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- By Native StoryLab
Eighty years ago in the New Mexico desert, the U.S. government detonated the world’s first nuclear bomb—the Trinity Test. It changed history and quietly destroyed the health and lives of those living nearby.
What textbooks rarely mention: entire families and tribal communities lived just downwind of that explosion. The fallout didn’t drift harmlessly into the sky—it settled into the soil, water, and the lungs of people who had no warning.
Tina Cordova was one of those people. After decades of watching her family and neighbors suffer from cancer and mysterious illnesses, she co-founded the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium.
Loretta Anderson tells a similar story. From the Pueblo of Laguna, she co-founded the Southwest Uranium Miners Coalition to fight for miners—many of them Native—who were exposed to toxic conditions with little protection.
The fallout today? Devastating. People are still dying. Families are still grieving. Contaminated lands remain unsafe. While some federal programs have offered compensation to affected individuals, vast swaths of Indian Country are excluded.
Last month brought rare hope. Buried in a federal budget bill was a provision to extend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) with $8 billion in aid over two years for those harmed by nuclear testing and uranium mining.
Is $8 billion enough? Join to find out.
🎥 Watch Native Bidaské with Tina Cordova & Loretta Anderson to learn the full story.
TUNE IN:
Date: Friday, August 1st, 2025
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m. CT / 10:00 a.m. MT / 9:00 a.m. PT
Streaming on: Facebook, YouTube, and the Native News Online website
Help us tell the stories that could save Native languages and food traditions
At a critical moment for Indian Country, Native News Online is embarking on our most ambitious reporting project yet: "Cultivating Culture," a three-year investigation into two forces shaping Native community survival—food sovereignty and language revitalization.
The devastating impact of COVID-19 accelerated the loss of Native elders and with them, irreplaceable cultural knowledge. Yet across tribal communities, innovative leaders are fighting back, reclaiming traditional food systems and breathing new life into Native languages. These aren't just cultural preservation efforts—they're powerful pathways to community health, healing, and resilience.
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The stakes couldn't be higher. Native languages are being lost at an alarming rate. Food insecurity plagues many tribal communities. But solutions are emerging, and these stories need to be told.
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Levi Rickert (Potawatomi), Editor & Publisher