Photos by Jim Hannah capture our energy and commitment at our annual gathering Aug. 7, Remembering Hiroshima & Nagasaki: Never Again!

Photos by Jim Hannah capture our energy and commitment at our annual gathering Aug. 7, Remembering Hiroshima & Nagasaki: Never Again!
Ron Faust, poet, heard Japanese-Americans say on Aug. 7, “We should never build another nuclear weapon.” He wrote a warning: “As long as we are stuck (with the world having 13,000 nukes), We will shorten the time of the Doomsday Clock.”
Echoes. Hope. Two hands. These came into play at our annual observance Aug. 7, “Remembering Hiroshima & Nagasaki: Never Again!”
Atsuki Mori, from Osaka, Japan, now a nurse living in Warrensburg, MO, tells of her grandmother’s bravery and her grandmother’s fiance’s nephew who became an anti-nuke activist in ICAN.
Hiroko Komiya, raised near Tokyo, Japan, speaks of a childhood friend of hers whose mother died of leukemia, a result of radiation from the bombing of Hiroshima.
At an Aug. 7 gathering in KC, MO, Ann Suellentrop celebrates international advances through the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and an effort to urge universities to stop supporting the nuclear weapon industry.
Lois Swimmer, of the Blackfoot band of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, met with family members this summer to honor their aged uncle. “Our ancestors always walk with us,” the uncle told his family members.
At the halfway point of a climate response course, I am engaged and inspired. I’ve been drinking in ideas of environmental leaders including Paul Hawkins, Joanna Macy, Dr. Riane Eisler, and Christiana Figuerez.
Ron Faust, in his introduction to his new book, Percolating Poetry, says, “To have a cup of coffee / Is to take a break in the action.” He offers hope—saying hope lies in abolishing all nuclear weapons—and the fun of a few love poems.
What's the single most important thing we can do to reduce the risk of nuclear Armageddon? My answer: Ask our representatives in the US Congress to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.