1 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:29,639 Speaker 1: The music you just heard was the anthem of Bikinia Toll, 2 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:32,840 Speaker 1: sung at their church on Kille Island in nineteen ninety seven. 3 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:37,840 Speaker 1: The words translators follows, no longer can I stay it's true? 4 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: No longer can I live in peace and harmony. No 5 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: longer can I rest on my sleeping matt pillow. Because 6 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,199 Speaker 1: of my island and the life I once knew there. 7 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 1: The thought is overwhelming, rendering me helpless and in great despair. 8 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: My spirit leaves drifting around and far away, where it 9 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 1: becomes caught in a current of immense power, and only 10 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: then do I find tranquility. Bikinia Toll has a flag 11 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: as well. It looks a lot like the US flag, 12 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: but in the top left blue rectangle you'll only find 13 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:17,199 Speaker 1: twenty three white stars. They represent the islands of Bikinia Toll. 14 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: The three black stars in the upper right of the 15 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: flag represent the three islands that were vaporized by the 16 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: March first, nineteen fifty four fifteen megatine hydrogen bomb blast 17 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: codenamed Bravo. The two black stars in the lower right 18 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: hand corner represent where the Bikinians live now, Killy Island, 19 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:36,680 Speaker 1: four hundred and twenty five miles to the south of 20 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: Bikinia Toll, an egypt island on the Majuro Atoll. These 21 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,200 Speaker 1: two stars are symbolically far away from Bikini stars on 22 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: the flag, as the islands are far away in real life, 23 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: both in distance and in terms of quality of life. 24 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: The Marshallese words running across the bottom of the flag 25 00:01:54,920 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: men ottemjj regi elo benonije translate to everything is in 26 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: the hands of God. These represent the words spoken in 27 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: nineteen forty six by the Bikinian leader Judah to the 28 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,919 Speaker 1: US commodore Ben Wyatt, when the American went to Bikini 29 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: to us the islanders on a Sunday after they'd just 30 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: been to church to give up their islands for the 31 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: good of all mankind so the US could test nuclear 32 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 1: weapons there. The close resemblance of the Bikinians flag to 33 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: the flag of the United States, it's to remind the 34 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 1: people and the government of the USA that a great 35 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: debt is still owed by them to the people of Bikini. 36 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:34,960 Speaker 1: In today's episode, I want to pick up where we 37 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: left off yesterday in the hours after the Bravo shot. 38 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 2: Here's Ariana again, and so when that fallout had arrived. 39 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,360 Speaker 2: The children, you know, they remember that they saw it 40 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:48,520 Speaker 2: in these movie nights. They thought it was snow and 41 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 2: they were playing in this fallout. And then later on 42 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 2: that day they started to realize that this was maybe poisonous. 43 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 2: They just were not sure. But by midnight that night, 44 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 2: the people were not able to move around as much. 45 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 2: They were suffering dramatically. Their stomachs were churning, their hair 46 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 2: had started to fall out, their skin was peeling off, 47 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:17,800 Speaker 2: and like they said, it was so itchy. And when 48 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:20,799 Speaker 2: they would scratch, the skin just peels off as they scratched. 49 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 2: And the fish that the men were out fishing for 50 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,799 Speaker 2: when they had came back that evening to eat, when 51 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 2: they ate the fish, they said, it was like they 52 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 2: were just munching on sand. 53 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: Johanna Jean, the mayor of rong Lapatol, gave an interview 54 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy seven, recounting his experience with the fallout. 55 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 3: It fell on me, It fell on my wife, It 56 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 3: fell on my infant son. It fell on the trees 57 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,680 Speaker 3: and on the roofs of our houses. It fell onto 58 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 3: the reefs and into the lagoon. We were very curious 59 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,440 Speaker 3: about this ash falling from the sky. Some people put 60 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 3: it in their mouths and tasted it. One man rubbed 61 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 3: it into his eye to see if it would cure 62 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 3: an old ailman. People walked in it, and children played 63 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 3: in it. 64 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: Later, people on Utrech Atoll experienced the fallout as missed 65 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: minich Kel. One resident of the atoll said that quote, 66 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: several of my babies, who were healthy at the time 67 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:19,720 Speaker 1: they were born, died before they were a year old. Altogether, 68 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:23,840 Speaker 1: I lost four babies. My son, Wynton, was born one 69 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: year after the bomb, and he has had two operations 70 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: on his throat for thyroid cancer. The Japanese fishing boat 71 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:34,039 Speaker 1: Lucky Dragon number five also came into direct contact with 72 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: the fallout, which began raining down on them that same morning. 