"Lip, Dip, Paint"

"The Clan of the One-Breasted Women" was a story we read where the author Terry Williams talks about how her entire family was being wiped out one by one due to breast cancer that resulted directly from the government testing nuclear bombs in their vicinity. She describes her journey from accepting her fate to protesting and making her voice be heard by the government. Her beliefs change from the beginning to the end of the story, and she begins to lose hope in America's ability to deliver justice when it is due. 

This story reminded me of another true event, known as "The Radium Girls." This story begins with female factory workers whose job was to paint watch dials with radioactive self-luminous paint. They were told that the paint was completely harmless, and that they should lick the points of the brushes to give them a fine tip. They were told the mantra "lip, dip, paint" every time they had to paint a dial. The reason for this was because using rags and water would waste time and money for the company. Eventually, the workers ingested deadly and near-lethal amounts of radium, causing many to die from radiation exposure. The company, US Radium Corporation, attempted to keep things under wrap by faking medical examinations and pretending that the causes of death were from syphilis, an STI. However, even the inventor of the radium paint died later on, showing just how radioactive and dangerous this material was. The Radium Girls later went to court to sue their employers, and five of the women settled out of court while five women won reparations for damages. This incident is a very big parallel to Williams's story because the women learned to speak up about their unjustices to get the change they wanted.