reprinted with permission from           [Mildred McKini McCain]
     Poison Fire, Sacred Earth,
     TESTIMONIES, LECTURES, CONCLUSIONS,
     THE WORLD URANIUM HEARING, SALZBURG 1992
     pages 275-277

     We must reiterate for the world records: The nuclear weapon's
     production-chain has and continues to endanger the lives and
     livelihoods of millions of indigenous people around the world.
     From the Aborigines in Australia to the Western Shoshone people in
     Nevada to the peoples of the French Pacific, indigenous peoples
     have witnessed the destruction of their lands and their children
     by this diabolical monster. We must unite beyond our race,
     religion or class and put an end to this madness! Our land and its
     people are the Creator's most precious recources' and we can no
     longer act as co-conspirators in this death and destruction
     through our own silence. Our voices must drown out the cries and
     the screams of Mother Earth, the tears of the mountains, the
     deserts and the waters must be replaced with chants, songs, poems
     and prayers for an end to this nuclear nightmare. . . .
        We know that the scientists say that there is a controversy
     over the health effects of low radiation, but I am here to tell
     you, my friends -- along with the others -- that low radiation
     doses is deadly, dangerous and it causes death. Death through
     leukemia, death through cancer. I lost my sister through leukemia,
     and my grandmother through cancer, and many of my friends who live
     in Chatham County suffer from cancer. We, the second largest
     county in the state of Georgia, has the highest incidence of
     cancer in our state. . . .
        I have experienced many emotions at these Hearings because I
     have suffered the pain with my brothers and sisters. I have fought
     on the front line, and I am still committed. These diabolical
     practices and effects are certainly known by the so-called
     experts! They know yet because of their greed and their need for
     more money and more power and control these evil people continue
     to tell the lie, the public is not at risk!

     ------------------------------------------------------------------

     Mildred McKini McCain

     Mildred McKini McCain, African-American, Georgia, USA. Member of
     Citizens for Environmental Justice, Savannah.

     I have asked my sister to sit with me because today I am not
     feeling well. I am from the tribe of the downstreamers who live in
     and around Chatham County, down from a place called the Savannah
     River Site where tritium and plutonium is produced.

        At the age of 17, I was diagnosed with a disease drinking from
     contaminated milk. It was diagnosed as a disease that would take
     my life by the time I was 35, and I am grateful that the Creator
     has seen fit to use me further, because very soon I will be 45. So
     I have been granted ten extra years.

        This day is unusual because we started without prayer, and we
     know that through prayer, songs and chants we are able to
     strengthen ourselves to continue fighting on for all humankind. I
     have the tremendous task of ending the list of witnesses today.
     You have heard and shared our pain, you have heard and shared our
     struggles, you have heard and shared our strengths, and we know
     that together we will win.

        People of colour in the United States have long regognized that
     the social, economic, environmental and racial problems facing
     their communities are global in nature. Mainstream white
     environmental organizations in the U.S. also have identified the
     global link and constantly used slogans like: "We are all in this
     together," "There is a great circle of poison to which we all
     belong," and the term "everybody's back yard." This approach may
     make it appear that problems of environmental degradation are
     faced equally by all people. But as we have heard, we know that
     when we look at the environmental issues internationally, a
     pattern of disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards and
     dangers exist among those who are non-white, poor, less educated,
     and politically less powerful. The international linkage and the
     role of poverty and race can be seen clearly defined by exploring
     specific global issues, such as the environmental impact of war
     and nuclear testing, development aid and trade policies, and the
     exploration of hazardous industries and wastes.

        The production of nuclear weapons from the mining of uranium to
     the manufacture and testing of weapons has had far reaching and
     devastating health and environmental effects, as evidenced by the
     witnesses and lecturers over the past few days. We must reiterate
     for the world records: The nuclear weapon's production-chain has
     and continues to endanger the lives and livelihoods of millions of
     indigenous people around the world. From the Aborigines in
     Australia to the Western Shoshone people in Nevada to the peoples
     of the French Pacific, indigenous peoples have witnessed the
     destruction of their lands and their children by this diabolical
     monster. We must unite beyond our race, religion or class and put
     an end to this madness! Our land and its people are the Creator's
     most precious recources' and we can no longer act as
     co-conspirators in this death and destruction through our own
     silence. Our voices must drown out the cries and the screams of
     Mother Earth, the tears of the mountains, the deserts and the
     waters must be replaced with chants, songs, poems and prayers for
     an end to this nuclear nightmare.

        I live downstream from the Savannah River Site. The Savannah
     River Site occupies 300 square miles on the South Carolina side of
     the Savannah River. It produces plutonium and tritium for nuclear
     weapons. It plays a crucial role in the United States Department
     of Energy's nuclear-weapons production complex which covers more
     than 3,900 square miles in 13 states and employs over 100,000
     people. So you see, when we fight the plant, we are fighting the
     people because they say: "This is our livelihood, these are our
     jobs!" So we suffer from job blood-mail, job white-mail, where we
     have to decide: Do we work for the survival of our families or do
     we fight this nuclear nonsense and demand that it is taken out of
     our communities?

