ARTICLE 12 is one of the few remaining examples of native/indigenous land autonomy in the United States. This unique position should not be given or stripped away so hastily and irresponsibly. SLI-22-01 is a six-page document that threatens to destroy over forty years of historical indigenous land protection rights and is the last measure of identity distinguishing those of Northern Marianas Descent or NMD from the rest of the nation. The CNMI does not have to look far into the past to realize how negatively this will play out for future generations of NMDs. The historical events that stripped Native Hawaiians of their land autonomy are felt throughout the Hawaiian Islands till NOW, and Native Hawaiians are PRICED OUT of the ancestral homeland that bears their name. Ask any Native Hawaiian or Native American, and they will say their land was STOLEN and SOLD to the highest bidder, without their input in its development or use. In my opinion, exercising oneâs real property rights in the CNMI is a facade. SLI-22-01 invites struggling NMD families to sell their properties for pennies on the dollar without realizing the true nature of losing a precious resource that cannot be recreated or replaced with something else in the States. Why would I ever want to sell something my family has held for generations for a life with more bills to pay in the form of land/property taxes, mortgages, land fees, etc.