73 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: They'd been fishing outside the designated danger zone that the 74 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:45,719 Speaker 1: US government had declared in advance, but when radioactive dust 75 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: began to fall on them, they scrambled to leave. Pulling 76 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: their gear took nearly six hours, during which time they 77 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: were covered in the dust and gathered some of it 78 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: in bags to take home and determine what this dust was. 79 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:01,040 Speaker 1: Later in the day, they began to get As they 80 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 1: headed home. One member of the crew kept a bag 81 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: of the ash to have it analyzed on their return home, 82 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:08,680 Speaker 1: but he hung it from his bunk bed, causing the 83 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:11,839 Speaker 1: crew to get continued exposure all the way home. It 84 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 1: took them two weeks to get back to Japan, and 85 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:17,719 Speaker 1: doctors quickly determined the cause of their blisters, sickness, and 86 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 1: hair loss. They asked a US Atomic Energy Committee for 87 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: information on how to treat the fishermen. Instead, the US 88 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,560 Speaker 1: sent two scientists to observe them. One of the fishermen 89 00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:31,679 Speaker 1: died and the others were sent home after fourteen months 90 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:35,440 Speaker 1: in hospital. They faced stigma in public, and most of 91 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 1: them eventually died from liver cirrhosis or cancer. Thirty six 92 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 1: hours after the test, United States servicemen were evacuated from 93 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: Wrong Lap. Fifty four hours afterwards, the people of Wrong 94 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 1: Lappatole were evacuated, and seventy eight hours after the fallout 95 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: hit them, less than half of Utrich's four hundred people 96 00:05:55,440 --> 00:06:00,160 Speaker 1: were eventually evacuated. Here's Ariana again recounting the story of 97 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:02,160 Speaker 1: one of those Wrong La presidents. 98 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 2: And so they were evacuated on March fourth, nineteen fifty four, 99 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 2: and upon evacuation, the community was ordered to strip down 100 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:16,840 Speaker 2: naked on the ships. They did not separate the males 101 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 2: from the females. The entire community stood naked. The community 102 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 2: stood naked on the ship and they were hosed down 103 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 2: with the pressure washer. When you talk stories with them today, 104 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:34,159 Speaker 2: it's they recall it as you know, they say, you know, 105 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 2: the hose was so strong, it felt like those hoses 106 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 2: that they used to put out fires. And after they 107 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 2: were pressure washed, they were given a soldiers underwear and 108 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 2: T shirt to wear for their journey to Quadulan Atoll. 109 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 2: And for the bigger women that were a part of 110 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 2: this group that could not fit these soldiers underwears and 111 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,200 Speaker 2: T shirts, they were given just a small towel to 112 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 2: cover while they were journeying to Quadulin. And also from 113 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 2: these testimonies, one of my neighbors, she was seven years 114 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 2: old at that time, and she said, you know, she's 115 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 2: just a kid, and when everybody was danding naked and 116 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 2: she saw her uncles, and she thought it was funny 117 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 2: at that time, but she realized later that that was 118 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 2: such a breach of privacy and a moment of humiliation. 119 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 2: And she recalls her grandmother's skin falling off and she 120 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 2: said it looked like we all were like in a 121 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 2: burning house, and everybody had these scars on, like just 122 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,960 Speaker 2: the peel burning off. But at that time she did 123 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 2: not really realize it. She did not have a lot 124 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:43,400 Speaker 2: of burns. She's still alive today, but she did not 125 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 2: have a lot of burns because when the bomb was detonated, 126 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,120 Speaker 2: she was told to go inside her house, and so 127 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 2: she had a little bit of protection. 128 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 1: They were taken to Quadulin Naval Base, where things became 129 00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: even worse for them. A week after the test, MIC 130 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:02,840 Speaker 1: Energy Commission and the US Department of Defense sent a 131 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:06,400 Speaker 1: joint medical team to Quajulin, and these doctors drafted a 132 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: memo stating that the exposed people should have quote no 133 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 1: exposure for the rest of their natural lives. One hundred 134 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 1: and eleven traditional Marshalisee leaders petitioned the United Nations to 135 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:19,239 Speaker 1: be more cautious with testing and to stop it entirely 136 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: if at all possible. The un decided to continue, but 137 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 1: without it precautions. It urged, but did not compel the 138 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: US government to compensate the marshalise people. In fact, the 139 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:33,040 Speaker 1: United States was only beginning the damage it would do 140 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:35,840 Speaker 1: to the people of the Marshall Islands and compensation would 141 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:39,320 Speaker 1: not come for another three decades. I'll let Ariana explain 142 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 1: what actually happened next. 143 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 2: On March ninth, nineteen fifty four, the Project four point 