Cindy Sheehan: This Photographer’s View of the Human Side of the Activist

I remember the first time I had the chance to shoot Cindy’s photo in action, it was a bright clear day in front of the Capitol where there was supposed to be an early afternoon press conference. I remembering asking a Capitol police officer if he knew where Cindy’s conference was going to be, he answered “Cindy who?” I replied “Cindy Sheehan” he responded with “I don’t know who that is” (priceless!)

The conference was delayed about an hour or two, first because they had to hold off traffic because President Bush was leaving town, second because there was talk that the bus caravan arriving in from Camp Casey was stopped and searched by security twice en route.

The press conference was rather light in coverage but after, Cindy and the entourage marched down to the White House they were met with a swarm of attack of dozens of press hounds who jammed the group up against the fence, bombarding them with questions and barely allowing them to breathe.

My second encounter with Cindy was an evening event outside the White House where there was a civil disobedience “die in” action on the blocked-off section of Pennsylvania Avenue which resulted in several arrests.

Before the action, once again, there was swarm of media moths to the light bulb.

Cindy looked tired; she had a cold sore above her lip and looked a bit stressed out.

After a time she begged to have the media leave her be, but she asked me to stay.

We sat together on the sidewalk, yet, we didn’t chat about the war, Casey or even politics at all. We talked about the lack of money in our lives, living off of tuna and Ramen noodles, we even exchanged a few live off a dime recipes. She then closed her eyes and rested her head against the black iron fence that circles the White House; I let her be, seeing that she really needed the break. Hours later she was arrested, cuffed and taken away.

The point I am trying to make is that Cindy, above everything else, is a person, a real human being who like everyone else is made of flesh, has a heart and a soul.

Sometimes these seemed to be factors ignored by those who idolized her and also those who demonized her.

In these times of chaos in politics, the public is so focused on their own ideas and causes that they forget the humanity involved.

The aspect that we are all people behind whomever we are rooting for, whatever signs we are holding, however we are trying to push our point across, wherever we protest and why we are there.

When we lift these veils that separate us, we are all still people.

With Cindy leaving the peace movement I hope she has also left all of us with not only remembering an intense time in political activism, but also to remind us from all sides of the political spectrum, we should never hold our banners and signs up to the point where we block our view of compassion for others and the humanness around us.

Good luck and peace be with you Cindy.

With love always,

Isis