Articles
Hibakusha Stories Program Director Kathleen Sullivan was interviewed for the Japanese Language newspaper SHUKAN NEW YORK SEIKATSU
by Kaoru Komi; translation by Maki Fujita
August 6th, 2011: Her smile, overflowing with affection, changed to a still but a powerful expression when she started talking about disarmament. She became a hard-core activist when she was 18 years old. Over the past 25 years, Kathleen has been vigorously working to actualize a peaceful world.
Kathleen was born in Ohio and raised during the Cold War. When she was 12 years old she watched a TV program with her family that showed what happened when an atomic bomb was dropped in Middle America. It was horrific. Her father, who was really tied to his family, said, "We will all die if a nuclear war happens." His words have remained in her mind and she began to join activities like peace marches.
Kathleen obtained a PhD in nuclear studies, has been engaged in educational activities around peace and disarmament, and works as a consultant to the United Nations.
She has frequently traveled and taught on the Japanese Peace Boat. She directed a film called The Last Atomic Bomb, and is working on a film documenting visits to American high schools by atomic bomb survivors.
Three years ago Kathleen became the project director of Hibakusha Stories with Robert Croonquist, founder of Youth Arts New York, it’s parent organization. They visit New York City public high schools with survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and carry a unique message. They do not educate ABOUT disarmament, but rather FOR disarmament.
"Think of precious things and loved ones", Kathleen narrates to the students. "They would be lost in a moment by an atomic bomb."
She asks participants close their eyes and listen to the sound of a BB falling into a tin. She explains that the sound of that BB represents the amount of all explosive compounds used in World War II. Then she asks the students to close their eyes again and she pours approximately 2,700 BBs into the tin. She then explains that those BBs represent the explosive power of the nuclear weapons that exist in the world today.
"It is important to witness the reality," she states. “By feeling revulsion and fright, awareness will be changed. ”
Kathleen periodically practices similar activities at the UN. She hopes that activities like Hibakusha Stories, that raise awareness through the arts will be expanded and brought to the general public. However, budgetary limitations in this day and age make things difficult. Kathleen believes that support will increase if people can deepen their understandings about nuclear weapons.
Living as an activist is wonderful and sad. But it is exciting that action leads to larger and wider audiences.
Many volunteers support Hibakusha Stories, but on the other hand, the number of nuclear weapons continues to increase.
The secretary general of the UN, Ban Ki-moon said in the summer of 2010, "Participating nations of the UN should write down the testimonies in their own languages."
Kathleen said, "Despite the fact that Japan is the only nation in the world upon which the atomic bomb was dropped, the development of nuclear power plants and the subsequent accidents have caused accelerated radioactive contamination. It is tragic."
There is a hope that the world will question the continued development of nuclear power so that the accident in Japan will be the the last one ever.
When Kathleen said, "Survivors of the atomic bomb, who have gone through living hell, have made me a better human being," she put her smiling face back on.
Original Shukan New York Seikatsu article in Japanese
