Over 50 community members attended a Hiroshima Day Gathering on August 6, 2024 in Peirce Park in Bangor.
The event was sponsored by the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine and co-sponsored by Pax Christi Maine, Physicians for Social Responsibility-Maine and Veterans for Peace.
Remembering the death and destruction caused by the United States’ nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and recognizing the ongoing threat of nuclear war in this present day, the gathering featured a variety of speakers, music and poetry. Opening remarks cited the enormous human and financial costs of nuclear war and the risk of maintaining nuclear arsenals. Speakers described the disregard for the sacredness of human life, the environmental degradation, medical abnormalities and futility of using violent means to resolve conflict. Masanobu Ikemiya, renowned pianist and peace activist, born in Kyoto, Japan, shared the personal experience of his grandmother and other family members of the bombing and the generational trauma it has caused.
As one of the speakers, Pax Christi Maine Co-Coordinator, Mary Ellen Quinn shared her grave concerns about endless war as well as her resilient hope for working together to build a culture of peace and nonviolence. See her full remarks here.
Tom White-Hassler, a member of the Peace and Justice Center, shared a very moving song he wrote about a young Japanese girl whose life was forever altered by the nuclear explosion in 1945. He closed the gathering with a second song, “Go in Peace.”