144 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 2: one scientists arrive and then on March eleventh, nineteen fifty four, 145 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 2: the Project four point one officially commenced without consent from 146 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:57,800 Speaker 2: the people. And this Project four point one was the 147 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 2: study of radiation on human being. And if you look 148 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 2: at declassified files, we have a lot of them at 149 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 2: the College of the Marshall Islands Nuclear Institute. There's all 150 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:12,800 Speaker 2: different types of projects. And for example, like one project 151 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:15,800 Speaker 2: two point three could be the study of radiation on corals, 152 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:18,959 Speaker 2: and then you know seven point two is study of 153 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 2: radiation on the trees. And four point one just so 154 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,280 Speaker 2: happened to be the study of radiation on human beings. 155 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:29,880 Speaker 2: And when they were in Quadulin, they were there for 156 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:32,440 Speaker 2: a couple of days. They were ordered to bathe in 157 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:35,480 Speaker 2: the lagoon and salt water and scrub their burns three 158 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 2: times a day, every single day. Also they were ordered 159 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:43,760 Speaker 2: to provide urine samples three times a day. They also 160 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 2: had to give blood samples three times a day, and 161 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:50,640 Speaker 2: this went on for the people of Woodluk it was 162 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 2: three months, and for the people of Romolap it was 163 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:54,960 Speaker 2: almost a year. And then they were moved here to 164 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:57,640 Speaker 2: one of the small islands here where they lived and 165 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 2: waited for their home to be clean out for them 166 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 2: to return. And the thing is, while they were taking 167 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:08,160 Speaker 2: these blood and urine samples and having them bathed in 168 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:11,600 Speaker 2: the lagoon and scrubbing their burns and saltwater three times 169 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:15,480 Speaker 2: a day, they all had clinical numbers, and so even 170 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:19,480 Speaker 2: the pregnant women, their babies and their wombs also were 171 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 2: assigned a clinical number, because even if there was still 172 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 2: a baby, they were already monitoring these babies. And the 173 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 2: thing is, even with their hair falling off and their 174 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 2: skin peeling off, and their fingernails turning black and just 175 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:46,320 Speaker 2: feeling very nauseous and having a severe headache, they were. 176 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:51,679 Speaker 4: Not given paint medication. They were not given any type 177 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:56,800 Speaker 4: of talanol or any of that. They were just being monitored. 178 00:10:57,240 --> 00:10:59,720 Speaker 2: And this whole time they thought they were being treated, 179 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:04,520 Speaker 2: they didn't realize that they were a part of this 180 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:08,040 Speaker 2: project that was just there to study how their body 181 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 2: reacts to exposure to radiation. 182 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:15,160 Speaker 1: Three years after being evacuated, the people of Rondolap were 183 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:16,439 Speaker 1: allowed to return. 184 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:19,760 Speaker 2: And then they moved them back in nineteen fifty seven 185 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 2: because the bomb that they was exposed to was in 186 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:25,400 Speaker 2: nineteen fifty four and they were there for twenty eight years. 187 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: This wasn't a benevolent effort. It was a continuation of 188 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: the USA's use of the people of the Republic of 189 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:33,640 Speaker 1: Marshall Islands subjects of experimentation. 190 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:36,520 Speaker 2: Later on, when they were going to move the people 191 00:11:36,559 --> 00:11:40,400 Speaker 2: of Romolap back to Ronolap, what they wanted to study 192 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:46,240 Speaker 2: now was how radiation evolves on the food chain. Because 193 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:49,120 Speaker 2: when they had moved them back to Ronolap, this was 194 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:53,080 Speaker 2: the original exposed group. When they went back, it was 195 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 2: not just the exposed group anymore because they were here 196 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:58,320 Speaker 2: for three years and they took their family members that 197 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 2: were on Meguro and some of them got married, and 198 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 2: so when they went back there was four hundred of them. 199 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 2: And I always switch up which group was given a 200 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:09,760 Speaker 2: green card and a red card, but like if it 201 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 2: was a red card, they were the exposed group and 202 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,320 Speaker 2: the green card was now the new control group that 203 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:17,120 Speaker 2: was going to eat the crops on the land and 204 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:19,960 Speaker 2: eat off of the land to see how the radiation 205 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:24,480 Speaker 2: has moved in the food chain, and that's when my 206 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:28,760 Speaker 2: mother's father was born on Ramala in nineteen fifty nine. 207 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 1: Eventually, the people of Wrong Lap were evacuated nineteen eighty 208 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:35,120 Speaker 1: five thanks to Greenpeace, who moved them to other atolls 209 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: when the US government refused to help them or acknowledge responsibility. 210 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:41,400 Speaker 1: It was not just the people on Wrong Lap and 211 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 1: the other atolls at the time who were impacted by 212 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:47,600 Speaker 1: the radiation. The consequences have lasted for generations. 