Things are never quite as simple as they seem. While we like to put things into binary categories like good and evil, human truths are much more nuanced, and bad things usually get lost in the mix. This is what happened with Hamilton, and now it’s happening with Oppenheimer.
For example, Hamilton kind of floats over the fact that Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and even the Schuyler sisters were all people who perpetuated slavery. Of course, the argument is that this is entertainment and not necessarily a historically accurate portrayal. Still, people should know.
That brings us to Oppenheimer. In a lengthy Twitter thread, journalist and author Alisa Lynn Valdés highlighted a pretty big omission to the movie: how Hispanic families in New Mexico were treated after Oppenheimer’s secret lab was built.
The whole thread is understandably heavy and definitely worth reading, but I’ll summarize it for you. Basically, Hispanic families had been “living on the same land for centuries” and when Oppenheimer and company made them leave, they also killed all their livestock and immediately bulldozed all their farms.
These were American citizens, by the way. After they were displaced, the men were hired to work with beryllium, a toxic element that causes lung damage when inhaled and a deadly condition called Berylliosis. The white men were given protective gear, but the Hispanic men were not.
All of the Hispanic men died, she said, and lost everything they had. This is weirdly not in the movie.
Valdés also told the story of “Loyda Martinez, a remarkable whistleblower whose family’s land was seized for the labs.” Her father was one of the men who died from the poisoning as well.
Martinez was a brilliant woman who won a class action lawsuit against the government for the deceased men, and won. She then filed a second second lawsuit for fair pay for women scientists.
Valdés said she’s been trying to sell a movie based on Martinez “for 20 years …, But, no. We want more films about the ‘complex and troubled’ ‘heroic’ white men, who conducted their GENIUS in a ‘virtually unpopulated’ place. These are ALL lies. This is mythology in service to white supremacy and the military industrial complex, masquerading as ‘nuanced.'”
Because of the actions of the government, she said, “people in northern NM … now have the highest rates of heroin overdose deaths in the nation. The generational trauma and forced poverty is outrageous. We need the real stories of Oppenheimer to be told.”
Here’s a picture of Martinez’s mother and father, who later died of berylliosis.
Here’s an interview with Martinez:
Enjoy Oppenheimer, in theaters now.
