Oppenheimer is a 3 hour movie, worth seeing, with good acting. Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, the film was inspired by the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. A group from NPC went to see it when it opened at Habersham Hills last week.
Somehow it took 3 hours to tell the story of creating the Trinity bomb without touching on the consequences of detonating Trinity. American citizens in rural New Mexico’s Tularosa Basin were blanketed with radioactive Plutonium, the most dangerous substance known to humankind.
The Plutonium contaminated soil, water, crops, livestock, grazing land, wildlife, and people. Rain barrels, cisterns, holding ponds, lakes, streams, and ditches were contaminated. No one warned the public. Everything was classified. Innocent people were growing their own food, hunting, and tending livestock. Children were playing outside. Infant mortality spiked after Trinity. In Carrizozo, 40 miles from ground zero, church records show a 350% hike in infant mortality. I encourage everyone to visit www.trinitydownwinders.com to learn more.
New nuclear weapons development costs taxpayers $82,000 every minute. That money should be redirected to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to include coverage for downwinders in New Mexico, across the American West, and Guam. This year, August 6th falls on a Sunday. It is the 78th anniversary of dropping the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. It is a day to prayerfully contemplate the beauty of God’s Creation, and how we treat one another.
~~~Joanne Sweeney