Walking the talk in Tucson

Nuclear Resister group, Tucson All Souls Procession, November 6, 2016. Credit: The Nuclear Resister

By Gretchen Nielsen, Tucson, AZ

Tucson, the home of Raytheon Missile Systems and Davis Monthan Air Force Base, is also home to the “Nuclear Resister”, and its editors, Jack and Felice Cohen-Joppa. WILPF US is undoubtedly familiar with the “Resister,” as it reports acts of nonviolent resistance to war, networking worldwide, supporting activists imprisoned for “walking the talk,” and all movements that peacefully and actively reach for changes needed to rescue and heal our planet.

For example, Felice and Jack led us literally to “walk our talk” in the annual All Souls Procession, November 6, Jack moving sure-footedly under a beautiful, huge puppet of Sadako festooned with a garland sample of the 1,000 paper cranes she created to set free with her message of peace (some of the members of the Tucson WILPF Branch helped to make the puppet). Felice, even with a sore back, walked the distance, keeping our group marching together (after she had done all the planning, make-up, costumes, and fed us pumpkin muffins.)

The Cohen-Joppas are, in my opinion, “where it’s at” in every sense of the word. Once a month they haul out their anti-war signs and encourage us to demonstrate at the gates of our town’s two institutions we would most like to retool and change from killing to healing. They remind us that we have an open-air venue for saying in War towns everywhere: “NOT IN MY NAME.”