Sometimes I get to thinkin'...

shot Hood

The Atomic Issue of Daylight Magazine got me to thinking of several things. One was Carole Gallagher's incredible project: American Ground Zero- The Secret Nuclear War, an incredible decade long project of significant historical note that captures both the portraits and life stories of Atomic Vets and down winders who were adversely (to say the very least) affected by America's mad and reckless, atmospheric nuclear bomb testing in the continental US. All conducted by a government that considered its military, indeed, its very citizens, expendable. And no doubt, done all in the name of their ultimate "protection." The logic back then might of went something like- Best to bomb us here, in case we have to bomb them there.

Of course, the thing I still remember most upon first reading in '93 was the revelation by Marine Sergeant Israel Torres, one of several marines ordered into the detonation area shortly after the explosion of "shot Hood," the largest, dirtiest, thermonucleur (as in hydrogen bomb) device detonated in the continental US. In addition to finding dead animals in cages near the blast site- some also said they came across caged and hand cuffed humans... Proof? When they attempted to sue, many of these Atomic Vets discovered that they had no actual documentation that proved they were even at a test site- and the army sure wasn't supplying them any. They couldn't even prove they were there, let alone what they saw.

How many people would've believed The Tuskegee Experiment went well into the 70's, if someone hadn't finally blown the whistle. And I'll spare you the photo (for now) of Puerto Rican independence leader Pedro Albizu Campos, whose hospital room was bombarded with radiation as he cooked in his own juices...