Remember Hiroshima: 75th Anniversary: Thursday August 6th, 7p.m. is an online, virtual commemoration of the 75th anniversary remembrance of the American bombing of Hiroshima. Presented by Arkansas WAND, Arkansas Coalition for Peace and Justice, Arkansas Peace Week, Pax Christi Little Rock and students from Pulaski Academy, the event is a reminder of the urgency to rid the world of living under thee threat of nuclear annihilation.

The program will include interviews, music, stories, short video, poem, and pleas for citizen action.  

Students from the Amnesty International chapter at Pulaski Academy will read stories of the Hibakusha, or survivors, of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings that killed over 120,000 people and fatally injured thousands  more.  They will also interview two women, Melisa Laelan and Faith Laukon, from the Marshallese community in northwest Arkansas. Their families left the islands after the U.S. testing of nuclear weapons there during the 1950s left the islands uninhabitable. 

Other speakers will include Tristan Norman and Dr. George Simon with Dr. Ira Helfand on video. Suzanne Michell will provide music and Jane Estes, Co-chair of the event, will moderate.   

The 75^th anniversary should raise awareness of the consequences of testing and using the most powerful weapons on earth with emphasis on actions citizens can take to influence Congress to ensure the safety of the bombs in the U.S. arsenal. Congress also needs to cancel plans for a $2 trillion  modernization of those weapons. The ultimate goal is to eliminate the threat of a nuclear disaster by abolishing the weapons worldwide.       

Peace groups around the world will be commemorating the event from  August 6 through August 9 with church bells ringing, prayers for peace, and calls for citizens everywhere to sign the pledge to work toward worldwide nuclear weapons disarmament. U.S. leaders are urged to adopt a no-first use of nuclear weapons and repeal the sole authorization for the president to control the nuclear button.  The International Treaty to Abolish Nuclear Weapons introduced in 2017 has been ratified by 40 countries.  When 50 nations ratify the treaty, it will be illegal worldwide to build or possess nuclear weapons.    

“Hiroshima Remembered: 75^th Anniversary” will be archived on YouTube for later viewing. For more information, contact PeaceWins.org.

If you missed Dr. Ira Helfand’s talk last Monday, be sure to attend this month’s potluck! We will discuss his narrative of how  how  the U.S. and Russia did agree to reduce their arsenals and how we can do it again. Our challenge as WAND is to  work together with Pax Christi, ACPJ and our national peace groups in helping to prevent a nuclear war.  Sherry Simon, recently honored by the Arkansas Catholic magazine as “Arkansas Peacemaker of the Year,” will lead the discussion on his talk and Pax Christi’s project, Back from the Brink, about  things we can do, large and small, to prevent a nuclear war for our children and future generations.  The nuclear threat has not gotten the media attention that climate change finally has, but many of the solutions overlap. At least we can keep the public reminded of the critical nature of the nuclear threat.

We have many questions.  Here are a few:

• How can your actions have any impact on nuclear weapons policy?
• Should WAND change our name back to it’s original name, Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament?
• Does my vote have any relevance for the future of our world?

Bring a dish to share

Bread and drinks provided

All are welcome!

This month, we are excited to welcome former WAND board member and chair of Arkansans for the Arts, Garbo Hearne. a group that aims to “serve the people of Arkansas as an independent statewide organization providing leadership focused on the promotion and advancement of the creative economy, on transforming policy in arts education, and uniting the state into one voice with a call to action by policy makers to increase investment in the arts.”

Tuesday, February 25th at 6 p.m. at US Pizza in Hillcrest, 2710 Kavanaugh Blvd. Mark your calendars now!

International Day of Protest

Saturday January 25, 4 PM at the Arkansas State Capitol

It’s a new decade, and there is a new Representative in the State House for District 36. Denise Ennett was the winner in the election held this past September to replace Charles Blake, who resigned to go to work for Mayor Frank Scott Jr.

Rep. Ennett is shown in a photo on her website holding a sign that says, “If you don’t do politics, politics will do you.” Now that’s our kind of woman! Her top issues are economic development, jobs, healthcare, and veterans. She has also worked hard to restore an elected board for the LRSD.

For more information on Rep. Ennett, you can go to her website, her Facebook page, and read her bio on Vote Smart. See you on Tuesday!

We are getting together with our friends at the Arkansas Coalition for Peace and Justice  for a holiday party. Come join your fellow peace lovers and enjoy the season! Festive libations, nibbles, and fellowship promised.

Why We Need to Abolish
the Death Penalty in Arkansas!

Judith Elane, and Furunda Bransfield will lead the discussion

Judith Elane
Judith is a life long opponent of the death penalty and a member of the Board of the Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Her opposition was first articulated by the adage, “Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?” It has never made sense to her, even after the shooting death of her older brother.

In light of the re-activation of the federal death penalty, she will discuss some of the ways in which the death penalty is obsolete. She will be accompanied by Furonda Brasfield, Executive Director of the ACADP. 

Bring a dish to share

Bread and drinks provided

All are welcome!