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Breaking Green: Radiological Weapons Development and Pruitt Igoe Residents with Ben Phillips and Dr. Lisa Martino-Taylor

The Pruitt Igoe Housing Complex

The Pruitt Igoe housing complex in St. Louis that was built in the 1950s and infamously demolished in the 1970s has been touted by many as a cautionary tale against public housing projects. But its history is complex. In 2012 it was reported that Pruitt Igoe was in a region targeted by the Military for secret tests that were part of a radiological weapons development program. According to government documents obtained by sociologist and researcher Dr. Lisa Martino-Taylor, the Army referred to the test area a “Densely Populated Slum District.”

Now Pruitt Igoe is back in national headlines. Ben Phillips and Chester Deans, both former residents of the Pruitt Igoe housing complex, are spearheading efforts to have the government recognize its wrong doing, release more information about the its covert actions, and compensate residents of Pruitt-Igoe and surrounding areas. They hope to have residents of the area added to a bill working its way through congress that seeks to compensate residents that were exposed to radiation during cold war era production of nuclear weapons in St. louis.

 

 

Dr Lisa Martino-Taylor

In this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Dr. Lisa Martino-Taylor, the sociologist and researcher who examined the St. Louis open-air experiments for her doctoral dissertation at the University of Missouri Columbia, and after more than a decade of research wrote a book called Behind the Fog: How the US Cold War Radiological Weapons Program Exposed Innocent Americans.

Ben Phillips 

We will also talk with Ben Phillips who prior to spearheading the recent push for justice for former residents of Pruitt Igoe, received a degree in sociology from the University of Missouri at St. Louis.

Phillips had a distinguished career in public service as well as St. Louis and Missouri politics.

Ben Phillip’s accomplishments include  a gubernatorial appointee to the St. Louis City board of elections commission,  a Mayoral appointment to the City of St. Louis Employees Retirement Board and serving as Presiding of the Missouri State President of the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice (NABCJ).

For Further Information:

Another Breaking Green Podcast, “Cold War Testing on African American Population in St. Louis with Filmmaker Damien D. Smith”, explores this topic (October 5, 2022).

The St. Louis Post Dispatch posted an article “St. Louis native’s film explores government’s chemical tests at Pruitt-Igoe housing complex”  (November 3, 2021).

CNN posted an article “The military conducted testing in their neighborhood during the Cold War. Now, these former residents are demanding answers – and restitution” on October 15, 2023.

ABC News posted an article “Government should pay compensation for secretive Cold War-era testing, St. Louis victims say” on September 24, 2023.
 

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Transcripts and Chapter Markers for this Episode can be found on: Breaking Green’s Buzzsprout Page.

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