213 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:54,400 Speaker 2: And also we've had many cases of birth defects or 214 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:59,440 Speaker 2: babies that were born. And according to the testimonies of 215 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:03,280 Speaker 2: these these mothers that had given birth, their babies were 216 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:08,240 Speaker 2: born sometimes looking like jellyfish. Sometimes their babies were born 217 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:12,520 Speaker 2: without a head, without limbs. All they could see was 218 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:17,120 Speaker 2: the heart beating and the blood flowing through their veins 219 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:20,839 Speaker 2: and their intestines, and they just were not sure whether 220 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:24,480 Speaker 2: they should bury this baby when the heart is still beating, 221 00:13:24,559 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 2: or if they should wait for the heart to stop beating. 222 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:32,440 Speaker 2: And some mothers had told their stories of giving births 223 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:38,559 Speaker 2: to babies that they recalled looking like octopus. Some others 224 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 2: recalled their babies looking like turtles. Some of them. On 225 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:47,840 Speaker 2: many occasions, they also had babies that were looking like 226 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:51,679 Speaker 2: grapes the fruit. It just looked like a bunch of 227 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:56,200 Speaker 2: grapes lump together. And for many of these cases, these 228 00:13:56,240 --> 00:14:00,480 Speaker 2: women were not speaking up at that time because what 229 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 2: they were told by the Atomic Energy Commissions officials was 230 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:08,760 Speaker 2: that this is the result of incest, and so it 231 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 2: was a very humiliating experience. Many of these women had 232 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:18,199 Speaker 2: no idea that their own sisters were also giving birth 233 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 2: to these monster looking babies that they were giving birth to, 234 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 2: and they would oftentimes bury their babies alone where nobody 235 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 2: else was watching. And and it's a worldwide culture that 236 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:33,120 Speaker 2: when someone passes away, we all gathered to mourn this 237 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 2: loved one. But for the woman, the Marshally's woman at 238 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:40,920 Speaker 2: that time, it was a very heartbreaking moment for them 239 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 2: because they did not want anybody else to see this 240 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:47,000 Speaker 2: baby that they had given birth to, not realizing that 241 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:50,440 Speaker 2: their own sister was also enduring the same they. 242 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:09,880 Speaker 1: Things were not much better for the Bikinians who had 243 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:12,440 Speaker 1: been evacuated at the start of testing in nineteen forty 244 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 1: six after a failed attempt to settle them on another atoll. 245 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: Many of the Bikinians elected to try living on Killi 246 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:22,200 Speaker 1: as their new home. Kille Island lacked a coral reef, 247 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 1: and this made their traditional lifestyle of island hopping and 248 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:29,720 Speaker 1: fishing in the calm lagoon impossible. The Bikylians, inhabitants of 249 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:32,720 Speaker 1: the most remote atoll in the already remote Marshall Islands, 250 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 1: were legendary for their ability to navigate using the stars 251 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:38,640 Speaker 1: and seas, but on their new island, the waves were 252 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:41,240 Speaker 1: so big that their traditional canoes couldn't sell at all. 253 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 1: Soon the boat the USA had given them to import 254 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:48,000 Speaker 1: food had sunk into the ferocious seas around the island, 255 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: and they were entirely reliant on air dropped food. Some 256 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:54,480 Speaker 1: families moved to other islands or split their time between 257 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:57,440 Speaker 1: Killi and the atolls with better resources, but life on 258 00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:00,480 Speaker 1: Killie was hard, and the lack of protected lagoon made 259 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:02,920 Speaker 1: every delivery of food or supplies by both a high 260 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,640 Speaker 1: risk in devor. Along with the loss of their homeland, 261 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:09,400 Speaker 1: many generations of Bikinians began to lose the navigation skills 262 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 1: and that connection to the lagoon that provided so much 263 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:14,280 Speaker 1: sustenance and material for their traditional lifestyle. 264 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:19,960 Speaker 2: They had suffered severe starvation because for the people of Bikini, 265 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 2: the atoll that they were now living in was just 266 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,640 Speaker 2: uninhabited in the first place, because all the fish around 267 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 2: the atoll or sictara fish, so they could not eat 268 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 2: off the ocean, couldn't they could not grow any crops. 269 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:36,200 Speaker 2: And are you guys familiar with what a nony fruit 270 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:40,160 Speaker 2: is a nony tree and it does not smell good, right, 271 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,200 Speaker 2: But they started eating the nony fruit because they did 272 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:46,360 Speaker 2: not have any breadfruit or papayas or anything. 273 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:48,200 Speaker 4: Growing on that land. 274 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 2: And the men oftentimes had to sail out in their 275 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:53,960 Speaker 2: canoes and they would be gone for almost a week 276 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 2: because they sailed out as far as they could to 277 00:16:56,960 --> 00:16:59,440 Speaker 2: be able to get fish that was edible for them. 278 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 2: And then for the people of Nwella, from their testimonies, 279 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:07,000 Speaker 2: the at all that they were evacuated to was rat 280 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:10,040 Speaker 2: infested and so their babies had to sleep in boxes. 