SPECIAL REPORT FROM TENNESSEE:
OREPA ACTION AT OAK RIDGE Y12 FACILITY: 60th ANNIVERSARY OF HIROSHIMA/NAGASAKI

By WAND Member (and Stop the Bombs Organizer) Kim Joy Bergier

We did it! We really made a difference, again. My records show we had at least 106 people from Michigan to travel to Oak Ridge, TN for OREPA’s August Action. (among WAND Michigan members taking part in the action were Charlotte Kish, Lynn Hartung, Mary (&Bill) Carry, Laura Perrault, Catherine Baldwin, Rosalie Hadduch, Judy Markle and Motoko Huthwaite, along with Sigrid Dale, who organized the bus to Oak Ridge, and I, who again coordinated the Michigan Stop the Bombs Campaign effort (MISTBC) for Bishop Thomas Gumbleton.

106 was not only a record number for Michigan  but also helped OREPA to top over 1,000, also a record. News Coverage more favorable this year: The Daily Times, Blount County, TN’s August 7th front page article was titled: “No more Hiroshimas" 1,100 observe 60th anniversary with moment of silence.” 1,100 is more accurate for the whole day as there were around 75 people, for the 8:15 am moment of silence, held at the Y-12 gate, in memory of that fateful moment exactly 60 years earlier.

Knoxville’s News Sentinel on 8/5 had a delightful colored picture of our visiting Hibakusha, Nakanishi Eiji laughing with Gyoshu Utsumi (the Buddhist monk who walks from Atlanta, GA each year). The title of this article is: “Working for Peace”. On 8/7 New Sentinel has an article titled “Protesters rally for peace at Y-12”. Their number of attendees was “more than 1,000”. All articles are fairer in their coverage of these actions than they have been previously. I have yet to read any international news coverage except I hear there was an article about 250 arrested at *NTS. There were also actions at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore Lab, and rallies in most major US cities.

Update on “our defendants”: All total there were 15 who were arrested while performing non-violent civil disobedience this year. All of them were booked for the “misdemeanor of blocking a roadway”. They stood on the Scarboro road and simply didn’t move when asked to by the Security Officers. Depending on whether they have been arrested before or not, and what their choices were, they are all serving different lengths of times & have different fees. I can share what I know so far to those who ask about the other people, but I’d rather focus on just our 2 from MI for this quick report.

Dan Lombardo was released Aug 8 around 7 pm. Judy Burkhardt served 5 days, since this was her second arrest outside of *Y-12, for an act of civil disobedience.

My sister and I (she is Carol Green, and lives in Tennessee) joined the Raging Grannies in singing 3 songs during the actually Rally on Aug. 6th. Motoko Huthwaite did a great job teaching everyone to sing along, including a song she wrote about  “No more Hiroshima, Nagasaki Too” It’s a parody of a well known Japanese sing-song melody that is as simple as it is haunting.  Everyone on MI’s 56 seater bus and 12 seater van got copies of the lyrics and Motoko made an additional 50 copies to hand out. (You can Google the Raging Grannies Web Site for lyrics)

A personal highlight for me was to be interviewed by a local TV reporter, Channel 6, and actually be shown for a full couple of sentences during the 6 pm & 11 pm news that night! Since I saw myself on the 11 news, what I recall saying is: “I got it at a young age that we as humans should not even think about using nuclear weapons against other humans. That’s why I’m so committed.” (My oldest brother, Jim, told me how proud of me he was. That made my day! Here he’s the one that travels around the world evaluating CARE-USA projects!)

I hope to organize another “Post-August Action Gathering” so those who went to Tennessee can share their stories with those who couldn’t go, especially those who donated to help. Let me know if you can help with the mailing next week, planning for the event, can offer a location, etc.

MANY THANKS to all who helped in many ways,  

Kim Joy Bergier