Session Three – Radon Daughter – Special Guest De Haven Solimon Chaffins from Zuni Pueblo and activist Leona Morgan (Navajo/Dine). – Tune in for the concluding session of a three-month long series on New Mexico’s complex history as it relates to Nuclear Science and its impact on Native Americans and Pueblo people living in our state. In this series we will be unpacking the evolution of nuclear science and history in New Mexico from the Pueblo perspective. New Mexico has the highest natural reserve of Uranium and is home to two leading National Laboratories. While there are competing schools of thought with regard to the presence of the labs and our extensive reserves, their impact has been significant and often problematic as it relates to the surrounding lands and tribal community members across the state. This session will further open the discussion to current issues and lasting implications for the communities directly impacted by nuclear science.

Watch past sessions of the Counter Narrative here.

De Haven Solimon Chaffins

The Laguna Pueblo village of Paguate, New Mexico is the place Laguna and Zuni artist De Haven Solimon Chaffins calls home. The village hugs the lava-topped mesa that forms the eastern slopes of Mt. Taylor, a dormant stratovolcano. Paguate also sits in the shadow of a large uranium mine, a fact that has shaped her life as much as the tractors and blasting have reshaped the landscape around the long-abandoned yet still-problematic mine.