281 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:12,919 Speaker 2: They had to build like boxes for their babies or 282 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,520 Speaker 2: otherwise the rats would come and nibble at their toes 283 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:18,679 Speaker 2: while they're sleeping. And there was a lot of ways 284 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:20,920 Speaker 2: that they were trying to figure out how to solve 285 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:24,919 Speaker 2: this rat infestation, and at one time they were giving 286 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,360 Speaker 2: people incentives, like I think it was five cents if 287 00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:31,479 Speaker 2: you brought a rat's tale or something, you know, like, 288 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:33,760 Speaker 2: because they were just trying to get rid of the 289 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,199 Speaker 2: rats and they could not. And yeah, it's just a 290 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:40,800 Speaker 2: lot of trauma and a lot of moving around. When 291 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:44,679 Speaker 2: the people of Bikini were first moved from Bikini to 292 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:48,359 Speaker 2: this new home of rondric at All, where they lived 293 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:51,800 Speaker 2: for the next two years. By the time the military 294 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:55,320 Speaker 2: had gone back to pick them up. When he's a 295 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:57,880 Speaker 2: very elderly man now, but he was six years old 296 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:03,320 Speaker 2: at that time. He describes it is that he says 297 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:07,399 Speaker 2: it was a very traumatizing moment for him because they 298 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:10,680 Speaker 2: were carrying some of the people on leaves to the ship. 299 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:13,920 Speaker 2: They were very fragile. He said, if you have seen 300 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:18,439 Speaker 2: photos of the Holocaust, this is what our people looked like, 301 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,760 Speaker 2: because there was just severe starvation at that time. 302 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:25,480 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty eight, LBJ promised the Bikinians a chance 303 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:28,200 Speaker 1: to return to their beloved home, and the US Trust 304 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:33,199 Speaker 1: Territory began rebuilding the structures decontaminating the soil. These efforts 305 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:36,520 Speaker 1: were hampered by infrequent flights, delayed by the discovery that 306 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:40,719 Speaker 1: the large coconut crabs on the island were still dangerously contaminated. 307 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:44,840 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy two, one hundred people from three extended 308 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:48,959 Speaker 1: families moved back and began rebuilding their paradise, but it 309 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,280 Speaker 1: wasn't long before it became clear that their home was 310 00:18:51,359 --> 00:18:55,359 Speaker 1: far from recovered. A visiting team of scientists from France 311 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:59,240 Speaker 1: not the USA found dangerously high levels of radioactivity and 312 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:03,480 Speaker 1: fruit well water and in the urine samples of islanders. 313 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:07,199 Speaker 1: The islanders have sued the federal government and more research 314 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: was done. By nineteen seventy eight, scientists had found an 315 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:13,399 Speaker 1: eleven fold increase in the caesium one hundred and thirty 316 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:15,920 Speaker 1: seven body burdens of the people living on the islands, 317 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 1: a level which the Department of the Interior called quote incredible. 318 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:24,639 Speaker 1: Once again, the islanders were removed from their home. In 319 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:27,640 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three, the Republic of the Marshall Island gained 320 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:30,720 Speaker 1: its independence signed the Compact of Free Association with the 321 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 1: United States. When the Compact came into effect in nineteen 322 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:37,320 Speaker 1: eighty six, the Marshalis received their first financial settlement from 323 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:40,160 Speaker 1: the USA, courtesy of Section one hundred and seventy seven 324 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:43,560 Speaker 1: of the Compact of Free Association, which pledged reparations for 325 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:48,359 Speaker 1: damages to the former inhabitants of Bikini Enewattap, Rongolap, and 326 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:52,119 Speaker 1: utre catolls. They were promised twelve percent rate of return 327 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:54,560 Speaker 1: on the trust Fund, which would be administered by the 328 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:59,159 Speaker 1: US and would provide health care and property damage reimbursements. However, 329 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: this fund relied upon the fiction that only four A 330 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:06,080 Speaker 1: tolls were impacted by the nuclear fallout. There is considerable 331 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:09,000 Speaker 1: evidence to suggest that the entire republic of the Marshall 332 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,040 Speaker 1: Islands was directly impacted by fallout from the Bravo shot. 333 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:15,520 Speaker 1: The trust fund also tied the interest of the Marshal 334 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:18,199 Speaker 1: Ease to those of global capital. As the value of 335 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:21,119 Speaker 1: the fund's investments went up, so did their ability to 336 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:25,399 Speaker 1: fund healthcare and improve their living conditions. But I found 337 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: financial reports from that trust fund in twenty sixteen. At 338 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,600 Speaker 1: the time, it had funds invested in US domestic public 339 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,160 Speaker 1: equities twenty nine point five percent of the portfolio. As 340 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: of September thirty of twenty fifteen, international equities made up 341 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:42,320 Speaker 1: twenty seven point four percent, Fixed income funds made up 342 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:45,919 Speaker 1: eighteen percent, real estate made up five point five percent, 343 