You may have seen the disturbing, colorful billboard while driving down 6th Avenue in Tacoma.
The cartoon illustration shows what appears to be a frightened child with an ice cream cone standing next to weapons of mass destruction. At lower right, a map shows Tacoma’s proximity to “Subase Bangor,” also known as Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.
“Did you know,” the billboard reads, “we are only 35 miles away from the largest concentration of deployed nuclear weapons in the world!” Below that: “Let’s abolish nuclear weapons.”
The billboard, near the Walgreen’s at 6th and Stevens, is part of an awareness-raising effort by a Washington organization that advocates for world peace. The smaller letters at the bottom of the sign read: “Paid for by Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action.”
What group is behind the anti-nuclear billboard in Tacoma?
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action was founded in 1977, around the same time as the construction of Bangor Naval Base, according to its website. The organization wants the Earth “free from nuclear destruction and the injustice of humanity.”
If you visit the website gzcenter.org, you’ll see that this isn’t the first time the group has tried to raise awareness about nearby nuclear weapons through signs.
Another billboard nearly identical to the one in Tacoma surfaced last year in Kitsap County, marking Gorst’s 15-mile distance from the base.
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action noted that the naval base is home to eight of the 14 “Trident nuclear-powered submarines” owned by the Navy, the group wrote in an August 2023 press release announcing the Kitsap exhibit. The other six, they said, are stationed in Kings Bay, Georgia.
According to the press release, a single Trident submarine has the power of more than 1,200 Hiroshima bombs.
Pat Moriarty, the cartoonist behind the billboard cartoon, raised the alarm about the proximity of nuclear weapons in the area.
“I’d like to think that if my neighbors knew, they’d be concerned about getting rid of it,” he said in the August press release. “As a species, we need to evolve beyond this mentality of mutually assured destruction.
“It’s the scariest staring contest you can imagine.”
Ground Zero previously helped erect another billboard in Tacoma, the press release said. The group worked with the Catholic peace organization Pax Christi USA on the sign, which featured a photo of a submarine and a quote from Pope Francis: “The use … and possession of nuclear weapons is immoral.”
