by Rev. Clint Schnekloth
The Marshall Islands are the only location in the Pacific (and the world) where the U.S. conducted extensive nuclear testing. Over 60 atom bombs were tested on various atolls across the Marshall Islands, which resulted in tragic levels of exposure to radiation to the Marshallese people.
Even today there are many places in the Marshall Islands where radiation levels are higher than Chernobyl.
As a result, many health outcomes in the Marshallese community are inequitable. We literally contaminated their whole nation and to this day the Marshallese are living with the effects of long-term exposure to radiation. Add to this radiation exposure the outsize impact climate change is having on the disappearance of their atolls, and you come to realize how disastrous our collective actions have been for the Marshallese people.
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month. Because such a large percentage of the Marshallese now live in Northwest Arkansas, the community will host dozens of events across the region. Inevitably, one part of the story that is told is the story of these impacts.
As a neighbor to the Marshallese, I hope for an official apology. The U.S. has apologized for dropping nuclear bombs on Japan but has never apologized to the Marshallese. Additionally, the Marshallese themselves hope part of that apology includes the full release of classified documents from the era of nuclear testing, because, as Benetick Kabua Maddison, director of the Marshallese Educational Initiative, says, “There is no closure without full disclosure.” You can hear his full recent speech to the UN here.
Mazie K. Hirono, the first Asian American woman senator, said at a conference I attended with my Marshallese neighbors in 2022: “If you are not at the table, you are on the menu.” This was certainly true of the Marshallese; because they did not have a seat at the U.S. national defense strategy table, they ended up “on the menu” as the location for our nuclear testing.
The situation has been made more complex by the reality that as a result of the Compact of Free Association the Marshall Islands and the U.S. signed decades ago, now tens of thousands of Marshallese live in diaspora in the United States. The compact allows Marshallese to freely travel to the United States, live and work here. But there is not a clear pathway to citizenship and Marshallese who live here under the compact have a reduced set of rights (for example, they cannot vote).
Thankfully, restoring Marshallese Arkansans’ eligibility for SNAP and other safety-net programs is among the legislative fixes contained in a recent funding bill that President Biden signed into law. They have been fighting for this reform for more than 20 years.
Our congregation launched a program at the beginning of the pandemic we call Ozark Atolls. Led and directed by the dynamic community leader Albious Latior, Ozark Atolls serves the Marshallese community in myriad ways, offering legal clinics, drivers’ education classes, assistance with rent and housing, hosting community events, visiting elders, organizing youth, maintaining Marshallese culture, and interpreting it to the surrounding community.
To read the entire article, click here
Photo by aboodi vesakaran on Unsplash
by Rev. Clint Schnekloth
The Marshall Islands are the only location in the Pacific (and the world) where the U.S. conducted extensive nuclear testing. Over 60 atom bombs were tested on various atolls across the Marshall Islands, which resulted in tragic levels of exposure to radiation to the Marshallese people.
Even today there are many places in the Marshall Islands where radiation levels are higher than Chernobyl.
As a result, many health outcomes in the Marshallese community are inequitable. We literally contaminated their whole nation and to this day the Marshallese are living with the effects of long-term exposure to radiation. Add to this radiation exposure the outsize impact climate change is having on the disappearance of their atolls, and you come to realize how disastrous our collective actions have been for the Marshallese people.
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month. Because such a large percentage of the Marshallese now live in Northwest Arkansas, the community will host dozens of events across the region. Inevitably, one part of the story that is told is the story of these impacts.
As a neighbor to the Marshallese, I hope for an official apology. The U.S. has apologized for dropping nuclear bombs on Japan but has never apologized to the Marshallese. Additionally, the Marshallese themselves hope part of that apology includes the full release of classified documents from the era of nuclear testing, because, as Benetick Kabua Maddison, director of the Marshallese Educational Initiative, says, “There is no closure without full disclosure.” You can hear his full recent speech to the UN here.
Mazie K. Hirono, the first Asian American woman senator, said at a conference I attended with my Marshallese neighbors in 2022: “If you are not at the table, you are on the menu.” This was certainly true of the Marshallese; because they did not have a seat at the U.S. national defense strategy table, they ended up “on the menu” as the location for our nuclear testing.
The situation has been made more complex by the reality that as a result of the Compact of Free Association the Marshall Islands and the U.S. signed decades ago, now tens of thousands of Marshallese live in diaspora in the United States. The compact allows Marshallese to freely travel to the United States, live and work here. But there is not a clear pathway to citizenship and Marshallese who live here under the compact have a reduced set of rights (for example, they cannot vote).
Thankfully, restoring Marshallese Arkansans’ eligibility for SNAP and other safety-net programs is among the legislative fixes contained in a recent funding bill that President Biden signed into law. They have been fighting for this reform for more than 20 years.
Our congregation launched a program at the beginning of the pandemic we call Ozark Atolls. Led and directed by the dynamic community leader Albious Latior, Ozark Atolls serves the Marshallese community in myriad ways, offering legal clinics, drivers’ education classes, assistance with rent and housing, hosting community events, visiting elders, organizing youth, maintaining Marshallese culture, and interpreting it to the surrounding community.
To read the entire article, click here
Photo by aboodi vesakaran on Unsplash