Between 1946 and 1958 the United States detonated 67 nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands. Twenty-three at Bikini Atoll, forty-four at Enewetak.

Spread across those twelve years, that is the equivalent of 1.6 Hiroshima-sized bombs every day.

Castle Bravo

1 March 1954, Bikini Atoll. Fifteen megatons, a thousand times the Hiroshima bomb, and far larger than the scientists predicted.

The fallout came down on nearby atolls as what looked like ash, or snow. Children played in it. Traces of the material were later found in Japan, India, Australia, Europe and the United States. It remains the worst radiological disaster in American history.

Marshallese flags fly at half mast every 1 March.

What was paid

The Compact of Free Association came into force in 1986. It recognised Marshallese sovereignty, gave the US military continued access to the islands, waters and airspace, and set up a Nuclear Claims Tribunal.

The Tribunal assessed the damage and awarded more than two billion dollars.

The United States appropriated 150 million. It calls that a full and final settlement. The Marshall Islands does not.

During the original negotiations Marshallese leaders did not have the full information. The extent of the fallout, and a US study called Project 4.1, were still classified.

What COFA gave in return

Citizens of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau can live and work in the United States indefinitely.

About 25,000 COFA migrants live in Hawai'i, more than in any other state. Many work in hospitality and hold up the tourism economy. In 2017 the COFA population contributed 336 million dollars to Hawai'i's GDP.

What happens there

In 1996 a US law stripped COFA migrants of eligibility for Medicaid, SNAP and financial assistance, while they continued paying taxes. Full federal benefits were not restored until 9 March 2024. Twenty-eight years.

In 2019 the Hawai'i Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights reported on it. Their words: the committee heard testimony revealing social and institutional racism and discrimination endured by COFA migrants, who are scapegoated as a drain on resources and face discrimination in housing, education and employment.

A separate study found Micronesian women in Hawai'i had four times the odds of a caesarean delivery on a subjective indication compared to white women, after adjusting for other factors. The authors point to provider bias.

Chuukese people are the fastest growing Pacific Islander group in the United States. There is an ongoing study into bias crime against COFA migrants in Hawai'i.

Our position

Nesian Kulture is a Pacific brand run out of Australia. We are not in Honolulu and this is not our fight to referee.

But we are not going to run One Family. Many Islands. and stay quiet about it.

Micronesians are family. Our Marshallese and Chuukese and Palauan and Pohnpeian and Kosraean families are family. The nuclear testing happened in the Pacific, to Pacific people, and the bill is still unpaid.

That is the whole position.

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