Bikini Island and the Bikini People
Located in the Marshall Islands, Bikini is situated in the central Pacific Ocean halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Prior to Operation Crossroads, Bikini was a beautiful Island, endowed with white beaches, turquoise blue waters and natural resources sufficiently abundant to feed her people.
In March 1946, 167 people, from 11 family lineages, lived on Bikini Island. Juda was their chief, an alap, head of a family lineage. The Bikini Islanders were known to be a communal and generous people who cherished their culture and lived according to the life values of reciprocity and kindness. Kan drikdrik kon yokwe, “We share what little we have with love”, and Jiban don, “we help each other.”
The United States and The Cold War
In 1946, the United States, a highly sophisticated western nation with a large military and complex social society, was embroiled in a Cold War conflict with the Soviet Union. The testing of nuclear weapons was deemed to be of utmost importance.
Seeking a location for nuclear tests far from its shores in order to protect American citizens, the United States determined that Bikini Island, because of its isolation and protected harbor, would be the most desirable place. Apparently, the fact that Bikini was inhabited was not a concern for the United States.
The Bikini People Leave their Island
“For the Good of Mankind”
Negotiations with the Bikini people for the use of their island took place on a sandy beach under palm trees in front of houses made of pandanus fronds. United States Commodore Ben H. Wyatt spoke to Chief Juda through an interpreter. Since there were no words in the Marshallese language to describe nuclear weapons, radiation or fallout, the Bikini People were at an extreme disadvantage during these negotiation. In addition, they had no legal representation nor written documentation to protect their rights.
Wyatt requested that the islanders move to a yet-to-be determined location and make the ultimate sacrifice of their sacred home “for the good of humanity and to prevent all future wars.” They were told that they would be able to return to their home after the tests were completed. Trusting “all was in the hands of god”, 167 Bikini Islanders agreed to be displaced so that nuclear testing could proceed on their island. Operation Crossroads, ended the traditional culture of the Bikini People and rendered their island uninhabitable in perpetuity as a result of radiation contamination.
Rongerik Island
Rongerik Island was chosen as the new home for the Bikini Islanders. From the perspective of the Bikini people and their traditional beliefs, Rongerik was a “bad place.” The island had once been inhabited by the evil spirit, Libokra, who poisoned fish and vegetation and turned the water brackish. Despite their fears, the Bikini people agreed to Rongerik because it was uninhabited and not under the control of another “alap”. In early March 1946, they packed their personal belongings and dismantled their homes in preparation for relocation. They visited the burials of their ancestors and decorated their graves with flowers and palm fronds.
On March 7, weeping and singing farewells, 167 Bikini people were transported to Rongerik. The island was one sixth the size of Bikini and 125 miles away.
The Bikini people were given United States government provisions to last a few weeks. However, the resources on Rongerik had been greatly exaggerated to them. As the rations ran out, and they turned to the island’s resources for food, it became obvious that the resources on Rongerik were insufficient to support them.
After they had lived on Rongerik for two months, the seriousness of their situation became evident, and chief Juda began the first of his many requests to return his people to Bikini. Despite Juda’s reports of the desperate conditions under which his people lived, the welfare of the 167 Bikini people on Rongerik Island was of minor significance to others.
The Bikini People Experience Multiple Relocations
Only after two years had passed and it was indisputable that the Rongerik settlement had failed, did the Trust Territory administration begin a thorough investigation of the status of the Bikini Islanders on Rongerik.
The University of Hawaii anthropologist, Leonard Mason, was selected to conduct the investigation. When Mason arrived at Rongerik January 31, 1948, he discovered that the Bikini people were eating a gruel of flour and water, all resources from the store were depleted, the crops were failing and fish were scarce. The only drinkable water was rainwater doled out to each family one bucket per day. Mason also learned that in May 1947 a fire destroyed one fifth of the island, further reducing the food supply. He concluded the Bikini people were in “an extreme state of impoverishment” and recommended immediate relocation.
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Kwajalein, Kili and Continued Relocations
The Bikini people were relocated from Rongerik on March 14, 1948 to Kwajalein Atoll where they lived in a tent camp beside the airstrip used by the American military.
After eight months in temporary housing on Kwajalein, they were relocated again, this time to Kili, an uninhabited island in the Southern Marshall Islands. Kili, 200 acres in size, lacked a lagoon and a sheltered fishing area. Seas were rough with waves 10 to 20 feet high. In bad weather the Bikini people could not fish, and the Trust Territory ships that brought food supplies could not unload.
Despite their difficulties, the Bikini people obtained some success in growing crops on Kili and achieved partial revitalization of their community. In the long run, however, their crops and fish were insufficient to sustain them. In 1957 and 1958, typhoons hit Kili and destroyed most of the crops. Eventually, the Bikini people became dependent on United States canned food for their survival.
The above images of Rongerik and Kwajalein were made by Anthropologist Leonard Mason in 1948. Images of Kili are by Anthropologist Robert Kiste in 1963. The original images were donated to the University of Hawaii Photo Archives for inclusion in the Pacific Collection of the Manoa Library in 2005. They were digitized and auto corrected for color and exposure improvement. I had the images further photoshop corrected to enhance resolution and improve color, and under exposed images were lightened to improve readability. To view the images in the context of the Pacific Collection and to read the comments of Anthropologists Mason and Kiste, please click on the link to the collection.
https://digital.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/
Attempted Resettlement of Bikini
Throughout the years and their many relocations, the Bikini people maintained a strong attachment to their homeland. They continued to believe that someday they would be able to return to their island as they had been promised by the United States. Eventually, officials in Washington, D.C. agreed to investigate the feasibility of returning the Bikini people to their island.
A study by The Atomic Energy Commission concluded, “The exposures of radiation that would result from the repatriation of the Bikini people do not offer a significant threat to their health and safety.” June 1968, President Lynden B. Johnson announced that the 540 Bikini people living on Kili would be able to return to their island.
At the time of President Johnson’s statement, Bikini was not the island the people remembered. Debris and equipment from the nuclear tests cluttered the land. Three islands in the atoll had been vaporized by the Bravo detonation. Most coconut palms had been destroyed and the island was covered with scrub vegetation.
Nevertheless, an immense effort to restore Bikini for habitation began in 1969. After the cleanup and replanting phase was completed, the Atomic Energy Commission erroneously stated, “There’s virtually no radiation left, and we can find no discernible effect on either plant or animal life.”
High Levels of Radioactivity Discovered on Bikini
During the second phase of rehabilitation, however, investigators discovered that coconut crab shells contained high levels of radioactivity. This information was alarming since three extended families had already moved into the cement structures on Bikini that had been created for them.
In 1975 during routine monitoring, radioactivity levels were again discovered to be high, and the United States Department of Interior stated, ”Bikini appears to be hotter or questionable as to safety.” Additional studies indicated well water was too contaminated to drink and the local foods such as pandanus and breadfruit, were too contaminated to eat. Continued investigations confirmed that Bikini was too radioactive to support life, and in September 1978 officials once again evacuated the Bikini Islanders.
The Nuclear Legacy of the Bikini People
The nuclear legacy of the Bikini people is rife with tragedy. The Bikinians lost their homeland and traditional culture, experienced health problems and faced starvation at their relocation sites. They have struggled endlessly for their basic human rights: to have a home, safety and a reliable way of life. The United States, a supposedly civilized and democratic nation, perpetuated their trauma, and the Bikini People have remained nuclear nomads to the present date.
Please listen to the Marshallese poet, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, read her poem “Anointed”.