A memorial will be observed Monday in Little Rock in remembrance of the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945 at the end of World War II.
The observance, which is open to the public, will be held at 7 p.m. at the Promenade in the Hillcrest neighborhood next to Allsopp Park.
Speakers include Michael Vaughn, a military veteran; Denise Donnell of the Just Communities of Arkansas organization; Tristan Norman, a Hendrix College student-delegate who visited Japan earlier this year; and Frank LeBlanc, pastor of Westover Hills Presbyterian Church. Author and poet Kai Coggin will offer a poem, and there also will be a musical presentation. Stephen Copley, head of Faith Voices Arkansas, will be the moderator.
"Themes will key on current concerns about the potential use of nuclear weapons, the status of safeguards and monitors on the inventory of such weapons around the world, (including in the U.S.) and re-exploring the long memory about the horrible loss of life caused by two nuclear bombs dropped on two different Japanese cities within days of each other," according to a news release from the Arkansas Coalition for Peace and Justice.
The event is being sponsored by the Arkansas chapter of Women's Actions for New Directions, the Arkansas Coalition for Peace and Justice, Faith Voices Arkansas, Just Communities of Arkansas, the 2018 Tomodachi Kakehashi delegation, the Episcopal Peace Fellowship and other groups in Pulaski County.
Metro on 08/05/2018