Peace building requires sustained efforts at the personal, community, national and international
levels. This work can save lives, avert suffering and help prevent more environmental
degradation.
For these reasons, Columbia Friends Meeting (Quakers) begs you to support generous funding
for peace-building programs in the Fiscal Year 2024 State Foreign Operations and Related
Programs (SFOP) Appropriations bill. These programs will help prevent and reduce violent
conflict.
Because stories matter, we are giving you a copy of The Last Cherry Blossom by Charlotte, NC,
author, Kathleen Burkinshaw, the daughter of a hibakusha. A hibakusha, in Japan, is a survivor
of the atomic explosions of 1945. Kathleen’s tale is true and meaningful and a warning about
the horrors of nuclear war. Please read, and encourage your staff to read, this book.
As you know, the Department of Energy is planning to produce plutonium pits for nuclear
weapons at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in Aiken, SC. This is equivalent to making plans to
end human civilization and most other life forms on earth. South Carolina needs to continue the
clean-up efforts from previous nuclear weapons production at SRS. Please ensure that no
funding is allocated for plutonium pit production at SRS or at Los Alamos.
Thank you for your leadership on this issue.