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:50,080 Speaker 1: hedge fund made up fifteen percent, and a private equity 344 00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: fund made up the remaining four point six percent. But 345 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:55,640 Speaker 1: the interests to are low lying atoll nation and those 346 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:59,040 Speaker 1: of global capital will never really be fully aligned. The 347 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,480 Speaker 1: only reason hedge funds could offer such astronomical returns for 348 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:05,600 Speaker 1: their investors is that they are comprised of businesses who 349 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:09,399 Speaker 1: don't pay the full cost for their production. This is 350 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:12,280 Speaker 1: nowhere more obvious than the rapidly shrinking atolls of the 351 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:15,520 Speaker 1: Marshall Islands, where the rising sea levels driven by the 352 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:18,600 Speaker 1: need to ensure rising stock prices, are posing a new 353 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:22,199 Speaker 1: threat to people who endured and survived the largest nuclear 354 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,199 Speaker 1: bomb the US is ever known to have deployed in 355 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:28,160 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven. A stock market collapse known as Black 356 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:31,359 Speaker 1: Monday reduced the value of the fund, and even to 357 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:35,119 Speaker 1: this day, despite other settlements and agreements, not one single 358 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:38,000 Speaker 1: person in the Marshall Islands has received the full amount 359 00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: of compensation that they were allocated. A great many have 360 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:45,520 Speaker 1: received less than half. In nineteen ninety five, the Island 361 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:48,880 Speaker 1: Council learned that the Environmental Protection Agency standard for radiation 362 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,000 Speaker 1: reduction requirements was a lot lower than those of the 363 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:55,600 Speaker 1: Department of Energy scientists had been using thus far fifteen 364 00:21:55,600 --> 00:22:00,080 Speaker 1: millirems as opposed to one hundred millirems. Between this and 365 00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:02,640 Speaker 1: the demand on settlement funds for services that would lift 366 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: the surviving islanders and their families out of poverty, the 367 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: cleanup of Bikini Atoll began to lose steam. Today, six 368 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:12,800 Speaker 1: hundred people still live on Kilie, subsisting las You're a 369 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:16,920 Speaker 1: US settlement fund. Their children, like many other Marshal Eis, 370 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,800 Speaker 1: go to boarding schools and other atolls, but they still 371 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:23,560 Speaker 1: can't sale their canoes at home. Other Bikinians live on 372 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:26,199 Speaker 1: one of the islands or Madro Atoll, but with no 373 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:28,760 Speaker 1: matrilineal ties to their land, they don't have access to 374 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: that which defines them in their culture. Despite being so 375 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:34,399 Speaker 1: isolated that the government thought it could safely nuke the 376 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:37,960 Speaker 1: island without damaging the mainland or really anywhere it cared about, 377 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,119 Speaker 1: the island's trust fund is still privy to the rising 378 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:43,119 Speaker 1: and falling of the stock market, and it took a 379 00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:47,119 Speaker 1: significant hit in two thousand and eight. In twenty seventeen, 380 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: Trump's Department of the Interior allowed Bikini's mayor and council 381 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:54,400 Speaker 1: to supervise the use of the fund in order to quote, 382 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:59,920 Speaker 1: restore trust and ensure that sovereignty means something. When turned over, 383 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:02,760 Speaker 1: the fund was valued at fifty nine million US dollars. 384 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,440 Speaker 1: Today it holds a little more than one hundred thousand 385 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 1: US dollars. The island's mayor, Anderson Gievus, oversaw the fund 386 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:12,919 Speaker 1: at the time of its depletion and has admitted to 387 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,960 Speaker 1: claiming personal expenses from the fund and spending six figure 388 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:19,040 Speaker 1: sums on his trip to the USA. He's also made 389 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 1: more popular purchases like a small aircraft and two cargo 390 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,359 Speaker 1: ships to help supply the more isolated Bikinians, as well 391 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,360 Speaker 1: as construction equipment to build sea walls protect the islanders 392 00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:32,479 Speaker 1: against another crisis, rising sea levels, which threatens to swallow 393 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:36,480 Speaker 1: their whole country in a few decades. Sadly, the spending 394 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:40,000 Speaker 1: has left the fund virtually empty, and the Czechs Bikinians got, 395 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:42,840 Speaker 1: which amounted to about eighty dollars per person per month, 396 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:46,920 Speaker 1: have stopped coming. These stipends help feed Bikinians and pay 397 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:50,920 Speaker 1: for medical care, and without them things are even harder. Today, 398 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:53,399 Speaker 1: a few caretakers live on Bikinia at all, and you 399 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 1: can visit to Scuba dive, but the community that once 400 00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:00,880 Speaker 1: existed there is gone. Edward Madison, one of those caretakers, 401 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,399 Speaker 1: was grandson of one of the residents removed in nineteen 402 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:08,479 Speaker 1: forty six. Manison helped lead dives in the islands, tested 403 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,920 Speaker 1: cleanup methods, and monitored the pollutants for the US Department 404 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,479 Speaker 1: of Energy, as well as mapping the lagoons World War 405 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:18,199 Speaker 1: II rex He passed away on March twenty ninth, twenty 406 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:37,440 Speaker 1: twenty