The Tides of Change, a Novel by @rodeo670: Part 2

Well, I had some pretty great feedback from people after I posted the first part of my novel, so I've decided to continue posting parts of it. I'll try to keep it a weekly thing from now on, even though I kind of slacked on it this time around and am now posting this a whole 10 days after the first part was posted. Hopefully you guys like the story!

This is the story of Jordan Dela Cruz, a USMC Iraq War veteran who comes home to Saipan and becomes a History teacher to help the next generation break free from the shackles of the cultural generational poverty mindset, which keeps the status quo alive and keeps the people of the CNMI disempowered and believing that nothing will ever change.

Read Part 1 HERE

Hannah answered, “It’s because they feel that living and working here, even only as contract workers, is still better than living and working in their country of origin?”

Jordan smiled and said, “Yes, Hannah, I suppose that is true, otherwise they wouldn’t have put up with all of the negligence and abuse from their employers all this time, but I was actually hoping for an answer more related to the handout I gave you.” He looked around the classroom and said, “Can someone read lines 8 through 14 on the second page of the handout out loud?”

Chris turned to the second page and began to read. “Section 8. Restrictions and obligations. No employment contract, or nonresident employment agreement, registration, certification or permit, or the presence of an alien within the Commonwealth pursuant thereto shall be grounds for naturalization or citizenship, or permanent residency except as may be otherwise provided by law.”

“Great! Thank you, Chris.” Jordan turned to Hannah and asked, “So, Hannah, you think you know which answer I’m looking for?”

“Yes, Mister, I think I do,” replied Hannah. “I think it’s bec--“

Chris suddenly interrupted, saying, “Mister! I read that section, I think I know the answer you want; can I answer the question?”

Jordan was delighted that his students were so enthusiastic about this, so he allowed him to answer. “Alright, Chris, go for it. Let’s see what you got,” he said.

“Ok,” Chris began, “I think, the reason their parents are still here living and working as contract workers, is cuz that’s the way our government designed the program. Maybe they never wanted them to be temporary from the start, and they were just saying that at the beginning, noh? Cuz they said none of their time here counts towards citizenship or permanent residency, and then they never did that Apprenticeship Training Program that they said they would do…”

At this point, Jordan could hardly contain his glee. “Right again, Chris! That’s awesome that you got that,” he exclaimed with a smile that ran from ear to ear. “Yes, the only logical conclusion one can draw from reading Public Law 3-66 and looking at the situation of the foreign workers here in the CNMI, is that our own government never intended for these people to just be temporary nonresident workers. Rather, the government and local businesses capitalized on the nonresident workers’ desire for a better life no matter what the cost. They saw that it would be much cheaper to continuously employ nonresident workers who would accept whatever grueling working conditions and abuses were thrown at them, than to put money into training residents of the CNMI as skilled workers.”

He looked around and saw the astonished looks on his students’ faces, and gave them a few moments for it to fully sink in. “Alright, who can tell me why they thought it would be cheaper to keep a nonresident workforce?” he asked.

“Ok, Mister,” Hannah said, “I can see where you’re going with this! Because my parents tell me all the time about all the bad stuff that happens to them with their jobs, like sometimes they don’t get paid in full, or sometimes they don’t even get paid at all, and they tell me they can’t do anything about it because if they say something, they’ll lose their jobs and we’ll have to move out of the CNMI. They said they’d rather put up with it for now so that they can keep working until I turn 21 and can petition them…”

“Perfect, Hannah! That’s an excellent example,” Jordan said. “Now, what would you do if your boss wasn’t paying you in full at your job?”

“Uhhh…I’d complain and make sure everyone knows that they’re cheating me out of my hard-earned money, and I wouldn’t stop until they gave me what they owed me?”

“Exactly! So do you see why the government and local businesses would rather keep hiring nonresident workers instead of workers who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents? Because it’s cheaper for them, and cheaper for them means more profit! It all comes down to the money…”

Suddenly, Chris burst out, “Bat, misdeal that one, Mister!”

Jordan laughed and said, “Yes, Chris, it really is a ‘misdeal’.”

“My parents hate the foreign workers and they blame them for not being able to find work,” Chris went on to say. “They say the foreign workers came and took all the jobs, and now we’re living on welfare because of them…but laña, Mister, it’s really the government’s fault, not the foreign workers, noh?”

