We are here today, on the 50th anniversary of the letter from Birmingham Jail, the manifesto of Martin Luther King, Jr. as he invoked the necessity of repeated resistance to the evils surrounding him.

We are surrounded by the evils of Vermont Yankee: the invisible evils of radiation, stored spent fuel rods, leaks of radioactive isotopes into groundwater and arable soil of the beautiful countryside, leaks of radioactivity into the air we breathe.

We are here because of dangers caused by the repeated injustices of the lies perpetrated by Vermont Yankee’s corporate owners and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that protects them.

Entergy, Vermont Yankee’s corporate owner, perpetrates daily, constant, and dangerous injustice here at this nuclear power plant.

We are here in the spirit of nonviolence and imminent warning to Shut Down Vermont Yankee because of Entergy’s corporate greed at the expense of all living things.

As Dr. King said in his letter from Birmingham jail to colleagues in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, “I am here because injustice is here.”

We are here because injustice is here: the government protects corporations. Individuals are expendable. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission itself acknowledges the collateral damage of any nuclear power plant as at least 1 death per 257 persons.

We do not want our friends, neighbors, families, nor ourselves to be collateral damage.

Shut Down Vermont Yankee now!