on any Watakatoll, the cleanup will never happen. Even 407 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:40,960 Speaker 1: after it ended nuclear testing, the US tested conventional and 408 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,960 Speaker 1: biological weapons there. It shot missiles from California at the 409 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:50,520 Speaker 1: atoll and tested airborne bioweapons. From nineteen seventy seven to 410 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty, the US began scraping radioactive topsoil off the 411 00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 1: various islands it had tested for both nuclear and biological weapons, 412 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:02,760 Speaker 1: and transport that waste, along with some race from Nevada 413 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:06,640 Speaker 1: to run It Island once and run It. The waste 414 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,640 Speaker 1: was mixed with concrete and secured in a giant concrete dome. 415 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:12,600 Speaker 1: Jeff's family is from that island, but thanks to the 416 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:16,879 Speaker 1: levels of radiation which rival Fukushima Chernobyl. He can't go back. 417 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:22,919 Speaker 5: My grandfather is from this island. Oh wow, yes, but 418 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:24,320 Speaker 5: I've never been to that island. 419 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: Is that where you are? Like he did his his 420 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,199 Speaker 1: father live there and like his whole did they live 421 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:33,600 Speaker 1: there for a long time? Your family before? 422 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:34,080 Speaker 5: Yeah? 423 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,199 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's your traditional Do you want to go? 424 00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:43,280 Speaker 5: Not gonna go? Gus The dome is there, yeah, like 425 00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 5: all the people from that island, they get to test 426 00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:48,640 Speaker 5: their radiation level today. 427 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,080 Speaker 1: Thanks to the other extinction level threat the US has 428 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:55,960 Speaker 1: helped create climate change, the dome is slowly sinking and cracking. 429 00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,400 Speaker 1: Hundreds of US servicemen developed cancer building the dome, died, 430 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,240 Speaker 1: and many others had struggled to get full VA benefits. 431 00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:08,040 Speaker 1: As the ocean rises, the concrete cap could simply slide 432 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:11,280 Speaker 1: off the dome, and the thirty three Olympic swimming pools 433 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:14,200 Speaker 1: worth of nuclear and biological waste could flood out into 434 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:19,359 Speaker 1: the ocean. Locally, this dome is called the Tomb. On 435 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 1: the fifth of March two thousand and one, the Nuclear 436 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,960 Speaker 1: Claims Tribunal handed down a decision on a seven year 437 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 1: lawsuit that the Bikinians had brought against the United States 438 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,720 Speaker 1: for damages done to their islands and their people during 439 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:34,600 Speaker 1: the nuclear testing on Bikini. The tribunal was created by 440 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:38,199 Speaker 1: the Compact of Free Association, and that always had been underfunded. 441 00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:41,720 Speaker 1: The settlement and the five hundred and sixty three million 442 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 1: dollars it awarded stood in limbo as the island to 443 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,320 Speaker 1: sue the federal government for it. On the day we 444 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:51,240 Speaker 1: left Marjero, the Republican Marshall Islands negotiations with the USA 445 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:54,080 Speaker 1: over the renewal of the Compact of Free Association had 446 00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:57,760 Speaker 1: gone on until two in the morning Marshalise's time. We 447 00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,960 Speaker 1: ate breakfast that day with Hildehine, the first woman to 448 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,160 Speaker 1: be president of the Marshall Islands and the first woman 449 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 1: president in the Pacific. I didn't get great audio there, 450 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:09,159 Speaker 1: but she shared with us the ongoing struggle that the 451 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:12,679 Speaker 1: Marshalaisee people have had to secure adequate and fair compensation. 452 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:17,199 Speaker 1: With the US offering seven hundred million and the calculated 453 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 1: costs of health care and cleanup closer to three billion, 454 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:22,520 Speaker 1: there is a long way for the US to come 455 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:26,800 Speaker 1: to make the islanders whole. They also, even six decades on, 456 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:30,399 Speaker 1: haven't apologized to the people who had no quarrel with 457 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:34,639 Speaker 1: them and whose homes and lives they destroyed. The case 458 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:38,040 Speaker 1: of the people of the Pacific Proving Grounds illustrates rather 459 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,399 Speaker 1: well how we can't find financial settlements they're going to 460 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,360 Speaker 1: offset the kind of disasters that climate change is bringing. 461 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,640 Speaker 1: This doesn't mean that people who are harmed shouldn't be compensated, 462 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:51,440 Speaker 1: but it does mean that no amount of cash can 463 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:54,320 Speaker 1: right the wrongs done. This is why I wanted to 464 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,520 Speaker 1: anchor this series, which is about the future, with a 465 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:01,120 Speaker 1: story about the past, because in the next couple of episodes, 466 00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 1: we're going to hear a lot about what might happen 467 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:06,159 Speaker 1: to the Marshall Islands, and again how virtually none of 468 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,160 Speaker 1: it is the fault of the islanders. That doesn't mean 469 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:12,240 Speaker 1: we shouldn't accept their leadership on these issues, though, as 470 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:15,120 Speaker 1: we saw at the negotiations that led to the Paris Accords, 471 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:17,679 Speaker 1: the Marshall Islands can and should take a place at 472 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:21,000 Speaker 1: the heart of global discussions about climate change because they 473 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,040 Speaker 1: are the ones most impacted by the constant growth neoliberal 474 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:27,520 Speaker 1: model that makes other people pay for its negative externalities. 