Eighty years ago, the United States government did not warn or evacuate the estimated tens of thousands living within a 50-mile radius of the first nuclear explosion - the Trinity Test blast in New Mexico. The detonation produced more heat and light than the sun, generating radioactive ash that fell for days. The communities downwind of the blast saw a spike in infant deaths in the months after the explosion, and generations later continue to suffer its harmful effects. “We don’t ask IF we’ll get cancer; we ask WHEN it will be our turn,” said Tina Cordova, event co-organizer and co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. “The government basically walked away from the people of New Mexico and has taken no responsibility for all the sacrifice, suffering, and dying.”

Melissa Parke, Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), will be a keynote speaker. ICAN was the 2017 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Additional speakers include Dr. Ira Helfand (Immediate Past President, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War; ICAN), Eddie Laiche (Students for Nuclear Disarmament), Tina Cordova (Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium), Jay Coghlan (Executive Director, Nuclear Watch New Mexico), Most Reverend John C. Wester (Archbishop of Santa Fe), and Adin Strauss (General Director, Soka Gakkai International-USA).

Topics addressed include the human and environmental impacts of nuclear testing in New Mexico, how young people are engaging with these issues, the role of hope and faith as we face growing nuclear threats, and what we can do now.

The event is organized by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Interfaith Power and Light (NM-EP), Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Soka Gakkai International-USA, and the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. 

Watch online

https://www.youtube.com/live/LKqMdrJuiG0