LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) – James Lawson, a civil rights leader and confidant to the late Martin Luther King, will headline a peace conference in Los Alamos this week aimed at drawing attention to the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Lawson will speak Friday at the Campaign Nonviolence National Conference and Los Alamos Peace Vigils scheduled to last until Sunday amid a number of events scheduled to take place in New Mexico around the anniversary of the bombings.
Organizer the Rev. John Dear said activists wanted to hold the conference in the town that gave birth to the atomic weapon during the anniversary to highlight the continuing threat nuclear weapons pose to humanity.
“It’s a big anniversary and we want to use it to send this message: we want the weaponry abolished,” said Dear, a Santa Fe resident.
Attendees will see an English-language premiere of “Message from Hiroshima,” a documentary by Hiroshima survivor Masaaki Tanabe.