Martin Luther King Day vigil at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor
On January 15, 2007 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – I joined approximately 220 people in a vigil for peace and for the abolishment of nuclear weapons. The vigil was held at the gates of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, located on Hood Canal/Puget Sound in Washington State. The action included hanging a sign from an overpass near the gates, with this statement from Martin Luther King, Jr.: “When scientific power outruns spiritual power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men.” In a nonviolent act of civil disobedience, seven people blocked the highway into the base, holding a sign that said “Abolish Nuclear Weapons”, and were arrested on “suspicion of attempted disorderly conduct.” An additional six demonstrators were arrested after they entered the base in an attempt to deliver a statement to the base commander.
Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor is home to nine Trident submarines. Each submarine carries up to 24 D5 missiles, and each missile carries 8 nuclear warheads. Each of the 192 nuclear weapons on a Trident sub has an explosive power of 475 kilotons of TNT, more than 30 times the power of the bomb that killed 140 thousand human beings at Hiroshima. Assuming the same kill ratio as the Hiroshima bombing, each warhead could kill 4.4 million people, each missile could kill 35.5 million people, each sub could kill 851.2 million people, and the Kitsap-Bangor based nine sub fleet could kill 7.66 billion people, more than the current 6.3 billion population of the Earth.
In addition to the nuclear weapons on the submarines based at Kitsap-Bangor, there are an additional approximately 1000 nuclear weapons stored on the base. In total, Kitsap-Bangor is home to 24 percent of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and is quite possibly the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. Assuming that each of these warheads has the same killing power as the sub-based weapons, they would have the ability to kill another 4.4 billion people.
The total killing power of the approximately ten thousand nuclear weapons the U.S. possesses is beyond imagination.
Are we really that insane, or that evil, that we would destroy all human life with our nuclear weapons? Why do we have ten thousand nuclear weapons? We have truly allowed our scientific power to outrun our spiritual power; we truly are misguided men. If you care about your fellow human beings, work to abolish nuclear weapons. Write to your Congressional Representatives. Join a group working for the abolishment of nuclear weapons. Participate in vigils and demonstrations, and encourage others to join you.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “For years now, we have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can we just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence; it's nonviolence or nonexistence.” In a world in which a single naval base has the capability of killing every single human being on the planet, King has it right: we cannot continue this path of violence. We must dismantle our nuclear weapons. We must stop using violence to settle our disputes. And we must do it now.
The vigil at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor was organized by The Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action. Visit their website for more information on their activities, and check out some of the other groups listed on their links page.
Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor is home to nine Trident submarines. Each submarine carries up to 24 D5 missiles, and each missile carries 8 nuclear warheads. Each of the 192 nuclear weapons on a Trident sub has an explosive power of 475 kilotons of TNT, more than 30 times the power of the bomb that killed 140 thousand human beings at Hiroshima. Assuming the same kill ratio as the Hiroshima bombing, each warhead could kill 4.4 million people, each missile could kill 35.5 million people, each sub could kill 851.2 million people, and the Kitsap-Bangor based nine sub fleet could kill 7.66 billion people, more than the current 6.3 billion population of the Earth.
In addition to the nuclear weapons on the submarines based at Kitsap-Bangor, there are an additional approximately 1000 nuclear weapons stored on the base. In total, Kitsap-Bangor is home to 24 percent of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and is quite possibly the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. Assuming that each of these warheads has the same killing power as the sub-based weapons, they would have the ability to kill another 4.4 billion people.
The total killing power of the approximately ten thousand nuclear weapons the U.S. possesses is beyond imagination.
Are we really that insane, or that evil, that we would destroy all human life with our nuclear weapons? Why do we have ten thousand nuclear weapons? We have truly allowed our scientific power to outrun our spiritual power; we truly are misguided men. If you care about your fellow human beings, work to abolish nuclear weapons. Write to your Congressional Representatives. Join a group working for the abolishment of nuclear weapons. Participate in vigils and demonstrations, and encourage others to join you.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “For years now, we have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can we just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence; it's nonviolence or nonexistence.” In a world in which a single naval base has the capability of killing every single human being on the planet, King has it right: we cannot continue this path of violence. We must dismantle our nuclear weapons. We must stop using violence to settle our disputes. And we must do it now.
The vigil at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor was organized by The Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action. Visit their website for more information on their activities, and check out some of the other groups listed on their links page.
posted by Jim Allyn at 1/18/2007 05:34:00 PM
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