94-Year-old WILPFer Arrested at Livermore Lab on August 6

Sacramento WILPF member Esther Franklin before her arrest at the August 6, 2019, protest at Livermore Lab. Photo by Francisco Dominguez.

By Ellen Schwartz
Sacramento WILPF 

On August 6, 2019, 94-year-old Sacramento WILPF member Esther Franklin joined 200 Bay Area peace and justice advocates, capping a day of speeches, dance, and somber reflection by offering herself for arrest on the 74th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The event, sponsored by the Livermore Conversion Project, Tri-Valley CAREs, and others, took place outside the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where today the Trump Administration is spending billions to create new nuclear warheads.

Click here to view a slideshow of images taken by professional photographer Francisco Dominguez before, during, and after Esther’s arrest.

Participants gathered at 8 am to hear the keynote address by Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst and whistleblower who shone a bright light on U.S. policy and helped end the Vietnam War when he released the Pentagon Papers.

Nobuaki Hanaoka, an atomic bomb survivor, was the rally’s special guest speaker. Hanaoka, now living in the Bay Area, was an infant when the bomb fell on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. His mother and sister died from illnesses linked to radiation poisoning and his brother died at age 39 from premature aging associated with fallout from the bomb.

Following the program, the participants, wearing signs with the names of bombing victims, marched to the Livermore Lab West Gate. At the gate, Japanese activists led a traditional bon dance, followed by a commemorative “die-in” and symbolic chalking of the bodies to mimic the “shadows” left by men, women and children vaporized by the A-bomb blast.

In the final action of the day, 42 people, several using wheelchairs and walkers—Esther among them—stepped or rolled inside the gate and were arrested, while others provided legal witness and support.

Photo: Esther Franklin after her arrest. Photo by Francisco Dominguez.

As has been the case for many years now, the arrests were conducted without roughness or fuss; the arrestees searched and issued citations and promptly returned to the main group. However, the police were decked out in full riot gear, a sign that the so far symbolic nature of these arrests was entirely at the discretion of the authorities. Congratulations, Esther Franklin, on putting your beliefs into action!