Remarks of Rongelap Mayor James Matayoshi
Bravo Day, March 1, 2004, Marshall Islands

Today I stand before you as Mayor of Rongelap, but more importantly, I stand before you as a son of Rongelap – a true son of the “survivors”. You are here because you have determined that today, as we commemorate the terrible and terrifying event of March 1, 1954, it is important that you come. We are grateful to you for being here. We are especially proud to welcome our friends from the World Councils of Churches, our friends from Japan, Europe, and America. We know of friends here from as far away as New Zealand and Puerto Rico. We thank you all. We welcome you all.

Some of you are from the islands which have born this tragedy for fifty years and more… some of you represent organizations and communities of people who feel strong ties to those of us who survived Bravo. Some of you represent governments and important organizations from throughout our world. Many of you have come to show solidarity with us today when we take a solemn pause to memorialize events of the past…. Events which forever changed our lives, and by the fact that you are here, your lives as well.

Throughout this day, and as you interact with each other during these commemorative services, your will undoubtedly hear various accounts of events surrounding Bravo. From this long list of stories and anectodes, you will witness the horror of the bomb, hear the multitude of reasons why this or that happened, and draw your own conclusions as to what to believe. Of course, you will hear from the apologists who will try as they always do to explain away our suffering and sorrow as byproducts of the cold war. The “accident” theorists will tell you about sudden shifts of wind and stronger yields than expected. Others will write us as of allies just bearing their share of the burdens of the cold war.

Local witnesses will tell you personal versions of what they saw and felt from the eyes and the understanding of human beings and not scientists or soldiers or politicians. They will tell you of how as children they ran and cried then played in the milky dust that fell on them. They will tell you of confusion, of fear, of thinking that the world had ended.

Leaders will tell you how they tried to do all they could do to deal with the matter. Representatives of governments will try to assure you that all that could be done to bring the matter to closure have been done. They will tell you that Washington no longer sees these islands on their radar screen and therefore our quest for fairness and justice is all in vain.

I wonder if they will tell you about Project 4.1. : The study of humans exposed to radiation. We began learning more about this program when previously classified documents pertaining to the testing program were released to us in 1994 under the clinton administration. Among the thousands of documents declassified we discovered this frightening program plan. Drawn in 1953 for the planned 1954 castle nuclear test series, Project 4.1 contemplated the study of exposed human beings months before Bravo.

Throughout the years our people have had misgivings about the annual medical examinations they were subjected to by scientists from the United States. Our discovery of these descriptions of Project 4.1 have reinforced our conviction that we were being studied not treated by the scientists who examined us. If Project 4.1 was conceived, planned and funded prior to March 1, 1954, where were the study subjects supposed to come from?

We have pictures showing “subjects” of the 4.1 study as early as March 16, 1954. Could this project have been put in place in a matter of two weeks without requisite technical and logistical planning? American doctors have testified that they were treating our injuries and that the studies were an integral part of the treatment. Yet it was general knowledge from the beginning that they would not treat conditions which they considered unrelated to the tests and would refer such patients to the trust territory medical authorities.

We have documents pertaining to studies where certain radioactive materials were given to subjects both” exposed “ and “ unexposed” . This resulted in previously unexposed subjects being exposed for the purpose of comparison and exposed persons getting even more radiation than they had been gotting from the bomb. If Project 4.1 was not a study why were there “control groups”?

Many documents pertaining to the tests have yet to be released. Others, like the photographs in the office of the district administrator here in Majuro were removed and set on fire by agents of the United States Government. Several other fires involving medical records of Marshallese exposed to radiation have been reported through the years.

Sufficient information regarding weather conditions surrounding Bravo has been gathered to convince us that there was no unexpected change in weather that caused radioactive fallout to reach inhabited areas. The generals and scientists in charge of the testing chose to ignore weather studies and forecasts which predicted unsafe conditions for the testing.

On earlier occasions, people were moved for safety reasons for prior tests with much smaller expected yield. For Bravo, there was no such precautionary relocation. People were left where they were, unaware that they were in harm’s way, totally at the mercy of the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by man.

For all these years under American guidance, we have learned principles of democracy and human rights under which all men aspire to live. Yet, when we seek to be treated with honor and dignity, we are denied the means to assure that fairness and justice is guaranteed to all. The United States continues to be less than forthcoming in its handling of information and dissemination of facts pertaining to the testing program.

