During the summer of 2012, I had the opportunity, together with other dignitaries, to visit and meet with Queen Elizabeth II as she hosted the Olympic Games in London, England. As I was presented to the Queen at Buckingham Palace, she commented to me on memories of her sole visit to Guam in 1975. As I was a middle schooler at the time, I really had no recollection of her visit to my island home.
Queen Elizabeth had one, stark memory of that visit to Guam. She and Prince Philip were witnesses to the tragedy of thousands of South Vietnamese refugees being housed in camps put up by the U.S. military as they fled their home nation, as it fell to conquering communist forces from North Vietnam. The refugees were intensely loyal to the United States and the Western democracies. Because most of them had either worked for the U.S. military or were members of the South Vietnamese military and government, staying in South Vietnam would have meant being sent to work camps, prison or even a death sentence. About 112,000 Vietnamese refugees were sheltered on Guam in 1975. Most of them were relocated and settled in mainland America. Some stayed and made Guam their home.
Queen Elizabeth II is the longest reigning monarch in British history. She has ruled her nation for 68 years. That she would visit faraway Guam to give encouragement to such a large number of displaced men, women and children was a testament to the concern she had for the welfare of a people that had been allies and friends to Great Britain and the United States.
In contrast, Joe Biden fought vociferously against allowing them into America. Biden was adamant that the U.S. had “no obligation, moral or otherwise, to evacuate foreign nationals.” Biden insisted that “the United States has no obligation to evacuate one or 100,001 South Vietnamese.” Biden’s callous comments about a South Vietnamese people that had been America’s friends – a people that had hundreds of thousands serve in the military fighting alongside American soldiers against communist aggression – was quite frankly repugnant. And this is a man who criticizes President Donald Trump for building a wall?
Joe Biden is the author of a 1994 crime law that forced thousands of African Americans and Hispanics into forced incarceration in American prisons. Joe Biden was a good friend, and did the eulogy for Sen. Robert Byrd, who recruited hundreds of associates to join a Ku Klux Klan chapter he had created in West Virginia. It was Joe Biden that said, “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.” It was Joe Biden who said, “You ain’t Black if you vote for Trump.” And this is a man who criticizes President Trump – the biggest job creator for African and Hispanic Americans in history – of being a racist?
With Joe Biden serving as vice president under Obama, it was his administration that attempted to destroy the Chamorro Land Trust that for 45 years provided a way to make things right for a people who experienced wrongful land takings by the military and federal government.
With Joe Biden serving as vice president under Obama, it was his administration that reversed a multi-decade policy allowing Filipino construction workers into Guam. The expulsion of these workers caused a tremendous hardship to our island economy, raising the average cost for home construction by $100,000. And this man criticizes a president who has provided $1.7 billion in pandemic aid to our island?
There’s a saying, “Don’t throw rocks in a glass house.”
In Joe Biden’s case, I hope he has lots of Neosporin and Band-Aids. Because he sure will need it!
Eddie Calvo served two terms as governor of Guam.
