Octogenarian Shirley Morrison’s commitment to nonviolence led to an arrest at Bangor Naval Station.
Shirley Morrison remembers visiting an exhibit on the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and being “appalled by the destruction.”
That moment charged a lifetime of passionate opposition to nuclear escalation. The first year she protested at the U.S. Naval Base in Bangor, Washington, home to one of the largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons in the United States was 1979. Morrison was not ready to participate that day, but she helped other activists climb the fence into the base.
Now in her 80s, Morrison has been arrested nine times and was recently found guilty of disorderly conduct for stopping traffic outside the base at Bangor. After spending a night in prison, she chose to do 64 hours of community service rather than face a $500 fine.
What resonates most for Morrison in her commitment to nonviolent resistance is the dream of creating a nuclear-free world for her great-grandchildren and the desire to call attention to the nuclear threat in our own Pacific Northwest backyard.
—Rachel Rubinstein
