Veterans For Peace opposes nuclear weapons
Opening his talk to more than 100 gathered Aug. 9 in Spokane to commemorate the 80th year since the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Michael McPhearson, national executive director of Veterans For Peace (VFP), admitted he was no expert on nukes and realized that most people there were well versed in the dangers of nuclear war.
Spokane Veterans For Peace, Pax Christi Spokane and the Dorothy Day Labor Forum organized the event at All Saints Lutheran Church.
Rusty Nelson of the local VFP suggested he see the August cover of The Atlantic magazine.
"It featured a stunning photograph of a 1954 nuclear test at Bikini Atoll," Michael said, commenting that, "despite the grandeur of the explosion filling witnesses with awe, that bomb was one of the most grotesque weapons created by mankind."
He said he used the word "mankind" rather than "humanity" intentionally because "the main instigators, visionaries, movers, shakers and creators of this weapon were men."
While he does not believe a matriarchal society would necessarily end war, he thinks war, with its potential today for human destruction, is "primarily a patriarchal endeavor."
He does not consider nuclear weapons as the main problem, but "the mindset that allows their existence, the self-centered system that permits their use. This male-dominated system facilitates several ongoing genocides, hesitates to confront climate change and seeks global control over women. As we work to transform that system, we can limit and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons."
Michael, whose roots in the Black church frame his opposition to oppression, grew up in North Carolina near Fort Bragg in a military family with grandfathers and uncles who served in World War I and II and Vietnam. Michael served in the first Gulf War, and his son served in the second Gulf War.
"As a Christian, I believed everyone was a child of God, but war was a necessary evil. I did not see a path to peaceful co-existence," he said.
Eventually, as he came to understand U.S. foreign policy, he realized people could choose not to go to war.
"As a veteran, I have some cachet to speak out against war without being dismissed as hating America," he said. "I encourage other vets to speak out and I encourage Christians to speak out."
Michael served from 2005 to 2010, from 2013 to 2019 and now as executive director of Veterans For Peace, which is devoted to peace education and advocacy. Since 2016, he and his wife have lived in Seattle.
Recognizing the Spokane gathering was 200 miles from Hanford's B-Reactor that produced the plutonium used in the Trinity test—the first atomic explosion—and that produced the fuel used in the nuclear bomb, Fat Man, dropped on Nagasaki 80 years ago on Aug. 9, Michael pointed out that Indigenous communities globally are often devastated by U.S. militarism.
The state's Indigenous communities have struggled with the impacts of Hanford contaminants in the air, soil and river, affecting fish, game and plants—staples of Indigenous cultural, spiritual and physical health. He applauds their resilience and efforts to demand their rights and challenge the government.
"The first full-scale nuclear reactor to create plutonium is at Hanford, where the bombs dropped 80 years ago at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were produced," he said. "Indigenous communities now navigate the environmental impact on their water, air and land. They and we need resilience to stay in the struggle."
He told of Deb Abrahamson, a local leader who had worked for years to clean up the contamination from uranium mining on the Spokane Reservation. She spoke at the 2019 VFP National Convention in Spokane.
"Cancer caused by uranium poisoning took her from us," he said.
Michael said Hanford produced many nuclear bombs, including those tested at the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. There is a line from there back to Spokane as Marshallese people who survived seek to escape the ravages of radiation from those tests settle in Spokane, establishing one of the largest Marshallese communities in the U.S. He noted the "ugly irony" of them settling in the homeland of those poisoned by the same military venture and radiation.
"We can take pride in past victories that give us insight into what we should do today," Michael said. "Thanks to an intense, persistent anti-nuclear weapons movement, we now face a smaller global arsenal of about 12,100 nuclear weapons, down from more than 70,000 in the mid-1980s before arms control agreements.
"We did it once before," he encouraged. "We can do it again."
Although fewer weapons are better, he pointed out that just 100 explosions could trigger nuclear winter, disrupting global climate and crop yields leading to famine and killing billions.
Michael said the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has set the Doomsday Clock at 89 seconds, warning the world we are closer to nuclear war than ever with Russia threatening the West, the U.S. repositioning two nuclear subs near Russia, Israel threatening to use nukes in Gaza, fighting between nuclear powers India and Pakistan, European nations increasing their stockpiles, the nine nuclear powers improving, upgrading or expanding their arsenals, and the 2011 New START treaty set to expire in February 2026.
Michael once thought the fear of nuclear war decreased since the end of the Cold War, but a 2022 survey said 69 percent of Americans were worried, more than in 2018 and more than 62 percent in 1987 and 61 percent in 1988.
"These numbers show the public is on our side. We don't need to convince people that nuclear weapons are a threat. We need to activate them by showing a clear path to effective action," he said.
For example, in 2022, the Spokane City Council declared the city a zone free of nuclear arms.
Michael offered suggestions for actions people can take, beginning with building community, seeking unity and shared vision, and defining and living into "the future we want to create."
Michael cited former VFP executive director David Cline, who advised him and others to differentiate between people who are "truly against me and people I disagree with." He suggests that if a person seeks to heal and respect others' humanity and dignity, there is opportunity for dialogue.
"Those who seek to divide, deny people's humanity and aim to harm rather than find solutions, or they believe there is just one right way, and pursue domination and control not peace and justice," he said.
Understanding the difference helps identify who "we must unite with" to work for a free, multi-color, multi-ethnic, accepting society.
"This unity is essential, especially regarding opposing nuclear weapons and building a movement that allows for engagement," Michael said.
While the right is unifying to impose their way of life, he calls for responding with a vision of a just, peaceful world, free of nuclear weapons.
"We can use anger to fuel ourselves, but love of humanity must guide us. We don't have to like everyone, but we cannot let hate lead us. It's a poison that devours integrity and turns us into what we claim to oppose," Michael said.
"Today I feel an urgent responsibility to identify as a Christian to speak out against the genocide in Gaza because many other people who call themselves Christians are enabling it," he added.
He closed by quoting Deb Abrahamson in 2019:
"Today, as we sit here with each other, we are also putting our stakes in the ground. We're putting our staff with our histories and prayers out to our ancestors because we all have them. They did the best that they could, so that we could all be here today for those who are still coming. That's vital in terms of looking at how we effect change.
"Today, I ask the creator that we all take time for ourselves to heal, to do what we need to make sure that the kindness is in our hearts. Be bigger than the hatred and the fear that sometimes are carried far too long. I've carried so many of those burdens far too long."
Her call in 2019—that Michael said applies today—is: "Please stand tall. Put your stakes in the ground. Put them in hard because we are here for another battle. We are here for the battle of humanity."
For information, email mcphearson@veteransforpeace.org or visit veteransforpeace.org.
