Protest the Enola Gay
Monday, December 15, 11:00 am
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, Virginia
By unleashing the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the Enola Gay represents "a butchery of untold magnitude", to use the words of Pope Paul VI. We wish to express our outrage at the Enola Gay being displayed without reference to the human suffering inflicted. We stand in solidarity with the Japan Confederation of A and H Bomb Sufferers Organizations who have publicly condemned the exhibit, by sending a letter to General John Dailey, Director of the Air and Space Museum. It states in part,
We cannot repress our deep astonishment and anger. What the Enola Gay wrought was the loss of well over 100,000 lives that were cruelly destroyed by the atomic bomb and the deep wounds and radiation-induced handicaps that continue to afflict victims of the atomic bomb to this day. Of the 140,000 people estimated to have died in Hiroshima within that year, 65% were women, children and elderly people who had no connection to the war. To exalt this Enola Gay - which caused an unprecedented atrocity that violated all norms of morality and international law - as a testimony to "technological achievement" is completely unacceptable to the atomic bomb victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Please join us in front of the Enola Gay Exhibit at 11:00 am on Monday, December 15, at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia for a solemn vigil of nonviolent protest.
Directions from Washington: Rt. 66 West to Rt. 50 West to Rt. 28 North to first cloverleaf. Take a right after the overpass. Go through the toll booth.
Please do not bring signs and banners; they will be provided.