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THIS WEEK IN PEOPLE’S HISTORY, MAY 21–27, 2025  
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_ Act Up Against Bad Science (1990), Don’t Talk, Take Action!
(1980), Racism Debunked, But for How Long? (1950), Speak Up, Memory!
(2025), Protest and Serve (2020), National Institute of Health, R.I.P?
(1930), Really Making Peru Great Again (1975) _

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_ACTING UP AGAINST OFFICIAL NEGLECT_

MAY 21 IS THE 35TH ANNIVERSARY of a sensational “Storm the NIH”
protest by the  AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (Act Up), against the
shortcomings of the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s effort to
find an effective treatment for HIV/AIDS. One of Act Up’s main
objections to the policies of NIH was the government’s inability to
establish a cooperative relationship with the communities at highest
risk.

On this day in 1990 about a thousand ACT UP members and supporters
infiltrated the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland, where they staged
multiple simultaneous protest actions – including the occupation of
the NIH AIDS division director’s office – before the surprised
police could regain control of the area, arresting scores of the
activists on trespassing charges.  Some carried signs reading
''N.I.H.: Neglectful Institute of Death,'' while chanting, “N.I.H.,
you can't hide; we charge you with genocide.”
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_ENOUGH TALK, DO SOMETHING!_

MAY 22 IS THE 45TH ANNIVERSARY of the first glimmer of hope for
hundreds of upstate New Yorkers who had learned, almost two years
earlier, they were living in the midst of an ongoing public health
emergency.

The residents of the Love Canal neighborhood in Niagara Falls, N.Y.,
had been told by New York State’s Health Commissioner in August 1978
that they were “in great and imminent peril” from dangerous
chemical contamination. The commissioner recommended that pregnant
women and children under two should get out of Love Canal
immediately. 

But even now, in May 1980, almost nothing had been done about it. The
declaration of a health emergency did not provide funds to evacuate
anyone, so only a handful of people could follow the commissioner’s
advice.

For nearly two years the state and federal governments investigated
the nature and impact of the contamination but did little to mitigate
it. Then in February 1980 the federal Environmental Protection Agency
announced that its tests had found four chemicals suspected of causing
cancer in the Love Canal air. Seven weeks after that federal officials
reported finding chromosome damage in 11 out of 36 Love Canal
residents who had been tested. 

The discovery of chromosome damage was the last straw for the
residents.  During a meeting with two federal officials, the
residents refused to allow the officials to leave. A 5-hour standoff
ensued, which only ended as a result of the intervention of the FBI,
the U.S. Marshal service, and the Niagara Falls police. 

Within days, President Jimmy Carter used his authority to declare a
federal emergency that would pay the cost of evacuating more than 700
residents. It would take decades for the neighborhood to be made safe
for occupation, but the residents’ continuing exposures were brought
to an end at last. [link removed]
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_MILITARY RACISM TAKES A HIT, BUT FOR HOW LONG?_

MAY 23 IS THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY of the release of the report of the
President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the
Armed Services entitled “Freedom to Serve: Equality of Treatment and
Opportunity in the Armed Services.”

According to the report, racial segregation had been and was
detrimental to the military's efficiency. The report’s findings put
the contrary, racist, claims of the Secretaries of the Army, the Air
Force, the Navy and other high civilian and military officials to rest
for three quarters of a century.
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_SPEAK UP, MEMORY!_

MAY 24 IS THE FIRST DAY of the year-long commemoration of the 400th
anniversary of the European settlement of New York City, on May 24,
1626. It could also be considered the 400th anniversary of the start
of both the genocidal displacement of the area’s indigenous
population and introduction of chattel slavery to the region. 

The city’s plan for the commemoration has almost nothing to say
about the genocide or the brutal exploitation of enslaved labor that
for two centuries helped lay the foundations of the city that exists
today. One can only hope that the city’s residents will make up for
the Panglossian oversight.
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_PROTEST AND SERVE_

MAY 25 IS THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY of the murder of George Floyd, who was
asphyxiated in 2020 by a Minneapolis police officer.
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_WHO NEEDS THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH, ANYWAY?_

MAY 26 IS THE 95TH ANNIVERSARY of the establishment of the U.S.
National Institute of Health. Historically, a very large portion of
the NIH budget is devoted to funding the research of medical research.
One measure of the effectiveness of such funding is indicated by the
fact that NIH-funded scientists have been the recipients of 42 percent
of all the Nobel Prizes awarded for Chemistry and for Physiology and
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_FIFTY YEARS OF MAKING PERU GREAT AGAIN_

MAY 27 IS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY of the establishment of Quechua – the
indigenous language spoken by nearly 20 percent of Peru’s citizens
– as one of the country’s official languages.
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For more People's History, visit
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* HIV/AIDS
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* ACT UP
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* toxic waste
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* Racism
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* New York City
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* George Floyd
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* National Institute of Health
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* Peru
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