Honorable Richard M.
Page 9
Nixon
May 4, 1973
af
i
The purposeof this letter is to show the treatment of the
Bikinipeople by. the United States. government, ‘and to detailthe
sufferings _andgrievances ofthe displaced people of Bikinil”
They
have endured endless broken promises; threeforced“relocations of their homes; malnutrition and near-starvation; ‘atomic
destruction f their~homeland andirradiation of” theirsoil;
deterioratio
:
oftheir social structure” and Toss”of asense of
community; loss of many skillsrequired forfishingonanatoll;
isolation and”rejection‘by the government; and the certain”risk
of living withthe dangers6f radioactivity.”For “all-of thts
they haveréccived”atrust fund“that-to Ses money, Some Surplus
U.S.D.A.
food and
an isolated and miserable
island far
from their
home.
Surely the United States will not ignore their rights end
complaints.
Surely they are entitled bo at least the same treatment that was awarded to the people of Enewetak.
In 1970, the United States government made an "ex-gratia"
payment to the people of Enewe tcak, now residing on Ujelang, of
The
$1,020,000, in payment for che sutferings they had endured.
pp Enewetakese cleaziy deserve such a payment.
But the people of
#Gikini have perhaps suffered much more at the hands of the United
iStates atomic-test program than the people of Enewetak.
Yet they
Nhave received a great deal less.
All they now ask is similar
“treatment and a similar trust fund that will enable them to reach
a state of self-sufficiency.
Now is the time to open discussions
on such a subject, and act according to the resolution passed by
the Congress of Micronesia on January 30, 1973, and attached
herewith.
The people of Bikini Look forward to a prompt answer
from the United States government.
Sincerely yours,
MICRONESTAN LEGAL SERVICES CORP.
Counsel for Bikini People
HAMLET J. BARRY,
JAMES LICKS
TIL
and
bysoe,Wonca.
liam!
J.
Sarry,
Lit
Divecting Actorney,
.
Marshalls
Morton
shingcton,
the
DBD.
Cc.
Intector
Rororabple Edward E.
Jobuston
igh Commissioner, TTPET
Suipan, Mariena Islands
96956
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