475 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:30,960 Speaker 1: As we will learn in the next U episodes, we 476 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:33,480 Speaker 1: should ask the people impacted how they want to be 477 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 1: helped and not tell them what they need. I want 478 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:39,440 Speaker 1: to end today's episode with a poem and a very 479 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:42,440 Speaker 1: marshal East moment. I tried to meet the poet who 480 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:44,600 Speaker 1: wrote this while I was on the islands, because I 481 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,520 Speaker 1: remembered the impact of her poetry at the UN Climate Summit. 482 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: She was off island while I was there, but it 483 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: turned out the hill behind the former president who I 484 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:57,200 Speaker 1: was having breakfast with was her mum. Here Kathy, gentle 485 00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:59,760 Speaker 1: kids note reading a poem she wrote for her own 486 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 1: laor to the United Nations. 487 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:07,840 Speaker 6: Dear Monte Felip Benum, you are a seven month old 488 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:11,720 Speaker 6: sunrise of gummy smiles. You are bald as an egg 489 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,680 Speaker 6: and bald as a Buddha. You are thighs that are 490 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:18,680 Speaker 6: thunder shrieks that are lightning. So excited for bananas, hugs 491 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 6: and our morning walks along the lagoon. Dear Monte Felip Benum, 492 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:28,160 Speaker 6: I want to tell you about that lagoon, that lazy 493 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:32,320 Speaker 6: lounging lagoon, lounging against the sunrise. Men say that one 494 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 6: day that lagoon will devour you. They say it will 495 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:39,040 Speaker 6: gnaw at the shoreline, two at the roots of your 496 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:41,880 Speaker 6: bread fruit trees, gulp down rows of sea walls and 497 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:46,480 Speaker 6: crunch through your eyeland shattered bones. They say you, your 498 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:51,920 Speaker 6: daughter and your granddaughter too, will wander rootless, with only 499 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:58,080 Speaker 6: a passport to call home. Dear Manta Philip Benum, don't cry, 500 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:02,560 Speaker 6: Mommy promises you know. No one will come and devour you. 501 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:04,000 Speaker 1: No greedy whale. 502 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:07,880 Speaker 6: Of a company sharking through political sees, No backwater bullying 503 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:12,680 Speaker 6: of businesses with broken morals, No blindfolded bureaucracies gonna push 504 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:17,400 Speaker 6: this mother ocean over the edge. No one's drowning, baby, 505 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 6: No one's moving, No one's losing their homeland. No one's 506 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:27,720 Speaker 6: becoming a climate change refugee, or should I say no 507 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:31,760 Speaker 6: one else? To the carter Rt Islanders of Papua New 508 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:35,040 Speaker 6: Guinea and to the Tarot Islanders of Fiji, I take 509 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:39,160 Speaker 6: this moment to apologize to you. We are drawing the 510 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:44,520 Speaker 6: line here because we baby are going to fight your mommy, daddy, 511 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,440 Speaker 6: booboo dema, your country and your president too. We will 512 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:51,840 Speaker 6: all fight. And even though there are those hidden behind 513 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 6: platinum titles who like to pretend that we don't exist, 514 00:30:56,400 --> 00:31:01,240 Speaker 6: who like to pretend that the Marshall Islands Tuvalu, Kidos, Maldives, 515 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:06,040 Speaker 6: Typhoon Hayan in the Philippines, floods of Algeria, Columbia, Pakistan, 516 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:11,280 Speaker 6: and all the hurricanes, earthquakes and tidal waves didn't exist. 517 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 6: Still there are those who see us, hands reaching out, 518 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:24,120 Speaker 6: fists raising up, banners, unfurling, megaphones booming, And we are 519 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:29,280 Speaker 6: canoes blocking coat shifts. We are the radiance of solar villages. 520 00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:33,040 Speaker 6: We are the fresh clean soil of the farmer's past. 521 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:39,960 Speaker 6: We are teenagers blooming petitions. We are families biking, recycling, reusing, 522 00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:45,960 Speaker 6: engineers building, dreaming, designing, artists, painting, dancing, writing, and we 523 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:50,360 Speaker 6: are spreading the word. And there are thousands out on 524 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:55,400 Speaker 6: the streets, marching hand in hand, chanting for change now. 525 00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:00,280 Speaker 6: And they're marching for you, baby, They're marching for us, 526 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:05,840 Speaker 6: because we deserve to do more than just survive. We 527 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:12,280 Speaker 6: deserve to thrive. Dear Matefeli venom. Your eyes heavy with 528 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:16,800 Speaker 6: drowsy weight, So just close those eyes and sleep in peace, 529 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:32,480 Speaker 6: because we won't let you down. You'll see. 530 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 7: It could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. 531 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:32,720 Speaker 7: For more podcasts from cool. 532 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:33,960 Speaker 3: Zone Media, visit our website. 533 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,240 Speaker 7: Cool zonemedia dot com or check us out on the 534 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:39,719 Speaker 7: iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts, 535 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:42,360 Speaker 7: you can find sources for It could happen here, Updated 536 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:46,479 Speaker 7: monthly at coolzonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.