Stop the Racism

Imperialist Weapons?

Building a world of peace requires making the connections.

Since the end of the Cold War, US nuclear doctrine has solidified through three presidencies-Democrat and Republican. Here is what remains constant:

Nuclear weapons are at the bottom of the power pyramid. They provide the foundation for the projection of US power around the world. They are the reason the US Air Force, in published documents, speaks of the US intention to maintain "full spectrum dominance" of the globe.

At the same time, nuclear weapons are the top of the power pyramid as well-they are the most catastrophically devastating weapons ever produced.

The nuclear weapons of the United States undergird US global economic policy. All the major economic powers either have nuclear weapons or are protected by nations that have them.

Fifty years ago, Dwight Eisenhower sent the US military to prop up the United Fruit Company in Guatemala. Today, US nuclear weapons enforce a global economic system designed to enrich US multinational corporations at the expense of poorer countries.

Nuclear weapons are the first and the last tool of US imperial reach. This was made explicit by the leak of the nation's nuclear policy document, the Nuclear Posture Review, in 2002. Our formal policy now contains no restraint whatsoever on our use of nuclear weapons. Decisions about using nukes will be governed only by a calculation of our military or political self-interest. Everything else - our legal obligations under international treaties, our moral obligations to humankind and creation, our long-term security needs - everything else is secondary to US perceived political self-interest.

MORE NUKES?

Yes, more for us. But no more for anyone else. None for those who don't already have them.

That is official US policy. At the 35-year review of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2005, the United States stymied all attempts to maintain the treaty's original intent - stopping the spread of nuclear weapons to new nations and, at the same time, reducing the arsenals of the nations that already have them. Instead, the US insisted that disarmament be "de-linked" from nonproliferation, a move designed to empty the NPT of its force and to eliminate the incentive for Brazil, Iran, Argentina and other nations to renounce nuclear weapons. No longer will nonproliferation efforts be motivated by the UN treaty - now other nations will be denied weapons just because we say so.

Meanwhile, the US is performing life extension upgrades on its nuclear arsenal in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, so our current warheads can be certified reliable for 100-120 years. And Congress gave the nuclear weapons labs $25 million in 2005 to design a new warhead - the first in 15 years - called the Reliable Replacement Warhead.

BUT RACIST?

Funny thing. Almost all the nations that have nuclear weapons are white.

All the countries in which the US has its nuclear weapons deployed are white.

India and Pakistan, who have developed nuclear arsenals since 1970, have not been allowed to become party to the Nonproliferation Treaty as nuclear weapons states. South Africa's white government dismantled its nuclear weapons and the production infrastructure before turning the government over to majority rule under Nelson Mandela.

China, and now maybe North Korea, are the only places where reality shatters the myth of racial superiority.

Nuclear weapons are the ultimate guarantor of institutional racism around the globe. They are, for the most part, white people's weapons. More than 95% of the world's nuclear weapons are in the control of governments dominated by white men. The role of people of color in the history of nuclear weapons has been one of exploitation - Indigenous and native populations have been used to mine nuclear materials for bombs, and poor communities have been dumped on by the wastes. But people and communities of color have never shared the power that comes with owning nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons intersect with race issues at another fundamental level. Since 1945, the United States nuclear arsenal has cost us more than 5 trillion dollars. This year alone, we will spend more than $40 billion on our nuclear arsenal. As long as we invest these enormous amounts of money on holding the world hostage to our nuclear might, we will never have enough money for the things that would provide real security for lowincome communities (disproportionately communities of color in the US).

Our nuclear arsenal means not enough money for economic development, not enough money for housing, not enough money for health care, not enough money for anti-poverty programs, not enough money for crime prevention, not enough money for food subsidy programs, not enough money for education and training.

There is enough money for these programs, but they are not priorities for our government. The government's priorities these days are programs that benefit rich people, people who have connections, people who are highly educated, who control the voting systems and our political parties. Right - white people.

We have more than 6,000 nuclear weapons in our active arsenal right now. Many are maintained on high trigger alert. They are at 12 locations in the United States, in six foreign countries, and deployed on submarines and aircraft carriers that are patrolling the oceans.

Whatever your community needs, we will not have the money for it until we reprioritize. The status quo is guaranteed by our spending priorities - by nuclear weapons.

Still not sure? Ask yourself this question: Is it possible that our government is willing to sacrifice the health, hope and future of people of color in the vain pursuit of security through military spending?

The money spent on nuclear weapons in one year by the US could build one million Habitat homes. That's one million homes every single year. Or the money could fully fund Head Start programs for every eligible child. But as long as our institutions are managed by the "haves," however well intentioned they may be, we will spend our money on nuclear weapons and not on security for our poorest children. It's called institutionalized racism.