The flag of Bikini Atoll

Bikini Atoll

Bikini Atoll is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands....

, a member of the Marshall Islands

Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...

, is a flag closely resembling the flag of the United States

Flag of the United States

The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...

 and was adopted in 1987. The flag is symbolic of the islanders' belief that a great debt is still owed by the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 to the people of Bikini because in 1954 the United States government detonated the Castle Bravo

Castle Bravo

Castle Bravo was the code name given to the first U.S. test of a dry fuel thermonuclear hydrogen bomb device, detonated on March 1, 1954 at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as the first test of Operation Castle. Castle Bravo was the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by the United States ,...

 H-bomb on the island, poisoning islanders and others with nuclear fallout

Nuclear fallout

Fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and shock wave have passed. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust and ash created when a nuclear weapon explodes...

.

Design

The 23 white stars in the canton of the flag represent the 23 islands of Bikini Atoll. The three black stars in the upper right represent the three islands that were disfigured in March 1954 during 15-megaton Bravo test by the United States. The two black stars in the lower right corner represent where the Bikinians live now, Kili Island

Kili Island

Kili Island or Kili Atoll is a coral atoll located in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. It is approximately southwest of Jaluit...

, 425 miles to the south of Bikini Atoll, and Ejit Island of Majuro Atoll. These two stars are symbolically far away from Bikini's stars on the flag as the islands are in real life (both in distance and quality of life). The Marshallese language

Marshallese language

The Marshallese language is a Malayo-Polynesian language of the Marshall Islands, and the principal language of the country...

words on the bottom of the flag, (in modern standard orthography), reportedly represent the words spoken in 1946 by the Bikinian leader, Juda, to U.S. Commodore Ben Wyatt when the American went to Bikini to ask the islanders to give up their islands for the 'good of all mankind' for nuclear weapons testing. They translate as "Everything is in the hands of God."

Symbolism

The similarity to the American flag design and the striking isolation of the 3-star group and the 2-star group represent the belief of the islanders that the Government of the United States still has obligations to their people, including reparations for the nuclear testing and resettlement of the Bikinians who were exiled.

External links

• Anthem, Story, Interviews and the Flag of Bikini Atoll