Scientists, activists, and faith leaders will advocate for the elimination of nuclear weapons at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
PATCH News – By Michael Wittner, Patch Staff, August 5, 2025
LIVERMORE, CA — Local scientists, faith leaders, and activists will advocate for the elimination of nuclear weapons in front of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on Wednesday, the 80th anniversary of the U.S. dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The 90-minute “rally, symbolic die-in and Japanese Bon Dance” will begin at 9 a.m. in front of the West Gate of LLNL.
“On this historic 80th anniversary, speakers and participants will join the cry of the
Hibakusha, ‘Never Again,’ and honor their lifelong commitment to the elimination of nuclear
weapons. We will do this at the West Gate of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
where new nuclear weapons are being developed today for potential use tomorrow,” said organizer Tri-Valley CARES in a news release.
Speakers at the rally include:
- Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research at UC Berkeley who has written extensively on nuclear weapons.
- Rev. Michael Yoshii, pastor emeritus at Buena Vista United Methodist Church
- Rev. Marcia Cross, pastor at First Christian Church of Oakland and quad chair of the California Poor People’s Campaign
- Patricia Ellsberg, social activist who helped her husband Daniel Ellsberg release the Pentagon Papers
- Helen Jaccard, founding member of Veterans For Peace Nuclear Abolition Working Group
- Chizu Hamada, a spokesperson for the No Nukes Action Committee who will lead the rally in performing the Japanese Bon Dance, a communal dance to honor ancestors
- Wilson Riles, Jr. and Patricia St. Onge. Wilson is a former Oakland City Council member and Patricia is a Six Nations/Haudenosaune and Quebecois and a partner in Seven Generations Consulting who will offer the land blessing.
“On the solemn occasion of this 80th anniversary, we must ‘pick up the torch’ being passed to us by the Japanese survivors of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” said
Livermore event organizer, Grace Morizawa, of Asian Americans for Peace and Justice. “Being
at Livermore Lab this August 6, along with other peace advocates, is part of my commitment to
ensure that we never forget the human toll of nuclear weapons and the need to take action
now for their abolition.”