Midwest PSR board members join tax day protest at Kansas City nuke plant April 29, 2024

On April 15, tax day, PSR Board members David Drake, DO and Ann Suellentrop, MSRN joined with members of Peaceworks Kansas City and Catholic Worker to protest nuclear weapons work conducted at Kansas City Nuclear Security Campus. This facility, also known as “Kansas City Plant,” manufactures 80% of the mechanical and electronic components for the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and workers are preparing to double the size of the plant to accommodate work on new nuclear weapons. In an act of civil disobedience, seven of the 50 protesters trespassed onto the plant and were arrested, three others were arrested for wrapping “Crime Scene” tape around an earth-mover. Ann is director of Kansas City PSR, and David traveled from Des Moines, Iowa to participate in the protest. In front-page coverage, the Kansas City Star quoted Ann: “We’re going the wrong way. We’re manufacturing our doom.”

Workers attempting to drive through the gate to the plant were met with signs held aloft by protesters that read: “Honeywell, stop escalating nuclear war!”, “World War III Starts Here”, and a banner: “We are not here to break the law, but to UPHOLD the law” — in a reference to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, signed by 93 nations and ratified by 70, which has declared nuclear weapons illegal under international law. Protesters encouraged Honeywell employees to use their technical expertise to address climate change and other global challenges.

“I’m protesting because nuclear weapons are illegal. And it’s a moral outrage that we are ramping up our death-dealing poison machine, when we should be spending the money on healthcare for our most vulnerable citizens.”
Charles Carney, Catholic Worker

“As a world leader, we ought to begin a discussion and forum to work together with Russia, with other countries that have nuclear bombs, to get rid of them. Unless somebody lays down their arms, nobody’s going to. Somebody has to do it first.”
Austin Cook, Catholic Worker

Thank you to Jim Hannah of Peaceworks Kansas City for providing these additional photos from the action: