Still Here: 75 Years of Shared Nuclear Legacy
Seventy-five years ago, the United States conducted two nuclear attacks against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, devastating their populations and destroying their infrastructure. In the process of manufacturing and testing these weapons, civilians within downwind communities, nuclear workers, uranium miners and their families, and military personnel were also exposed to harmful and sometimes deadly levels of ionizing radiation.
Following their use in Japan, the production and past testing of nuclear weapons in the United States and internationally continues to harm the health, environment, and cultures of communities around the world.
The people of the Tewa homelands have been impacted by this nuclear legacy in uniquely painful ways — from the theft of ancestral land on the Pajarito plateau and subsequent occupation of this sacred land by the U.S. government to build the Manhattan Project, to the poisoning of the air, earth, and waters downwind and downstream from Los Alamos National Laboratory. Read Beata Tsosie-Peña’s reflection as a Pueblo woman and LANL Downwinder.
Today, we are living in a time of extraordinary nuclear dangers. Vital international agreements to reduce and control nuclear weapons worldwide are being abandoned. Budgets for the development and production of new nuclear weapons are growing. Tensions among nuclear-armed nations are rising to levels not seen since the Cold War.
As the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki warn: “We are badly off course in efforts to honor the plea of the hibakusha and end the nuclear threat.”
People created these weapons and designed the systems governing their use; people can work to eliminate them.
As the only country to use nuclear weapons in conflict, the United States has a moral obligation to lead the world in ending this menace and restoring communities impacted by nuclear weapons.
In this 75th commemoration year, we must press our leaders to take the actions necessary to ensure nuclear weapons are never used again and to negotiate in good faith the global elimination of these most devastating weapons of mass destruction.
EVENTS
Still Here: 75 Years of Shared Nuclear Legacy
Thursday, August 6, 2020 – 11 am ET
Sunday, August 9, 2020 – 2 pm ET
A national virtual event commemorating the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Presenters include Beata Tsosie of Tewa Women United, Dr. Sally Ndung’u of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, John Dear of Pace e Bene, Roshi Joan Halifax of Upaya Zen Center, Tina Cordova of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, Joni Arends of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, and many more.
Veterans for Peace Online Conference: “Human Rights over Nuclear Might”
Aug 2 – 9
Featured speakers include Dahr Jamail and Jane Fonda.
“We Are Not A Wasteland: Empowering Grassroots Resistance” webinar about Hiroshima and NagasakiThursday, August 6, 6 pm MT
Nuclear Issues Study Group
This 6-part series will run through September 10, 2020 and explore different aspects of the issue including: environmental racism and environmental justice concerns, impacts to wildlife, water, air, and land; concerns for public health and transportation; and economic impact. We will hear from community leaders, artists, activists, and more. Each episode will feature live music and art… essential tools of social change!
ACTIONS
Sign the petition to join the hibakusha (survivors) in saying “never again” to nuclear weapons.