Wednesday
September 18, 2024 
Peace activist Shiho Burke, whose family’s first-hand experience of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima – including her mother’s survival – both informs and drives her work, will keynote for an in-person annual Commemoration of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 7-8:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 5, on Hinds Plaza, adjacent to Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon St.
A moment of silence will take place at 7:15 p.m., which corresponds to 8:15 a.m. Hiroshima time, Aug. 6, the exact moment when the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.
Coalition for Peace Action member Jeff Laurenti will give a historical retrospective from the 1945 bombings, through the nuclear arms race, to the major nuclear arms reductions of the 1980s, and a 21st-century perspective on the challenges we face now with a new nuclear arms race and the looming expiration of the New START Treaty, the only remaining nuclear arms restraint among the countries that hold nuclear weapons.
The program will also include music from The Solidarity Singers of the New Jersey State Industrial Union Council, as well as origami crane folding with instruction for children. Origami cranes are the Japanese symbol for globally banning nuclear weapons. Candle-lighting with closing musical selections will conclude the program.
Beginning at 6 p.m., attendees are invited to join a BYO picnic on Hinds Plaza (no alcohol please) where tables and chairs are already set up. In the event of inclement weather, the entire event will be moved indoors to Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau St., Princeton. The decision to move the event indoors will be made the morning of Aug. 5, based on the weather forecast, and communicated on CFPA’s event page and social media platforms.
Those wishing to attend are encouraged to email jnew@peacecoalition.org with name(s) and number planning to attend, to help with logistical preparations. Those unable to attend will be able to watch a recording which will be posted on CFPA’s Recent Events page after the event. Further information can be found at peacecoalition.org.
“The Coalition for Peace Action has held Commemorations of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Bombings every year since our founding in 1980. The purpose is not to look back with 20-20 hindsight to question whether the atomic bombings in 1945 were justified. What’s done is done. Rather, our reason for having these commemorations is to remember the absolute horror that nuclear weapons represent and face the real and growing threat they present today. On this 79th Anniversary, we re-commit ourselves to working for the global abolition of nuclear weapons so such total destruction can never again be inflicted,” said the Rev. Robert Moore, CFPA’s executive director.
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