18 year old youth was working at the neighborhood store trying to support his family. From out of the blue appears this stranger who took him away to put him to work at some foreign place.

During the first few months, the youth was put through physical abuse such as being forced to walk and run in ankle deep sand with a load on his back. At times he worked up to ten or eleven o'clock and then was rudely awakened at four the following morning.

During this same time period, the youth was subjected to humiliation. He was told to keep quiet whenever he spoke of how he was being treated and was reminded to show respect to the people in charge of him for they were superior to him, or so they were told. Do images of oppression come to mind? I am speaking of the youth of Guam, who basically had nothing but second class citizenship to the United States, yet were drafted into their military service. This is just another example of insensitivity the U.S. has shown towards the people of Guam.

The mere fact that we are an unincorporated territory implies that although we are under the United States, we may not partake in its principles of democracy.

Mr. Chairman, history will show that whenever the United States needed our land or our youth, like family, we came through without question. We did not have our youth burning their draft cards or the flag. They didn't ask why they had to put their lives on the line.

Why? Because we considered ourselves as a part of the American family and like any true member, you help when help is needed. Well, now we, the people of Guam, are the ones who are in need. A need to strengthen our ties with the United States, for we shall never be satisfied with a status in limbo. Nor shall we tolerate this colonialistic form of administration.

Oddly enough, we get our inspiration from the American colonists who overcame their dominant forces to emerge as a self-governing nation. A nation which is sympathetic towards other countries who are oppressed.

If America supports the struggles of the people of China and in East Germany, then why is it that Guam, which is a part of the United States, has no inherent rights to govern itself, except as Congress sees fit? Even worse, our citizenship is subjected to their whims.

Guam has a longer standing relationship with the United States than any other Pacific island, however, she has gone unrewarded for her loyalty. This is the source of my frustrations. When shall we be considered as a part of the family to be afforded the benefits of the rights of other Americans?