Hiroshima and Nagasaki Commemorative Events: The Forgotten Bomb Documentary, Inaugural Albuquerque Peace Festival and Gathering at Ashley Pond

Near the end of World War II, on August 6^th, 1945, the United States dropped a uranium atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.  Three days later, the United States dropped a plutonium atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.  To acknowledge the harm done in the development, testing and use of the atomic bombs by the United States, two events are taking place on Saturday, August 5^th in Albuquerque and one event on Wednesday, August 9^th in Los Alamos.  For more information or to find similar commemorative events in your area, please see the Physicians for Social Responsibility website at https://psr.org/remembering-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-2023/

In New Mexico, the first event is at 10 am on Saturday, August 5^th when “The Forgotten Bomb” documentary will be shown at The Guild Cinema, located at 3405 Central Avenue, Northeast in Albuquerque.  Created by local filmmakers Bud Ryan and Stuart Overbey, “The Forgotten Bomb” is described as  “a discovery of the true story of nuclear weapons and how the world might learn to live without them.”  In sum, “The Forgotten Bomb explores our preconceptions about nuclear weapons and their history, investigates how they inform our sense of identity and discovers what the Bomber can learn from the Bombed.”  Ryan will be present for a Q and A following the film.  https://www.forgottenbomb.com/    

You are invited to join the Inaugural Albuquerque Peace Festival also on Saturday, August 5^th from 2 to 6 pm at Roosevelt Park for music, food trucks, speakers and informational tables.  This is a rain or shine event at Coal and Spruce Streets Southeast.  https://abqpeacefest.org/

Where is Roosevelt Park? The park is located at 500 Spruce Street SE. The northern border of the park is Coal Avenue. There is No Parking on Coal Ave.

From Santa Fe and parts north, take exit 224A on southbound I-25, continue through the intersections at MLK and Central, past Lead Ave, then turn left on Coal Ave.

From Belén and parts south, take exit 224A on northbound I-25 and turn right on Coal.

Please park on the east side of the park on Sycamore Street or Hazeldine at the end of Spruce.

The Albuquerque Peace Festival is an effort by diverse organizations to bring attention to the danger of nuclear weapons, the horror of nuclear war, and promote efforts toward longstanding peace locally, nationally, and globally. Program – Schedule of Events – APF2023

At 5:15 pm, a ceremonial bell will be rung in coordination with the August 6^th events in Hiroshima, Japan at 8:15 am – the time of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima. Following the bell ringing, Carla DeSola, the founder of the Omega West Dance Company, will lead a circle peace dance for everyone to participate in.  https://www.spiritmovesomega.com/carla-de-sola.html    

For more information and to make a donation to the effort, please visit https://abqpeacefest.org/

At 1 pm on Wednesday, August 9^th, a commemorative gathering recognizing the harm of the bombing of Nagasaki will take place on the south side of Ashley Pond in Los Alamos.  Please bring banners, flags and signs.

You are invited to participate in one or more of the events.

1. Friday, August 4^th from noon to 1 pm MT – Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the corners of Alameda and Guadalupe in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi, Nonviolent Santa Fe, and others.

2. Trinity: Legacies of Nuclear Testing – A People’s Perspective Art Exhibit at the Branigan Cultural Center, 501 N. Main Street, Las Cruces, NM.  The exhibit will be up until September 23, 2023.  https://www.lascruces.gov/1528/Branigan-Cultural-Center

3. Wednesday, August 9^th at 1 pm – Please join members of Veterans For Peace, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Nonviolent Santa Fe and others for an informal gathering at Ashley Pond to commemorate the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki on that day 78 years ago. We will engage in silent meditation at the shelter shown on the aerial photo.  Also bring water and protection from sun and/or possible rain. Please encourage friends and family to join you in attending.

4. Saturday, August 26^th at 10 am – 60^th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s original March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom – in Albuquerque, NM.
5. The March will bstart at Faith Temple Church, at 1000 Broadway Southeast.  http://www.faithtemplecogic.org/default.asp?sec_id=180005641  The gathering and line up will begin at 9:30 am.  The march will begin at 10 am with a rally from 10:30 am to noon. For more information, contact Charles Powell, Planning Chair for the Albuquerque March at CRPowell5@gmail.com

Martin Luther King III is making a march in Washington, DC on this date.  He says:  “It’s Not a Commemoration, it’s a Continuation!  We March on!”

Tags: August 5th, Bud Ryan, Communities for Clean Water, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Demand Nuclear Abolition, Donald and Sally-Alice Thompson Chapter of the Veterans for Peace – Albuquerque, Hiroshima, Inaugural Albuquerque Peace Festival, Los Alamos, Nagasaki, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Party for Socialism and Liberation – Albuquerque, Peter Phillips PhD., Progressive Democrats of America-Central New Mexico, Roosevelt Park, Stop the War Machine, Stuart Overbey, Taos Environmental Film Festival, the ANSWER Coalition, The Fogotten Bomb, the Green Party Albuquerque Metropolitan Area, the Joan Duffy Chapter of Veterans for Peace – Santa Fe, the New Mexico Peace Choir, The Paper, the Raging Grannies, the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition, Unity Spiritual Center Albuquerque