Submitted by Carol A. Clark, LOS ALAMOS DAILY POST | July 7, 2023 ladailypost.com
Nuclear Watch New Mexico News:
SANTA FE — To commemorate the anniversary of the first detonation of an atomic weapon in 1945 at the nearby Trinity Test Site, the complete elimination of nuclear weapons must be prioritized. “From Reflection to Action:
An Interfaith Remembrance of the Trinity Test” will be held at the Santa Maria de la Paz Community Hall in Santa Fe, featuring music, speakers, exhibitions, and moments of reflection and prayer. The free public event is 4-6 p.m. (doors open at 3:15 p.m.), Sunday, July 16, 2023. Pre-registration is encouraged, and the event will be live streamed.
Among the scheduled speakers is Most Reverend John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe. “We can no longer deny or ignore the extremely dangerous predicament of our human family,” Wester said. “We are in a new nuclear arms race far more dangerous than the first, and I believe we need to rejuvenate a sustained, serious conversation about universal, verifiable nuclear disarmament.”
The government didn’t warn or evacuate the estimated tens of thousands of people living within a 50-mile radius of the Trinity Test blast. The detonation produced more heat and light than the sun, generating radioactive ash that fell for days. The communities downwind of the blast saw a spike in infant deaths in the months after the explosion and, generations later, continue to suffer its effects.
“We don’t ask IF we’ll get cancer, we ask WHEN it will be our turn,” said Tina Cordova, event co- organizer and founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. “The government basically walked away from the people of New Mexico and has taken no responsibility for all the sacrifice, suffering, and the dying.”
Attendees will learn about actions they can take toward a world without nuclear weapons, such as calling on members of Congress to co-sponsor H.Res.77, “Embracing the Goals and Provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons” and joining forces with the grassroots Back from the Brink coalition to spur cities, towns, and counties across New Mexico to adopt resolutions urging the United States to prioritize negotiations with the other eight nuclear-armed states toward the complete elimination of nuclear weapons, and extend and expand victim assistance and environmental remediation related to local nuclear weapons activities.
The event is organized by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Soka Gakkai International-USA, Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, and United Church of Santa Fe. For more information, call the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s Office of Social Justice at 505.831.8205.
Pre-register: form.jotform.com/ASFPMD/July162023Event
Live stream: youtube.com/watch?v=2EnpL0aDQ1E