Report of Bravo Commemoration Event

  A special community report of the 53rd Commemoration Event of “Bravo” was held at Harris United Methodist Church on March 3. Bravo is the name of the strongest US hydrogen bomb ever tested, 1,000 times the strength of the Hiroshima A-Bomb. It was detonated on Bikini Atoll March 1, 1954. The Commemorative Event was sponsored by an organization called ERUB; which stands for Enewetak, Rongelap, Utrik and Bikini, the 4 atolls most affected by the nuclear tests. 
   Featured speakers were Carol and Joy Brown, who represented the United Black Christians (UBC) of the United Church of Christ who attended the commemoration in Majuro, Marshall Islands. They reported on their interviews with survivors, our US  Ambassador and government officials. Other participants include Ronald Fujiyoshi and Elma Coleman of PAAM HI. They spoke on the current situation with the Changed Circumstances Petition that is stalled in Congress.  The speaker shared reports of how survivors have fared so far, what can be done to support them, and what needs to be done to achieve justice.
    The event as co-sponsored by the U.S.-Japan Committee for Racial Justice, ERUB Organization of Survivors, PAAM-HI and Church and Society Committee of Harris UMC, included a light dinner.

For more information visit: "Marshall Islands' Nuclear Survivors Day Commemorated" at http://www.yokwe.com/
UCC Supports work of ERUB (Enewetak, Rongelap, Utrik and Bikini, the 4 atolls most affected by the nuclear tests)

   Our thanks to the UCC Collegium of Officers for the letter of support and solidarity. Special thanks to  Joe Malayang and Local Church Ministries and Linda Jaramillo and Justice and Witness Ministries for their financial support.
Joe Malayang help finance two representatives of the United Black Christians to participate in the March 1st Bravo anniversary as a follow-up to the Justice for Micronesians Pronouncement. As a result, UBC representatives spent some time in Hawaii to report back the results of the Majuro visit as well as to learn more about ways to work more closely with PAAM on common issues of justice.
JWM has generously provided a grant for $2,500 to PAAM designated to support the ongoing work with survivors of Bravo.  The grant is a shared contribution through program funds – Neighbors in Need funded.

WITNESS FOR JUSTICE #311
March 12, 2007
WELL KEPT SECRETS
M. Linda Jaramillo
Executive Minister
       Each year in August, we acknowledge with regret the devastating impact of the atomic bombs that were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  We know that thousands of lives were lost or changed forever.  Generations of Japanese citizens have experienced the aftermath of the chemicals that entered people’s bodies and affected their health and environment for the rest of their lives.  Most of us know about this.
       This year marks the 53rd anniversary of the Bravo H-bomb test, conducted on March 1, 1954 on Bikini Atoll.  Sixty-seven nuclear tests were carried out in the Marshall Islands from June 30, 1946 to August 18, 1958.  These were not bombs to end a war, the justification for the devastation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  In the Marshall Islands, this was bomb testing!  The bombs were intentionally dropped on the Marshall Islands by the U.S. Military.  How many of us knew about this?  If we did not know before, it is time that we know now. 
       The H-bombs tested were 1000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb.  Dr. Neal Palafox of the University of Hawaii says that the radiation for this testing equaled 7,000 atomic bombs.  The New York Times reported on April 30, 2001, “America’s debt to this Country has its roots in the 66 nuclear tests conducted in the Marshall Islands.  Their total yield was 128,000 kilotons, roughly the equivalent of 10 Hiroshima-sized weapons per week throughout the testing period (twelve years).”  How many of us paid attention to that story?
       The lives of thousands of residents of the Marshall Islands were changed forever.  Survivors continue to suffer from the effects of radiation.  Many of the survivors of the bomb testing have now passed away.  Perhaps, the magnitude of the H-bomb testing was not known during those first tests in 1946.  How could we not have known?  We already knew the affects of the atomic disaster in Hiroshima and Nagasaki the year before. 
       Granted, the United States admitted its wrong doing and signed a Compact with the citizens of the Marshall Islands in 1986 agreeing to compensate the citizens for injuries and damages.  As of August, 2000, some actual awards had been made for personal injuries.  However, 712 of the awardees (42%) died without receiving their full compensation.  The long-term health impact on the Marshallese people is still being discovered.  Those who were down wind of the tests continue to suffer serious health consequences.  The waters and lands are poisoned and the food supplies remain contaminated.  Today, little attention is being given to this atrocity.  Did you know?
       Because of the resulting illnesses and environmental crisis, the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands submitted a Changed Circumstances Petition to the U.S. Congress on September 11, 2000.  They are still waiting for a response almost seven years later.  In fact, the Petition has not moved at all.  How many of us know this?
       It is time to tell everyone we know about this well kept secret.  It is time for Congress to quit ignoring the appeals for help from survivors of the H-bomb testing.  It is time to challenge Congress to respond to the Changed Circumstances Petition submitted by the Government of the Marshall Islands.  Contact your Congressperson – tell him or her that you know about this and they need to do something about it, now.
The United Church of Christ has more than 5,700 churches throughout the United States.  Rooted in the Christian traditions of congregational governance and covenantal relationships, each UCC setting speaks only for itself and not on behalf of every UCC congregation.  UCC members and churches are free to differ on important social issues, even as the UCC remains principally committed to unity in the midst of our diversity.
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