Student revolutionary in the making

The Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands or CNMI is a chain of united islands located in the southern Pacific Ocean. That was recently home to the Abramoff-DeLay scandal involving illegal money exchange and exploitation of labor laws. The scandal specifically involved the island of Saipan, an island that PCC student Kelvin Rodeo, political science, calls home.

Rodeo spent the first 18 years of his life on Saipan and came to the U.S. in 2007. He joined the U.S. Navy as an Aviation Support Equipment Technician and spent four years serving in the military.

Rodeo was honorably discharged in September, and began to piece together his future.

"I want to go back home to Saipan and reform the very broken political system there," he said.

Describing the current government of Saipan as corrupt would be an understatement according to Rodeo, who says that corruption in the police force is rampant and a majority of government jobs on the island are filled by nepotism and are held by native citizens, many of whom have only one qualification: family connections.

"I want employment in the Mariana Islands to be based on what you know, not who you know," he said.

The current governor of the Mariana Islands is Benigno Fitial who, armed with a regime of friends and family members in high-ranking government positions, is on his second four-year-term as governor.

"That was a shocker to everyone," said Rodeo. "He had done so horribly in his first term that practically no one wanted him back in."

People have publicly spoken out about Fitial, but that is as far as they take it, Rodeo said.

"I want people [in the CNMI] to have the courage to take action," he said.

In the past few months, Rodeo has been trying to reach the youths in the Mariana Islands, and show them that it is OK for them to speak out against what they think is wrong. The problem, Rodeo says, is that the younger generation is afraid to speak what is on their mind. According to Rodeo, this is because of the influence that the elder population has over the youth.

"Elders are held to a very high degree of respect," said Rodeo.

Saipan is a small island in which most people either know each other or are related in some way, said Rodeo. Just like any small community, one must always be careful about what they say and to whom.

"I know there are people on the island that feel the same as I do, but are scared to voice their opinion," he said.

Araz Nazarian, chemistry, met Rodeo in a U.S. History class last semester. "He (Rodeo) started explaining the problems in the government of Saipan," said Nazarian "then he proved through the internet and the textbook that the Mariana Islands was facing some exact problems that the U.S. government had in its history."

Rodeo has been writing letters to the editors of newspapers in Saipan, which has caused uproar in the small nation. However, Rodeo plans to take it further and run for office in the Mariana Islands.

"I've already felt the brunt of what I'm doing," he said.

Family members of Rodeo who still reside in Saipan have faced ridicule and harassment from other citizens he said. However, Rodeo will not be silenced. He believes that all citizens of the Mariana Islands deserve to live without political abuse and corruption, and from six thousand miles away, he is willing to put his family name on the line for the sake of what he believes in.

"I'm fighting for what I think is right. It's OK if I step on a few toes," he said, and added: "When I succeed, the people whose toes I stepped on will see that it was necessary in order to achieve my goal."

"Kelvin's voice is for the people," said Nazarian, "The problems they're facing in that society are what he is trying to address."