Tomihisa Taue (1956 – ) is the current mayor of Nagasaki. He took office in 2007 following university studies in jurisprudence (philosophy of law).
Youthful Mayor Taue would certainly have personal contact with the “hibakusha” (survivors) who carry government passbooks to certify they experienced atomic attacks on Hiroshima (August 6th) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945). His familiarity with bombing of Japanese cities would be realistic as those of us whose fathers, brothers, uncles survived battles of WWII.
My older brother, Captain Thomas A. Hummert, died in a B-17 crash at Cuba on May 5, 1945. Thomas wrote one letter to my family in Illinois, relating how his crew was “training for the big raid over Tokyo.” A B-17 accidental crash killed all ten crew members of the plane before they were dispatched to a hot war zone. My convictions and feelings about WWII like those of Mayor Taue are valid and fresh regarding a war in which I did not participate. Not least, I spent three hours in the Hiroshima Peace museum where there are three floors containing hundreds of photos of devastation from two rather small bombs.
The mayor wrote: “Nagasaki must be the last place to suffer an atomic bombing. These are words hibakusha have continuously repeated until their voices have become hoarse. We will prove that their words are a common wish and ambition of all human beings.”
As a student of law and jurisprudence Mayor Taue knows UN General Assembly Resolution 1653 voted into the body of nations in 1961. It clearly declares: “Any state using nuclear and thermonuclear weapons is to be considered as violating the charter of the United Nations, as acting contrary to the laws of humanity and as committing a crime against humankind and civilization.”
Have you/we invited the mayor of our urban community to join the 7,632 community leaders in 163 countries to respect 122 nations who voted on July 7, 2017 to abolish nuclear weapons?
There are only 123 critical burn units in USA hospitals. Lourdes Medical Center in Lafayette, is fortunate to have the one unit for southwest Louisiana. Tiny Henry, LA is where the “Henry Hub” controls energy flow for the upper 48 states. During Cold War days, it was one of the top ten KGB targets. 90 percent of 15,000 nuclear weapons are in USA and Russian arsenals. Are we hearing Mayor Taue clearly?
Governments declare wars; mayors must clean up the debris, bury the dead, care for the wounded. Radiation sickness is forever.
