May
Day Events Wednesday,
May 1st
1:00
PM—AFL-CIO Press Conference to support National Nurses United
Johns
Hopkins Hospital, 1800 Orleans Street, by the JHU sign
Why: To protest the firing of a nurse on the organizing committee and bring attention to unsafe working conditions
Why: To protest the firing of a nurse on the organizing committee and bring attention to unsafe working conditions
1:15
PM—Workers speak out on safety concerns at BWI
BWI
upper lever door 1 (southwest departures)
Why:
Airport workers at BWI are calling for an emergency press conference on safety
conditions at the airport. Workers have filed a complaint with Maryland OSHA
and are asking for Ally support as they demand that their employer address
their safety concerns. "I’ve seen the big fuel trucks catch on fire. When
these trucks have brake issues they’ll patch them up, not fix them right away,
and so the brakes will lock up while you’re driving and get so hot that they
catch on fire. It has happened a couple of times." – Erick Vailes (Fueler)
6
PM— May Day Solidarity with Venezuela's Working-Class Revolution! Defend the
Embassy of Venezuela in Washington, D.C., 1099 30th Street NW. RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/347035489501599/.
7:00
PM—West Wednesday 300 Rally & March
Meet
at 33rd & Greenmount Ave. then march to Garland Hall on JHU campus
Why:
Tomorrow marks the 300th "West Wednesday," weekly gatherings
that bring together Tyrone West’s family, activists, and allies to protest
excessive police violence, to find justice for victims of police brutality.
Tyrone West was murdered by Baltimore and Morgan State University police
officers on July 18, 2013 during a traffic stop. On this 300th anniversary, the
West Coalition and allies will honor Tyrone's life and memory and march to
Garland Hall to protest Johns Hopkins adoption of a private police force.
How will the wind blow
on Doomsday?
Reading Frida Berrigan’s story about nuclear weapons ruining her
life, I find myself almost unable to breathe. Yet, I know why her parents chose
the life they did.
Ruth Ann Angus
April 30, 2019
Easter Sunday. The day
is bright with the illumination of the risen Lord after two days of gloom; the
suffering of Good Friday and the absence of Holy Saturday. Now it is windy on
the Central Coast of California as it is the season of wind. A strong fresh breeze
from over the ocean; one can smell marine life in the air.
Communion reinforces
the bond. The church goers clog the highway. The restaurants are busy. I go
home to the cats who don’t see one day different from another. They eat. They
sleep. Meow to go out. Meow to come in. Judy Collins sings “Give Yourself to
Love” on the radio.
Yesterday I wrote to
Liz McAllister, who sits a jail cell in Georgia because she wants to protect
our planet from nuclear hell. A whole year gone by. I try to write small but
legible on the tiny postcard that is all I am allowed to send. So much to say.
So little space.
So little time.
One wonders how much
time is left?
Reading Frida
Berrigan’s story about how nuclear weapons ruined her life, I find
myself almost unable to breathe. Who would survive well a childhood with
parents in and out of prison all the time?
Not I, I think. Better to deal with
loss of a parent from death as I did. More understandable. At least one can say
there was no unmet expectations. One cannot hold a parent accountable because
they died. But the loss is the same. A parent not at home. A parent missing
from the school plays, the music recitals, the sports events, the graduations,
the budding of romances, the weddings, the births. Because they chose jail
instead.
They chose life.
Do you remember the
Doomsday Clock? I had forgotten about it. Resurrected in this story, the tale
includes the minutes to nuclear midnight. Twelve minutes, nine minutes, seven
minutes, two. And then what? BOOM! It’s all over.
I remember laughing at
the nuns who corralled us children at Holy Name Catholic School and herded us
down the dark stairs to the basement of the building during the drills. If the
red button was pushed in Washington the alarm would sound and we were to get up
from our desks and go quickly to the basement. To avoid the radiation, Sister
explained. From the bomb. My 11 year old mind rejected this almost at once. I
had seen the photos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The basement would never
suffice. I refused to go.
Sister Frances sent a
note home to my mother. Ruth Ann would not follow instructions. My mother, of
course, would have none of this. “You do what Sister tells you to do!” Still, I
refused to go.
After a while some of
the other kids didn’t want to go too. The basement was not a cheery place.
They
would hesitate and look back at me as they marched out of the classroom door.
My friend Dolores Natoli finally asked me why I wouldn’t go. “Did you see the
pictures?” I asked her. “The ones of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?” She shook her
head no.
So I brought them to
school. The pictures I had clipped out of a paper or a magazine. Especially one
of a little naked girl, skin all blistered, running down a destroyed street.
The pictures were passed around secretly from desk to desk. They didn’t need
explanation. At the next drill, no one got up from their desk. No one would go.
The pictures were produced and handed over to Sister Frances. She didn’t say
anything at first. Then she asked us to say the Lord’s Prayer.
We never did another
drill.
Two minutes to nuclear
midnight. Two minutes on the Doomsday Clock.
I don’t know the exact
numbers of all the nuclear weapons in the world. I don’t know how many nuclear
power plants there are and how much nuclear supply there is for them. I don’t
know how much nuclear waste sits out everywhere. I think it is a lot. A number
I don’t want to think about. But I do know why Frida Berrigan’s parents chose
the life they did. I do know why Liz sits in jail today.
As I scribbled my words
on the postcard to her. I thought I at least had one word of hope. They are
going to close the nuclear power plant at Diablo Canyon about 15 miles as the
crow flies from my house. They have finally given in to the years of protests
from Mothers of Peace. Oh, they say the decision is an economic one. I don’t
care why they’ve decided. One less nuclear holocaust avoided.
Still, I had to tell
Liz. People are worried for the loss of the jobs. And what about the waste?
The wind blows through
the trees and whips up white caps on the surf. It is the windy season. How will
the wind blow on Doomsday?
This story was produced by Campaign
Nonviolence
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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