Although most of the university community was unaware of her surprise visit, peace activist Cindy Sheehan stopped by Loyola on Valentine’s Day. A group of about 50 students, faculty and staff informally met with Sheehan the day after she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
After spending lunch at Loyola, Sheehan and fellow peace activist Ann Wright protested at the St. Bernard Housing Project in Gentilly along with the New Orleans Housing Emergency Action Team. NOHEAT organized the demonstration to advocate government financing to reopen public housing for displaced New Orleans residents.
Sheehan said supporting victims of Hurricane Katrina is part of her original message of bringing home the troops in Iraq and holding government officials accountable for their actions.
“I think Iraq and Katrina are so intimately connected,” Sheehan said. “If you think George Bush is making this country safer, you need to look at New Orleans; you need to look at the Gulf States.”
Ten days after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Sheehan said she joined Veterans for Peace in Covington to help with relief efforts. Since then, she has toured the country with her group Gold Star Families for Peace.
“Moms want to fix problems. They don’t just sit around,” Sheehan said.
Sheehan, wearing a strand of purple Mardi Gras beads with peace symbols and a T-shirt advocating the First Amendment, gave hugs and talked individually with students after the lunch.
“I can see her being one of my friends’ moms,” said Courtney Bolesta, history junior.
Other students said they felt energized by Sheehan’s words.
“I was very inspired to take democracy into my own hands,” said John Rodriguez, sociology senior.
Little fanfare or publicity accompanied Sheehan’s visit to New Orleans because the trip was not known until the Thursday beforehand, according to history junior Mandi Moore, a spokesperson for Loyola University Community Action Program, the student organization hosting Sheehan and Wright. Moore said the lack of publicity was not an attempt to intentionally exclude anyone and that LUCAP could not reserve a large enough room in the short amount of time.
“If we did a campus-wide e-mail, more [students] would come than the room could hold,” Moore said.
Sheehan said she never sought to be in the spotlight of the peace and anti-war movements. Last August, Sheehan, whose son Casey Sheehan died fighting in Iraq, and a few supporters established a camp outside the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas, hoping to meet with the president. The protest site, known as Camp Casey, quickly drew media attention and more than 12,000 visitors.
Recently, Sheehan was the subject of media reports about her arrest, and subsequent release without charges, at the president’s State of the Union address earlier this month. At Loyola, Wright wore the T-shirt that got Sheehan arrested. The black T-shirt included the updated U.S. troop death toll and read, “2,267 Dead. How Many More?”
Naomi King can be reached at [email protected].
