Catholic Worker activists lead in action to stop nuclear weapons

Those US bombings were the only times nuclear weapons were ever used on human targets. Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki, with roughly half of the deaths in each city occurring on the first day.

In Kansas City, peace activists gather one evening during the first week of August to float lanterns in a pond in Loose Park to commemorate those deaths.

Last night several dozen once again gathered to remember those who died under the unfathomable fire of nuclear weapons.  The gathering, as it always does, reaches globally to let the human family know that in the middle of the heartland of the United States, some people remember and call out against the building, storage and use of these weapons of mass destruction.

The Kansas City peace community, ecumenical in scope and anchored by Catholic Worker activists, has attempted for years to keep a focus on the construction of nuclear weapons, as 85 percent of the components of these weapons are build here in a plant that has polluted the local ground water and environment to such a degree it is being moved to another location several miles to the south.

One of the principal voices speaking out against the plant is a Catholic healthcare worker whose passion for years has been to draw attention to the immediate health dangers the current nuclear parts plant causes to it workers and to the larger community.

Anne Suellentrop spoke once again at the lantern floating ceremony Aug. 4. Her words are worth pondering. A small voice today, decades from now she will be revered for drawing attention of foolishness, hypocrisy and immorality.

I’ve been working on the nuclear issue since 2008 for PeaceWorks – KC and Physicians for Social Responsibility – KC.  Here are some of the things I’ve learned about nuclear weapons:

Manufacturing nuclear weapons damages our health and environment now.  It has polluted every major river in the U.S., which is the source of our drinking water. 

The KC Plant is currently being assessed for specific hazards by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.  There are already 14 known superfund sites at the Bannister Federal Complex with almost 900 toxins!  The KC Plant is located on a flood plain next to two rivers in a residential neighborhood. I wonder how can we trust that the government to clean this up?

Nuclear weapons do not make us safe. They are still on high alert, a forgotten danger.  They could destroy all major cities in the world in a half hour. 

Nuclear war is an outdated strategy.

Nuclear weapons are toxic to manufacture. These are hazardous jobs; workers may not make it to retirement and/or they may suffer from serious, chronic health issues.  

They are always saying they’re good, high-paying jobs, but they’re not!  There are hundreds of thousands of sick and dying nuclear workers. The Department of Labor (DOL) administers the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICPA).  Begun in 2001, the program tends to deny, deny, and deny claims until the worker dies………. http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/floating-lanterns-and-nuclear-bombs