Jordan praised Chris for being able to see the truth of the matter. “Correct again, Chris,” he said. At this point, he was convinced that his students had a firm understanding of this very important lesson. If this were to be his last lesson for a while, he knew that he at least ended on a good note. “It’s good that you are able to see that,” he continued.

“Most people, as I’m sure you are aware from your personal experience, place the blame on the foreign workers, and there is this animosity that arises from placing that blame on them, but now you know that it’s not their fault. This is all part of the government’s plan to keep two groups of people in the CNMI fighting each other, instead of seeing the root cause and attacking it as one united force. The more divided we are, the less able we are to fix our current situation.

“Now that you know the truth about this, I hope that you will be able to share that truth with other people if the subject comes up in your personal discussions. You have facts to back up your position; it’s all there in Public Law 3-66, so don’t be afraid to speak your mind. If there’s one thing I want you guys to remember from this class today, it’s that the government caused our problems, but we are also responsible for allowing such things to happen, because we, the voters, are the ones who choose this government every election. But that’s something we will have to discuss another time, if I ever get to teach you guys again.”

“What do you mean, ‘if I ever get to teach you guys again?’, Mister?” Kyle asked. A lump suddenly formed in Jordan’s throat. The time had come, the time that he had been dreading all day. It was time to break the news of his suspension to his class. He didn’t know how else to start it, so he dove straight into it and gave them the most basic explanation he could think of.

“Well, class, I regret to inform you that I will not be able to teach you for the next couple of weeks or so. My teaching duties have been suspended, and this is my last day here with you until my suspension is lifted,” Jordan told his students at the end of class.

“But why, Mr. Dela Cruz? What did you do that was so bad that you can’t teach us anymore?” asked Mike.

“Well, Mike, I might as well tell you the truth before they try to ruin my name or something. They are suspending me from teaching because of what I do outside of school. I’m sure you’ve heard by now of my… ‘extracurricular activities’?” replied Jordan.

“No, Mister, what do you do outside of school?” Mike asked.

“To put it simply, I fight against the status quo of corruption here in the islands. This school administration believes that the things I do are negatively impacting you kids and might inspire you to do things that would be detrimental to this school system, so to prevent that, they’re getting rid of me for a while,” said Jordan.

“Bat Mister, that’s messed up! You’re the best teacher we have!” Chris yelled from the back of the classroom.

Jordan looked over to the corner where Chris was sitting. He chuckled and said, “Thank you, Chris. It really is messed up, and I want you to know that this is the world we live in right now, where The Powers That Be try to get rid of you if you speak out too loudly against them and their crooked ways. But know that this won’t stop me. Nothing will. I want you guys to have a better future than this. I don’t want you kids to think that this is just the way things are and nothing can ever change that, because nothing could be further from the truth. I will continue fighting no matter what. They can take my job away, they can take my pay, but such is a price I am willing to pay for the greater good.”

“Mister, they can’t do this! This is wrong! Isn’t there anything we can do to stop this?” asked Hannah.

---

Thank you for reading! This is just a part of a chapter of the novel...I would have posted the whole chapter, but it would have been way too long and you probably would not have stayed to read the whole thing. So I decided to break the chapters up into smaller parts for easier reading on Steemit.

As you read my novel, there will be words that you don't understand...those words are commonly used in our vernacular back home in the CNMI (the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), kind of our own special version of English, I suppose, which mixes in words from other languages. Feel free to ask me what they mean in the comments below!

---

Check out some of my other posts!

Six Sites You Need to Know About as a New Steemian
How You Can Withdraw Your Steemit Earnings to USD
How to Use Tags to Maximize Visibility for Your Posts and Gain More Upvotes
How The Minnow Support Project Helps You Achieve Your Dreams on Steemit
How I Achieved 200 Followers in My First Month on Steemit
Why I Chose to Invest $100 in Steem
How To Set Up Your Steemit Profile
The Dawn of The Dancing Dreamers
The Dawn of Friendship In a New Age
I'm Just an Island Boy Living in Utah who Loves EDM

---

---

!steemitworldmap 40.754539 lat -111.902618 long Salt Lake City, Utah local Steemian! d3scr