Sidore Lecture Reveals Social Injustice in America

The Saul O. Sidore Lecture Series launched on Monday, October 18 with a presentation entitled “Navajo Uranium Workers and Environmental Justice: A Case Study of Grassroots Activism, Science and Social Policy”, delivered by Dr. Susan Dawson and Dr. Gary Madsen. Both professors of sociology, social work, and anthropology at the University of Utah, Dawson and Madsen enlightened a modest audience at the free-admission event in the Silver Cultural Art Center’s Smith Recital Hall. The lecture series has drawn interest since its establishment in 1979, when trustees of the Saul O Sidore Memorial Foundation collaborated with representatives of Plymouth State College (that’s right-college!) to birth the Saul O. Sidore Lectureship Program. Mr. Sidore was a businessman dedicated to the ethical treatment of his companies’ loyal employees. The Saul O. Sidore Lecture Series was established to increase community awareness of critical current issues. Setting the tone for this year’s Environmental Justice theme, Monday’s lecture was certainly in accordance with the spirit and memory of Mr. Sidore. Standing before a socially and politically concerned crowd, PSU professor Patrick May enthusiastically introduced Dr. Dawson and Dr. Madsen, deeming them among “the best that academia has to offer.” The married research team has dedicated over ten years to the study of the Native American experience in mining and milling-and the adverse effects of exposure to radioactive substances that were routine work hazards until the OSH Act of 1970 was established to protect and inform employees. Dr. Dawson and Dr. Madsen focused their research in both the eastern and western sides of the Arizona-oriented Navajo Nation, uncovering the disconcerting truth behind the uranium mining and milling industry that is an economical staple for the people there. Dr. Dawson delved into the first segment of the presentation, illustrating with slides the conditions under which the Navajo people, who are also called the Denay, are forced to exist. Many slides depicted dogholes, the slang term for uranium mines. Once mined “dry”, dogholes are not refilled by the government-instead they are left to mar the landscape, providing tempting, but radioactively perilous places for children to play. These mines are not only dangerous to children-the workers who earn their daily bread in the confines of “dogholes” and uranium mills were long oblivious to the precautions necessary to take when working with such hazardous material, the United States government taking no action to inform or protect them. While conducting research at the Navajo Nation in 1989, Dr. Dawson observed a plethora of uranium industry workers whose employment predated the OSH Act of 1970. Dawson, who emphasizes her stories with elaborate hand gestures, revealed that many of these workers had developed lung cancer, emphysema, or other respiratory diseases. When considering the constant visual flow of the slides, such epidemic illness is not surprising-many show mine workers clad in nothing but work shirts and pants. One slide, part of a collection from the era of the 1950’s that was found at the dump, shows a male mill worker standing before a machine covered in uranium dust clad in nothing but pants. As Dr. Madsen explained, the uranium mill provided an uncomfortably hot environment that accounts for the worker’s brief attire. Unfortunately, Navajo miners and mill workers of the 1950s were unaware of the risks they were taking with such carefree behavior. Dawson’s story of a Navajo woman whose life was drastically impacted by the uranium industry marked one of the most poignant points of the evening, giving a face to the destruction. The woman, who raised livestock, lived on a lake that was later labeled as radioactively contaminated. The government reportedly put a fence around the lake, but it was stolen and never replaced. She admitted to Dawson that friends and family became reluctant to visit, and her livestock business was destroyed due to community fear of radioactive contamination. Dawson and Madsen emphasized that the government’s lack of communication with the Navajo people caused them intense anxiety. Navajo homes built from radioactive cinderblocks were condemned but not destroyed and disposed of by the government, presenting an ambiguous message to Navajo families, who as a result often built new homes in close proximity to those labeled as health hazards. Dawson embellished this point with a slide depicting a pile of rubble-remnants of a radioactive Navajo home leveled and simply left in a heap courtesy of the government. While a long-kept secret from the people of the Navajo Nation, the dangers of radioactive exposure were evident as early as the late 1800’s, when European researchers identified a correlation between exposure and serious respiratory conditions such as emphysema and lung cancer. By 1930, better ventilation systems were already being established in European mines in conjunction with the provision of protective gear. Dawson and Madsen revealed that although the U.S. government had access to these files, they opted to commence extensive studies of their own instead of implementing protective measures immediately. During these studies, uranium workers were not told of the possibility of job-related illnesses, preventing them from filing for worker’s compensation or seeking legal action. Although Madsen and Dawson’s research paints a pretty bleak picture, the story does, as Dr. Madsen said, have a happy ending. The research team discovered in a series of studies spanning from 1989-1997 that the majority of the 300 uranium miners and millers they interviewed were never warned about workplace radiation hazards and had been exposed to significant amounts of uranium dust. The research done by Dawson and Madsen influenced the passing of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) of 1990, which provided compensation for uranium workers with exposure-related illnesses, as well as those who had contracted diseases as a result of fallout. The initial act was deemed too stingy, and an amendment was passed in 2000, blanketing a wider range, and providing over 800 million dollars in compensation to date. Dr. Dawson also informed the audience that activism in regards to regards to the hazards of the uranium industry is a healthy force in the Navajo Nation today, having spawned worker support groups that were active in some of the earliest lawsuits regarding compensation. The Office of Navajo Uranium Workers (ONUM) emerged as well as the Navajo Education Project, is responsible for educating Navajo Nation workers on occupational hazards. Dr. Dawson and Dr. Madsen delivered their research in a compassionate manner that would indubitably have pleased Mr. Sidore. Their presentation was an eye-opener for many and a reminder of the injustices being served within our national boundaries. The presentation closed with a final slide of a sacred mountain in the Navajo Nation town of Shiprock. The mountain is like a beacon, visible for miles. Projected onto a screen in the Smith Recital Hall, it seemed to beckon to the activist in all present.