Giff Johnson

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Giff Johnson
Occupation(s)Editor, Journalist, Correspondent, author
Spouse Darlene Keju (Deceased)

Giff Johnson is a Marshall Islands-based editor [1] and journalist. He is also the author of the self-published book Don't Ever Whisper, which tells of his late wife Darlene Keju's fight to share the Marshall Islanders plight with the rest of the world. In 2013, he was interviewed by ABC Radio presenter Geraldine Coutts in relation to the book. [2]

Contents

Career

Johnson is the editor of the Marshall Islands Journal . [3] He is also the Marshall Islands correspondent for Radio New Zealand [4] and for ABC Radio Australia. [5]

Previous roles

He was for a period of time from early 2001 to 2003, [6] the interim managing editor of Pacific Magazine. He continued as Pacific Magazine’s contributing editor from where he was based in Majuro, Marshall Islands until Pacific Magazine halted publication in 2008. [7] He has been a freelance writer and was also an editor for the Honolulu-published Micronesia Bulletin from 1976 to 1984. [8]

Books

Personal

Johnson, who is originally from the United States, has lived in the Marshall Islands since 1984. [10] In 1982, he married Darlene Keju on Wotje Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Keju was an outspoken advocate for nuclear weapons test victims in the Marshall Islands and a public health worker who engaged young people with innovative programs for community health development. They were married for 14 years. [11] She died of cancer at the age of 45. [12] A celebration of her life with short speeches and Marshallese music and singing was held at the Church of the Crossroads in Hawaii. [13] In 1998, Johnson married Mathilda Rakin in Majuro. They have one son, Iohaan, and one daughter, Beverly.

Related Research Articles

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The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.

The demographics of the Marshall Islands include data such as population density, ethnicity, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

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Austronesian settlers arrived in the Marshall Islands in the 2nd millennium BC, but there are no historical or oral records of that period. Over time, the Marshallese people learned to navigate over long ocean distances by walap canoe using traditional stick charts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Majuro</span> Capital of the Marshall Islands

Majuro is the capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. It is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district of the Ratak (Sunrise) Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll has a land area of 9.7 square kilometers (3.7 sq mi) and encloses a lagoon of 295 square kilometers (114 sq mi). As with other atolls in the Marshall Islands, Majuro consists of narrow land masses. It has a tropical trade wind climate, with an average temperature of 27 °C (81 °F).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bikini Atoll</span> Coral atoll in the Marshall Islands

Bikini Atoll, known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 19th century and 1946, is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a 229.4-square-mile (594.1 km2) central lagoon. The atoll is at the northern end of the Ralik Chain, approximately 530 miles (850 km) northwest of the capital Majuro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enewetak Atoll</span> Coral atoll in the Marshall Islands; site of U.S. nuclear testing during the Cold War

Enewetak Atoll is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 296 people forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. With a land area total less than 5.85 square kilometers (2.26 sq mi), it is no higher than 5 meters (16.4 ft) and surrounds a deep central lagoon, 80 kilometers (50 mi) in circumference. It is the second-westernmost atoll of the Ralik Chain and is 305 kilometers (190 mi) west from Bikini Atoll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kili Island</span>

Kili Island or Kili Atoll is a small, 81 hectares island located in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. As of 2021, 415 people lived on the island, many of whom were descended from islanders who originally lived on Bikini Atoll. They were relocated when they agreed to let the U.S. government temporarily use Bikini for nuclear testing in 1945, which they were told was of great importance to humankind, though it is sometimes considered a forced relocation. Kili Island became their home after two prior relocations failed. The island does not have a natural lagoon and cannot produce enough food to enable the islanders to be self-sufficient. It is part of the legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. The island is approximately 48 kilometers (30 mi) southwest of Jaluit. It is a good sized island for the Marshall Islands, but it is not an atoll with a lagoon.

<i>Pacific Magazine</i>

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Lijon Eknilang was a Marshallese activist and nuclear fallout survivor. Eknilang advocated on behalf of residents of Rongelap Atoll, who were victims of nuclear fallout stemming from the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll in 1954.

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Darlene Keju, also known as Darlene Keju-Johnson, was a Marshallese activist. She was born on Ebeye Island in the Marshall Islands group in 1951. The Northern Islands where she grew up were downwind from Bikini and Enewetak atolls where the United States tested 67 nuclear weapons. She witnessed the evacuation of Regelap and Utirik Atolls after they were contaminated by radioactive fallout. Keju is credited for bringing to the attention of the world the suffering of the Marshall Islanders as a result of the nuclear testing and that many more people were affected than acknowledged by the U.S. government.

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References

  1. ↑ ABC Radio Australia Climate change optimism after Cartagena Dialogue in Majurand Presenter: Richard Ewart
  2. ↑ ABC Radio Australia New biography on Marshall Islands' social champion With Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
  3. ↑ Marshallese Educational Initiative MEI’S NUCLEAR REMEMBRANCE EVENT DISCUSSED ON RADIO AUSTRALIA by April Brown Archived 19 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Radio New Zealand International Pacific Correspondent for 17 July 2014
  5. ↑ ABC Radio Australia Marshall Islanders worried about hypersonic jet debris Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
  6. ↑ Fiji Sun Ulamila is new magazine editor
  7. ↑ Pina Former Fiji journalist named managing editor of Pacific Magazine
  8. ↑ The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Paradise lost - Dec 1980 - Page 24
  9. ↑ National Library of New Zealand Don't ever whisper : Darlene Keju, Pacific health pioneer, champion for nuclear survivors / Giff Johnson. ISBN   1489509062
  10. ↑ "Giff Johnson". Pacific Journalism Review . Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  11. ↑ Pacific Scoop New biography details Marshall Islands anti-nuclear fighter’s life
  12. ↑ WISE #455 - July 12, 1996 In brief, Darlene Keju died.
  13. ↑ Honolulu Advertiser & Star-Bulletin January 1 - December 31, 1996 K Archived 7 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine
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