80 years of exile: Bikini Atoll and the cost of abandoned responsibility

80 years of exile: Bikini Atoll and the cost of abandoned responsibility

On March 7, 1946, the people of Bikini Atoll were asked to leave their homeland. The moment is often described, even now, as a “relocation.” I have never been comfortable with that word. It implies consent and planning. What happened to the Bikinians was none of those things. It was a removal, carried out politely but decisively, wrapped in American propaganda, with the outcome already determined elsewhere.