By George Friday

A Speech for the 2005 World Conference against A & H Bombs - Hiroshima, Japan August 2005

(George Friday, IPPN's new National Coordinator, gave this speech in Japan while representing United for Peace and Justice.)

First - please accept my thanks for inviting me to join you. It is a profound honor. This time has deep meaning for me.

I was 6 years old in the first grade of school when I learned that my date of birth was also the date that the United States had devastated these lands with nuclear weapons. Since that time, nearly 40 years ago, my date of birth has been both a celebration of life and a remembrance of loss.

The bombing of Hiroshima was not just an incredible destruction of life. The US government knew what an atomic bomb could do and they knew exactly how horrible it was when they used the second one on Nagasaki. In the dropping of that bomb, in one act, those who had power in the US embodied the terror they are willing to use to get what they want - the greed, the control, the use of fear to control others. As a child growing up in the Southern United States during the 60s none of this came as a surprise. I grew up with a keen awareness of the lengths those in power are willing to go to in order to maintain illegitimate and unethical power and control.

Now in itself this didn't make me a anti-nuclear activist. I find no inspiration in working against political and social evil-I am inspired to work for peace and justice. I am inspired by a vision of whole, safe, healthy communities with vibrant, strong, powerful people. That vision led to my work to end nuclear proliferation in the United States and worldwide.

When I took my first job, I went to work for a peace organization, SANE, later SANE/Freeze and now PeaceAction. Always in my heart I understood Peace to mean that vision of whole, safe, healthy communities with vibrant, strong, and powerful people. As Martin Luther King said "Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of Justice". I knew then that peace requires the end of all oppression -- racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, homophobia and all the systems of domination that benefit the few at the expense of the many. But for too many peace is simply the maintenance of status quo with no attention to creating lasting Justice.

So long as systems of domination are in place, those holding power, those using oppression and domination to maintain that power will need nuclear weapons to terrorize and threaten anyone who stands for large scale, deep and lasting change.

We in the peace movement in the US need to learn from that deep place within ourselves and fueled by our spirits how to live Justice to create peace just as peaceful relationships are necessary to create lasting Justice.

So what do we need? We need to create genuine communities - and a worldwide community of communities. When we live in community, we care for each other and take care of each other. Of course, we have conflicts but we resolve those conflicts nonviolently and value our differences.

As individuals and as people, we can start to act differently. We can imagine how to build relationships where conflicts can be resolved without terror, without violence, with dignity and respect.

You and I, we may have a conflict and it may feel irresolvable. Yet, even if we feel like it is irresolvable, when I look in your eyes and know that I respect you and you respect me -- we can listen to each other, heart to heart. We can remember that we may have some shared visions of hope, justice and peace. As long as I don't want to oppress you, control you and steal your resources, then I can look in your eyes and we can figure it out what has to be done and we will get there. As a person of color with other people of color I know it is possible, we can work our way through to a resolution. We must begin building community and relationships where this is possible

We can't look to the US government for change. They are not to be trusted. My Native American and African ancestors taught that lesson and the most recent US elections are proof that mine is a government that will lie, cheat, steal and kill to get what they want and keep what they have.

But the people, the regular people who struggle from pay check to pay check, who have simple needs - affordable housing, decent working conditions, good schools, safe neighborhoods-these folks can be looked to for solutions. These are the people who can force the US government to set aside and dismantle weapons, to seek non-violent solutions to conflict, to use our world's resources with a respect for the earth and each other.

Part of my work is bringing people to this realization and supporting them in finding their voice and using that voice for change, using that voice to engender peace and generate justice so that nuclear weapons become obsolete.