In the first moments after the atomic bomb was dropped in
Hiroshima, Kazu Suelshi remembers complete silence, until a lady
across the street began to yell, “tuskete, tuskete”
““ Japanese for “help me.”
Black-and-white photographs capturing lifeless charred bodies
and shadow imprints of victims of the event are on display in the
Kerckhoff Art Gallery this week, part of Foumiko Kometani’s
A-Bomb exhibition of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Suelshi gave a vivid account of her experiences as one of the
speakers at the exhibitions Nov. 10 opening at UCLA.
Kometani said she was interested in bringing the exhibit to UCLA
because she wants to educate students about the effect of World War
II, especially in Japan within the community. The exhibition is
hosted by the Undergraduate Students Association Council’s
Cultural Affairs Commission.
Todd Hawkins, Cultural Affairs commissioner, said he looks
forward to doing something similar to the event on a larger scale,
because Kometani said she has more work to be shared and hopes to
invite more professors to speak in future exhibits.
Student turnout at the Nov. 10 opening was so dismal that the
organizers postponed their events in hopes that more attendees
would arrive.
“Even though there wasn’t a large turnout (at the
opening), for the people who did attend, it really spoke to them.
This was very powerful,” said Hawkins, who is working to
introduce people from the community to UCLA. He hopes to expose
students different cultural programs and exhibits available outside
UCLA.
Guest speaker Suelshi was born in the United States but returned
to Hiroshima with her family as an infant to be educated in Japan.
Years later, the country whose citizenship she held by birthright
dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on her home in
Japan.
Suelshi’s account of the morning of the event nearly 60
years ago brought tears to some who attended while others listened
with a look of amazement as the well-dressed, cane-carrying lady
with a voice so small and a message so powerful told the audience
of her experience.
“In those days, American planes used to come to Hiroshima
everyday, we thought nothing of it. … I called (the airplanes)
angel,” Suelshi said.
“That morning (the bomb dropped) angel visited and I said
“˜good morning,’ only things were different when angel
left,” Suelshi added of the American airplanes that flew over
Japan on Aug. 6, 1945.
Suelshi described the events thereafter, but concluded that her
goal was simply to promote understanding, tolerance and love.
“Peace without love is impossible. Try to forgive,
sometimes people make mistakes. … It is my responsibility to talk
about my experience so it never happens again,” Suelshi
added.
To lighten the mood, Suelshi jokingly added, “Sometimes
people ask me if I saw the mushroom cloud and I answer no. When
they are shocked, I tell them, I was in the mushroom
cloud.”
Another speaker, Ikaweba Bunting, an ethnic studies professor at
Compton College, spoke about the negative effects of war and the
option of resolution in any national conflict.
“War, no matter what they tell you, is absolutely
unnecessary,” Bunting said.
Bunting referred to the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as
“present history” because some survivors are still
among us, and said education about such events is crucial since,
“ignorance cannot be an excuse for hatred toward one
another.”
“You can decide to do cruel things, but those are
decisions, not acts of ignorance,” Bunting added.