Poulsbo, Washington: Seventeen peace activists paid tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Trident submarine base at Bangor on January 13, 2023.
Members of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action stood with anti-nuclear weapons signs and a large banner with a statement by Dr. King stating, “When scientific power outruns spiritual power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men.” Photos and short videos at https://1drv.ms/u/s!Al8QqFnnE036gYpGu_eo4wN6BXHW1w?e=jptnBb
Although Dr. King was famous for championing racial and economic justice and nonviolence, his strong opposition to war, and particularly nuclear weapons, generally receive little attention. In a speech to the War Resisters League on February 2, 1959 Dr. King said, “Not only in the South, but throughout the nation and the world, we live in an age of conflicts, an age of biological weapons, chemical warfare, atomic fallout and nuclear bombs. It is a period of conflict between the mammoth powers . . . It is a period of uncertainty and fear. Every man, woman, and child lives, not knowing if they shall see tomorrow’s sunrise . . . We must no longer cooperate with policies that degrade man and make for war. The great need in the world today is to find the means for the social organization of the power of non-violence . . . As you know, the establishment of social justice in our nation is of profound concern to me. This great struggle is in the interest of all Americans and I shall not be turned from it. Yet no sane person can afford to work for social justice within the nation unless he simultaneously resists war and clearly declares himself for non-violence in international relations. What will be the ultimate value of having established social justice in a context where all people, Negro and White, are merely free to face destruction by strontium 90 or atomic war. . . Today the choice is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence.”
Dr. King’s words ring true now as then. Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action honors Dr. King’s legacy by working for a world free of the threat of nuclear annihilation as well as one in which nations learn to embrace nonviolence in both internal and external relations.
Ground Zero members also joined with other peace and justice activists at the annual Martin Luther King Day march and rally in Seattle on January 16th. See https://www.seattlemlkcoalition.org.
Ray McGovern, former CIA officer and peace activist, will visit and speak at Ground Zero Center on January 29th. McGovern is a specialist on Russia; he was chief of CIA’s Soviet Foreign Policy branch in the 70s. From 1981 to 1985, he presented, in person, the early morning briefings of The President’s Daily Brief. Ray was awarded the Intelligence Commendation Medallion at retirement; but he returned it later, explaining, “I do not want to be associated, however remotely, with an agency engaged in torture.” He now brings his Russian expertise to the war in Ukraine, and finds himself – again – at odds with the Establishment narrative. Mr. McGovern’s website is at https://raymcgovern.com. Details to be announced soon at the Ground Zero Events page.
George Lakey will be at Ground Zero Center on February 8, 2023 from 10 am to 3 pm to discuss the practice of nonviolence and to promote his new memoir “Dancing with History: A Life for Peace and Justice.” From his first arrest in the Civil Rights era to his most recent during a climate justice march at the age of 83, George Lakey has committed his life to a mission of building a better world through movements for justice. In his memoir Dancing With History, Lakey draws readers into the center of history-making events, telling often serious stories with playfulness and intimacy.
Starting on February 22, Ground Zero will be hosting seven weekly meetings during Lent, culminating on April 6. Lent is a Christian annual period that starts on Ash Wednesday lasting for 40 days (not Including Sundays) representing the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness. This 40 day period for Christians is a time to reflect, fast, and give penance in preparation for the resurrection of Christ Easter Sunday.
On March 1, 2023, at 1:30 pm, two Ground Zero members, Mack Johnson and Victor White, will be tried in Federal District Court in Tacoma. They were both cited on August 8, 2022 on federal property at the Trident submarine base during the Ground Zero remembrance event for Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims—and to prevent another nuclear strike in the future. Both are charged with U.S. Code § 1382, Entering military, naval, or Coast Guard property, subjecting each to a possible 6 months in jail and $5,000 fine. Both Johnson and White pled “not guilty” at their arraignment on December 7, 2022, in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.
Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor is homeport to the largest concentration of deployed nuclear warheads in the U.S. The nuclear warheads are deployed on Trident D-5 missiles on SSBN submarines and are stored in an underground nuclear weapons storage facility on the base.
There are eight Trident SSBN submarines deployed at Bangor. Six Trident SSBN submarines are deployed on the East Coast at Kings Bay, Georgia.
One Trident submarine carries the destructive force of over 1,200 Hiroshima bombs (the Hiroshima bomb was 15 kilotons).
Each Trident submarine was originally equipped for 24 Trident missiles. In 2015-2017 four missile tubes were deactivated on each submarine as a result of the New START Treaty. Currently, each Trident submarine deploys with 20 D-5 missiles and about 90 nuclear warheads (an average of 4-5 warheads per missile). The primary warheads are either the W76-1 90-kiloton or W88 455-kiloton warheads.
The Navy started deploying the new W76-2 low-yield warhead (approximately eight kilotons) on select ballistic submarine missiles at Bangor in early 2020 (following initial deployment in the Atlantic in December 2019). The warhead was deployed to deter Russian first use of tactical nuclear weapons, dangerously creating a lower threshold for the use of U.S. strategic nuclear weapons.
The next planned demonstration by Ground Zero at the Bangor submarine base will be on Saturday, May 13, 2023in honor of Mother’s Day.
The Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action was founded in 1977. The center is on 3.8 acres adjoining the Trident submarine base at Bangor, Washington. We resist all nuclear weapons, especially the Trident ballistic missile system.
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