The film Oppenheimer has reignited public interest in the Manhattan Project, the WWII-era secret program to develop the atomic bomb. But the movie leaves out important parts of the story. On today's show, we hear about the impact of nuclear colonialism and the Manhattan Project on the people and places of New Mexico with Myrriah Gómez, author of Nuclear Nuevo México: Colonialism and the Effects of the Nuclear Industrial Complex on Nuevomexicanos. And then we dig into how nuclear testing during the Cold War led to dangerous and lasting contamination in the Marshall Islands and San Francisco's Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood. 

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Featuring: 

Myrriah Gómez, associate professor in the Honors College at the University of New Mexico and author of Nuclear Nuevo México: Colonialism and the Effects of the Nuclear Industrial Complex on Nuevomexicanos    

Making Contact Team:

• Host: Lucy Kang
• Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang
• Executive Director: Jina Chung
• Interim Senior Producer: Jessica Partnow
• Digital Marketing Manager: Taylor Rapalyea
• Engineer: Jeff Emtman

Music Credit: "Documentary Piano Ambient" by Bohdan Kuzmin via Pixabay The story from the second half of today’s episode was created and reported by Rebecca Bowe. It was originally commissioned and produced by the nonprofit news organization San Francisco Public Press as part of an upcoming audio and text series called “Exposed,” with editing by Michael Stoll; archival, audio and photographic research by Chris Roberts and Stacey Carter; engineering and sound design by Mel Baker; fact-checking by Ambika Kandasamy and support from the Fund for Environmental Journalism and the California Endowment. Today’s excerpted version, from the “Sandblasted at the Shipyard” audio series, had additional audio engineering and sound design by Jacob Nasim, with support from the Breathe Network for Racial, Environmental and Climate Justice. 

Learn More: 

• Making Contact homepage
• Nuclear Nuevo México: Colonialism and the Effects of the Nuclear Industrial Complex on Nuevomexicanos
• San Francisco Public Press