A Call for Peace: Now More than Ever: Easthampton

August 6 and 9, 2022, will mark the 77th anniversary of the U.S.’s atomic bombing of two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombings resulted in the immediate deaths of between 129,000 and 226,000 people, with many thousands dying later from radiation exposure. We will show solidarity with the remaining survivors, and call for a rapid phase-out of nuclear weapons, with funding for urgent social needs, not weapons of mass destruction.

This year it will be sponsored by the City of Easthampton, with co-sponsors Mass Peace Action, Demilitarize Western Mass, WM Code Pink, the Emily Williston Memorial Library, Treehouse Foundation, Prosperity Candle, Mt. Tom Ice Cream and Valley Paddlers.

The key speaker is Mayor Nicole LaChapelle.  Two veterans will ring a peace bell made from used ordnance in Vietnam and the city will raise a Peace Flag. The nuns and monks of the Leverett Peace Pagoda will give the invocation.  Well known musician Nancy Janoson will provide flute music.  A member of Massachusetts Peace Action will MC.