        Plutonium and tritium are produced in nuclear reactors called
     production reactors, as you know. The Savannah River Plant was
     built in the early 1950's to produce only tritium, but the
     reactors have also been used to produce plutonium. As you know,
     there is only one other production-reactor site in the United
     States, and you have been told about the Hanford/Washington Plant
     which was gallantly fought against by another downwinder. The
     Savannah River Site has five reactors, named C, R, P, K and L. The
     C and R reactors are permanently shut down, the remaining three
     have been shut down since 1988 because of maintenance and
     operating problems, but the great, evil person called Admiral
     Watkins has seen fit to make the decision to re-open the K
     reactor, and so operational tests are now in effect and they have
     said that it will be able to produce tritium. In 1988, when the
     Savannah River Site reactors were shut down, the U.S. had
     approximately 20,000 war heads in its arsenal. This stockpile
     contained 100 metric tons of plutonium and 500 to 600 metric tons
     of uranium; materials which we have heard decay so slowly that the
     common supply will last thousands and thousands of years to come.
     Tritium decays at a much faster rate, but even at that rate of 5.5
     percent a year, we will still have enough tritium to fuel
     thousands of bombs of destruction over the next several decades.
     This tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen and it is used to
     boost the explosion of nuclear weapons. You get more bang, more
     boost for your money!

        We know that the scientists say that there is a controversy
     over the health effects of low radiation, but I am here to tell
     you, my friends -- along with the others -- that low radiation
     doses is deadly, dangerous and it causes death. Death through
     leukemia, death through cancer. I lost my sister through leukemia,
     and my grandmother through cancer, and many of my friends who live
     in Chatham County suffer from cancer. We, the second largest
     county in the state of Georgia, has the highest incidence of
     cancer in our state. Just before Christmas this past year, one of
     the K reactor's heat exchangers developed a leak. The leak was
     estimated at 150 gallons of heavy water, containing about 6,000
     Curies of tritium. The leak caused enough radiation to raise
     tritium levels in the Savannah River 80 miles downstream to two to
     three times the Environmental Protection Agency's average daily
     concentration guidelines. And since that time, we have had two
     more leaks, one in the air and one in the facility itself. These
     leaks are dangerous and deadly to our water, our soil and our
     people. But the leaks are not the only thing that we have to be
     concerned about. Direct discharges of radioactive and chemical
     waste to surface streams and online-seepage-basins and the use of
     inadequate solid-waste burial methods have resulted in widespread
     surface water and groundwater contamination. Contamination has
     seeped into two aquifers, one of which is the most important
     ground-water source in the Southeast region. Atmospheric emissions
     of tritium and other radionuclides have resulted in the
     accumulation of radioactivity in the soil, the vegetation and the
     milk. The milk -- the milk -- I ask you, who drinks the milk? It
     is the mothers, the pregnant women, and the children! Tritium in
     air emissions is discernible in rain fall in about 100 miles'
     radius of the plant, and environmental monitoring indicates that
     the Savannah River Site may be responsible for relatively high
     levels of SR-90 in milk produced near the site.

        We African Americans stand with the indigenous people and we
     charge: Genocide! We charge: Genocide! We charge: Genocide!

        I have experienced many emotions at these Hearings because I
     have suffered the pain with my brothers and sisters. I have fought
     on the front line, and I am still committed. These diabolical
     practices and effects are certainly known by the so-called
     experts! They know yet because of their greed and their need for
     more money and more power and control these evil people continue
     to tell the lie, the public is not at risk!

        I want to be able to stand one day like my friend Ruth Bosa who
     has stood on the front line, fighting the nuclear fight for
     decades. Like the people of Hanford/Washington we find ourselves
     in Savannah in a hell of a fix, but also like the brothers and
     sisters in Hanford we will not take this blatant affront on our
     humanity lying down. We are sick and tired of being sick and
     tired! We cannot tolerate this offense to our Mother Earth any
     longer, nor to ourselves!

        I am coming to a close. There are 35 million gallons of highly
     radioactive waste stored in aging underground tanks, some of which
     have leaks. But the Department of Energy is kind of smart, and
     they said they've built a facility which is going to turn this
     waste into glass and then store it in some canisters and then find
     somewhere to put it. But they don't know where they are going to
     put it yet! Is it going to be in your back yard? In your front
     yard? In your house, in your home, to affect your children, your
     babies, your generations to come? I say: Dare to say: No! Dare to
     say: Hell, no! We will not accept this in anybody's back yard!

        I have just one more minute.

        On this last day of the Uranium Hearing I say to each of you,
     let us use the power of the water, the mountains and the sacred
     fire to heal and strengthen ourselves for this incredible fight to
     win back our land and all of her wonders. I say to you: Fight on!
     No passaran, no sarinhe! Do not surrender! Don't give up! Remember
     our people united will never be defeated! Our people united will
     never be defeated, and when you leave this place and you feel
     tired and sick, remember the words of my grandmother, who was half
     Cherokee and half African. She said: "My daughter, when you feel
     as though you just can't go on, say these words to yourself [she
     sings]:

          'I feel like going on! I feel like going on!
          Though these trials they will come on
          every hand, I feel like going on!"'

        Amanla ingawe tu(?) -- Power to the people! Power to the
     people! Power to the people! Fight on against the nuclear
     nightmare!

        Thank you. Fight on for the children! Fight on for the land and
     the earth!