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Blind Faith: The Nuclear History of Port Hope, Ontario

January 15, 2015 By Dennis Riches 2 Comments

Radiation is invisible, and it has always been imbued with a diverse range of magical powers in science fiction. Ironically, in a very real sense, radiation does make people invisible. Once groups of people have become victims of a radiological contamination, they are, in addition to being poisoned (or being traumatized by the possibility that they have been poisoned), marginalized and forgotten. Their traditions and communities are fragmented, and they are shamed into concealing their trauma. When contamination occurs, there is a strong impulse even among many victims to not admit that they have been harmed, for they know the fate that awaits them if they do.

Thus it is that hibakusha (the Japanese word for radiation victims) become invisible. When a new group of people become victims, such as in Fukushima in 2011, they feel that they have experienced a unique new kind of horror. For them, for their generation, it is new, but for those who know the historical record, it is a familiar replay of an old story. The people of Fukushima should know by now that they are bit players who have been handed down a tattered script from the past.

A case in point is “Blind Faith,” the superb 1981 book by journalist Penny Sanger, about the small irradiated Canadian town of Port Hope on the shores of Lake Ontario. In the 1970s, it faced (and more often failed to face) the toxic legacy of processing first radium, then uranium for nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants.

Filed Under: Environment, Foreign Affairs, Health & Lifestyle Tagged With: Blind Faith: The Nuclear Industry In One Small Town, Blind River, Cameco, Canada, Canada Revenue Agency, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, cancer, Chernobyl, Cold War, Congo, Czechoslovakia, Darlington Nuclear Plant, Eldorado Mining and Refining, energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Farley Mowat, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Fukushima, Fukushima Daiichi, Great Bear Lake, health, hibakusha, history, Lake Ontario, Lung cancer, Manhattan Project, Marie Curie, mining, nuclear bomb, nuclear energy, nuclear power, Ontario, Penny Sanger, Pickering Nuclear Plant, Port Hope, Port Radium mine, radiation, radium, radium mining, Robert Jacobs, taxes, United States Department of Energy, uranium, uranium mining, Workmen’s Compensation Board, World War II, yellowcake uranium

#BlackLivesMatter: Riots And Rally Cries

December 9, 2014 By Ricky Riley 2 Comments

The shooting of an unarmed youth, Michael Brown, struck a spark in the hearts of minorities wanting to have equal and fair treatment when dealing with the police. The Black Lives Matter Movement came out of Ferguson, Missouri but it spread across the nation on November 24 with the news that Darren Wilson would not be indicted for his actions.

The case is confusing and too convoluted to get into here. However, the root of the case has nothing to do with either one of these people. It goes back to a trend of excessive police force in black and brown communities in order to “protect” whites. It is about police engagement and how much authority police are given in situations of arrest. Darren Wilson and Michael Brown are opposing symbols. And the nation witnesses this.

Filed Under: Civil Liberties, National News Tagged With: #BlackLivesMatter, #CrimingWhileWhite, #EricGarner, #ICantBreathe, Alexia Cooper, Bureau of Justice Statistics, crime, Darren Wilson, Eric Garner, Erica L. Smith, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ferguson, Fuck Tha Police, Homicide Trends in the United States, Human Rights, I can't breathe, John Crawford, Michael Brown, Mike Brown, Missouri, murder, New York, NYPD, police, police brutality, poverty, racism, rape, rape culture, social media, St. Louis, Tamir Rice, Twitter, unemployment, United States Department of Justice, violent crime

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