Here we are, fifty years after Bravo, and the people forcibly removed from their homes for the atomic tests, with the exception of Utrik, have yet to return home. The question of exposure as it affects other atolls of the Marshalls has yet to be fully addressed. Many claims are still being prepared. Adjudicated claims have not been paid in full as agreed upon by the United States. Medical and monitoring programs, promised by those who exposed us, have been severely curtailed or abandoned. Making “non-exposed” Marshallese responsible for the medical needs of “exposed” Marshallese is not a just solution. America must own up to the problems it created.

Bravo is not over. The people of Kwajalein, who sacrificed their home and society for America’s nuclear ambitions, still live in squalid conditions on Ebeye, unable to live in peace and comfort in their own homeland. They have been subjected to many of the same treatment the islands of the tests suffered: displacement, loss of traditional skills, social disruption, and the contamination of their lands and seas.

We became dependent on the us because the us claimed the power to govern us. We did not ask for it, but when it happened we came to understand the choices we had. After decades of living with the good and the bad under American rule, we decided that the greater good would be to cast our lot with the U.S. under the Compact of Free Association.

Today we are America’ allies in the war on terrorism. We are America’s allies in the development of the missile systems. We are allies in the u.n. And vote with you when all your other allies abandon the U.S. on issues of great importance. We do that of our own free will, without the exercise of extra-ordinary U.S. Powers under the Compact.

For all these reasons, I can say we appreciate and understand America. We understand what Fourth of July means to Americans. We understand what’s Ford theater and December 7, 1941 mean to America. We understand what November 22, 1963 means to America. We understand what September 11 will always mean to America.

What we are here today to ask is that America understand us as well as we understand it. For our people, for the Marshall Islands, March 1, 1954 is the defining moment in world history.

That is the Fourth of July, the Assasination of President Lincoln and Kennedy, Pearl Harbor and 9/11 all wrapped into one.

That is the day the world stood still and also changed forever. That is the day we went from being an occupied nation to becoming a dependent nation. That is the day we went from being survivors of the world war to victims of the cold war.

March 1, 1954, is the day that defines a legacy that would not end when the testing ended. This on going legacy is recognized under section 177 of the Compact of Free Association. The “full and final settlement “under section 177 is not limited to the number of dollars deposited in the nuclear claims trust fund. The full and final settlement includes the on-going political and legal process recognized under the section 177 agreement as the path to reach truth and justice.

That includes the Article IX changed circumstances process as a matter left to be resolved by the US Congress. It also includes the adjudication of additional claims under law by the nuclear claims tribunal.

So what we ask today on this 50th Anniversary is not just that we remember the past. We ask that the us remember its commitments. We ask Americans to understand us as well as we understand them. We think they do. We think the US is a great nation that can do the right thing.

It is too simple to say that the wrongs done to us were justified by the good that the US has done for the Marshall Islands and the world. There must also be justice for our people.

We believe it is significant that former US Attorney General Dick Thornburgh independently concluded the Nuclear Claims Tribunal operated by the US judicial standards. And we are pleased that Senator Domenici announced during hearings on the Compact renewal that the US Senate will hold hearings on the nuclear testing legacy.

At time when the US is spending billions to study nuclear clean up at mainland weapons production sites, and hundreds of billions to make the world a safer place, the US has a legal and moral obligation to finally resolve the legacy of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands- a democratic ally on all fronts in the current war that asks for nothing except just compensation for judicially determined claims.

That is all we ask. We respect and trust the United States to do what is right when it has the facts. Now is a moment in history when the facts can come out. The truth can be told. Our story needs to be told and the American people need to hear it.

So today, I tell you my friends - Bravo lives on. The terrible disruption it wreaked upon the lives of the people of Rongelap and the Marshall Islands still haunts us. But we shall not let that dampen our hopes or our determination to seek justice wherever we shall find it. We have survived the greatest weapon of war man has ever devised. We will survive whatever is before us and we shall not rest until our quest for justice is found. That is our promise. That is our goal. With your help, and the help of free people everywhere, with the blessing of God, we shall prevail.

March 1, 2004.

----
View photos of Mayor James Matayoshi's Speech and Bravo Day Activities in new photo album, Rongelap Remembers