“What Have We Learned?”
Sunday August 6 – 7:00 pm Omni Center
Register for the meal by two methods:
1.Eventbrite –Click Here
2.Pay at the door with registration – call Gladys at 479-283-2167 to register for the dinner. $20 suggested donation, please pay what you are able.
Omni and our predecessors have held Hiroshima Nagasaki commemorations since 1971, but covid caused a deep cleft in our practice. For the first time in 3 years Omni will be hosting an event to honor the deaths of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and remind ourselves of the terrible consequences of using weapons of mass destruction. It’s especially relevant as nuclear nations are facing off over the Ukraine war and multiple other hotspots around the globe.
Covid isn’t the only big change that’s happened though. Climate change has caused a near-certain increase in August temperatures that make our long-standing tradition of meeting at the Fulbright Peace Fountain difficult, so we’re renewing our tradition of commemoration in a new way.
This year we’ll be holding the commemoration at Omni Center itself. The theme will be “What Have We Learned?” as we face the nuclear stand-off in Ukraine that’s a very relevant question.
Speakers for the event will be Benetick Maddison, who will be speaking by video since he’ll be speaking at a nuclear conference. We’re lucky to get to hear the Marshallese perspective on this from a respected international authority from Springdale.
We’ll also hear from Emeritus Professor Art Hobson, formerly of the University of Arkansas, who we’re honored to hear, since he’s a well-respected speaker and writer on nuclear issues, as well as a noted author on physics and climate change with at least six books and almost 200 articles on his topics. Because the format is more intimate, Dr. Hobson would like to include discussion and questions as part of his presentation. That will add yet another new element to the program for this year..
This year the commemoration will also feature a chef-prepared dinner from thegifted chef’s who operate MayDay Community Kitchen. This year the commemoration will include a fundraiser to benefit this great Omni project that feeds over 100 homeless people twice a week.
Because we’re meeting inside at Omni there isn’t room for the number of people we used to host at the Fulbright Fountain. So we hope to include a Facebook livestream to allow for recording of the talks that people can join from home through the Omni Facebook page, or can view later from the recording.
It will be inspiring just to be together again. I hope some of the dear Omni folks who attended this event for many years will want to join us for this commemoration of the resilience of the living people who experience this, and their courage under the duress of nuclear war.