Each year, the anniversaries of the atomic blasts that leveled the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remind us of nuclear weapons’ consequences. One consequence, often overlooked, is the harm caused to numerous Americans by domestic nuclear testing.
In 1990, Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to address the grievous harms and lasting health impacts in communities located near nuclear testing sites. This year, Congress could extend and expand this program to help address the cascading and compounding impact of the nuclear arms race.
Join us on Wednesday, Sept. 27 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. EDT to hear lead nuclear disarmament lobbyist Allen Hester and Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, discuss the domestic impact of nuclear testing and how our Quaker testimonies for peace and integrity call us to advocate with communities who still bear the scars of our country’s nuclear history. As we work collectively for a world free of nuclear weapons, we must also reckon with what those weapons have already done.
Speakers
Tina Cordova is a seventh generation native New Mexican born and raised in the small town of Tularosa in south central New Mexico. In 2005 Tina co-founded the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium (TBDC) with the late Fred Tyler.
The mission of the TBDC is to bring attention to the negative health effects suffered by the unknowing, unwilling, uncompensated, innocent victims of the first nuclear blast on earth that took place at the Trinity site in South Central New Mexico. Ultimately, the goal is the passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments to bring much needed health care coverage and partial restitution to the People of New Mexico who have sacrificed and suffered with the negative health effects of overexposure to radiation since 1945. Tina is a cancer survivor having been diagnosed with Thyroid cancer when she was 39-years-old. She is the fourth generation in her family to have cancer since 1945. There are a total of five generations that have been affected, including a niece that has recently been diagnosed at the age of 23.
Allen Hester leads FCNL’s Nuclear Disarmament and Pentagon Spending portfolio. He develops legislative strategies and lobbies Congress for reductions in Pentagon spending, strengthened arms control regimes, and the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons.
Allen has a fierce commitment to a world free of war and the threat of war and is passionate about shrinking nuclear arsenals.
Alicia McBride leads FCNL’s work to nurture, expand, and deepen relationships with Friends across the United States. She also works to ensure that everyone engaged with the organization understands the spiritual basis of FCNL’s advocacy. She oversees FCNL events at the Quaker Welcome Center as well as Annual Meeting and the Quaker Public Policy Institute.
Alicia’s work builds on her previous roles at FCNL in communications, integrated strategy, and impact assessment. She joined the FCNL staff in 2004. She is a member of Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting (Baltimore Yearly Meeting)