The United States' first nuclear weapons test occured at the Trinity Test site in southeastern New Mexico in 1945. The area surrounding the Trinity Test site has a high concentration of Native residents and is near the Mescalero Apache reservation and many pueblo communities.

In July 2020, on the 75th anniversary of the Trinity nuclear test,  the United Nations Special Rapporteur on toxics, Baskut Tuncakhe, describes the nuclear testing's legacy as "one of the cruellest examples of environmental injustice witnessed." He continues, "the discriminatory nature of nuclear testing should be acknowledged and addressed as part of the ongoing conversation on systemic racism and nuclear disarmament." [1]