Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

Please save the date and plan to join us on Tuesday, August 6th, 6:00 - 7:00 PM at the Japanese American Historical Plaza (NW Naito Parkway and Couch Street on the Portland waterfront) for the annual Portland-area Hiroshima and Nagasaki memorial event. This year's event, The Unequal Impacts of Nuclear Weapons, will explore the disproportionate impacts that nuclear weapons have on women, children, indigenous communities, and communities of color.

Michiko Kornhauser, a hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor), will discuss her first-hand experiences as a young girl living near Hiroshima during the August 6th, 1945 bombing. Pat Hoover, a Hanford Downwinder, will speak on the lasting health impacts of radioactive contamination that resulted from decades of nuclear weapons production at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation on the Columbia River near Richland, Washington. Our event emcee will be Kurt Ikeda, Education Manager at the Oregon Nikkei Endowment. Special thanks to Andrew Tolman, who will be providing American Sign Language interpretation for this event.

The event will also build upon our recent success putting Oregon on record in support of the UN Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty and urging Congress to lead a global effort to reduce the threat of nuclear war. Introduced at the request of Oregon PSR, Senate Joint Memorial 5 calls out the injustice and harm that nuclear weapons have caused through the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, uranium mining on indigenous lands, weapons testing in the Pacific Islands, and contamination of our own region from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The passage of this historic legislation, which was supported by 31 organizations around the state, makes Oregon the second state in the nation to join this growing movement of local governments to support the Ban Treaty.

This event is free and open to the public, and donations are gratefully accepted. Please mark your calendars and plan to join us on Tuesday, August 6th in remembering the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, learning more about the unequal impacts of nuclear weapons, and taking action for a nuclear-free future.

We look forward to seeing you on August 6th!

This event is co-sponsored by Oregon PSR, Multnomah Meeting of Friends, Oregon Hiroshima Club, Oregon Nikkei Endowment, Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group, Portland JACL, Veterans for Peace Chapter 72, and others (more co-sponsors coming soon).

Join and share this event on Facebook.

Oregon House Votes to Urge Congress to Lead Global Effort to Prevent Nuclear War

On Monday, June 24th, 2019, Oregon’s House of Representatives voted to approve Senate Joint Memorial 5 (SJM 5), which urges congress to lead a global effort to reduce the threat of nuclear war, making it the second state in the nation after California to pass such legislation in both chambers. New Jersey's Assembly has also passed a similar bill. The bill passed the Oregon Senate on May 20th.

The Vancouver Peace and Justice Fair builds community among the grassroots peace and justice groups in Southwest Washington. Once again this year, Oregon PSR will be tabling at the fair, which highlights our common goals of peace and justice at home, our community, and the world, and helps each of us find further ways of dedicating our lives to peace and justice.

Admission is free, and the event is family-friendly. During the day, there will be many activities going on at the same time. At the stage, there will be a series of events including music, dance and poetry. Around the park, groups will have exhibit spaces for tables. Children’s activities will be happening throughout the day.

Learn more about the 2019 Vancouver Peace and Justice Fair.

This column was written by Oregon PSR program assistant Madison Arnold-Scerbo, and was originally published in Street Roots. Interested in learning more about Hanford or how to go on one of these tours yourself? Send an email to madison@oregonpsr.org.

About 74,000 people died when the United States deployed a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki in 1945. Thousands more died and suffered health consequences over the following decades. 

Thousands of people continue to face negative health consequences from the intentional releases of radiation and atomic waste from nuclear tests during the Cold War in the United States. 

At least 120 Hanford workers in and around the tank farms have been exposed to toxic vapors since January 2015. This exposure can lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, decrease in lung capacity, toxic encephalopathy and cancer. 

But you won’t learn any of these facts by attending a tour of the Hanford nuclear facility near Richland, Wash., the most polluted place in the Western Hemisphere. I know, because I attended two of these tours. I sat through eight hours of romanticization of nuclear weapons and patriotic indoctrination. Both tours I attended, Clean Up and B Reactor, provide a misleading and one-sided view one of the darkest periods of our history.