The Syracuse Peace Council organized marchers to take to the streets of Downtown Syracuse on Monday in a local procession honoring the 73 year anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August, 1945.
Drum beats commemorated the World War II attack that left over 400,000 Japanese civilians dead from a U.S. atomic bomb. Council spokesperson Caroline Kim Tihanyi wants this Hiroshima Day event to remember the lives of the lost and encourage people to put nuclear issues on the top of their voting agenda.
“I think the most important thing is to humanize the other,” Tihanyi said. “What we hope people take away is to think about the people in Hiroshima who on that Monday morning were sitting around eating breakfast, maybe getting ready for school, just going about their business the same way that we do, the same way that people do all over the world. If we really absorb that, I don’t think we could ever do this again.”
Tihanyi says it’s important for U.S. citizens to be aware of nuclear warfare because she believes President Trump’s hostile tweets with Iran and North Korea are threatening reminders that what happened at Hiroshima could happen again. Participant Joy Carlson walked hoping that the government will be more careful in the future.
“I think given the current climate it’s important for people to show unity,” Carlson said. “Unity against things that are against humanity, because I think we are in a very inhuman climate right now.”
First-time participant in the march Taylor Gould helped make posters and carry a skeleton-head draped in a black hood.
“I’m just really excited to see what it’s like, see how many people turn out, see if it makes any impact at all. I hope so. That’s what we all hope, Gould said.”
Walkers marched for roughly a mile. The Syracuse Peace Council hopes their Hiroshima walk encourages people to reach out to politicians and petition against nuclear weapons.
