Is Cindy Sheehan a racist?
Written by VASS
Cindy Sheehan is controversial. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Right or the Left, she has detractors all around her. Which is odd considering that just a few years ago, while President Bush was in office, she was the darling of the major news media and Democrats.
But then President Obama was elected. Democrats neither needed nor wanted to discuss the troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. The major news media all but forgot the anti-war protestors and activists. Yet, Cindy Sheehan continued to push her agenda, going so far as to run against Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Today Cindy Sheehan is still advocating her anti-war stance. In addition she is speaking out against the Government, Republicans and Democrats. Much of this is in her latest book, which is what brought her to Binghamton, New York. Oddly it was also the same time that the Viet Nam Memorial arrived in Binghamton.
Sheehan arrived late, at River Read Books in downtown Binghamton, due to flight difficulties. She was greeted by a small group of fans and supporters. In total there were roughly 15 or 16 people (10 appeared to be 50 or older, 3 in thier 20’s - 30’s) and 5 members of the press - including this writer - that attended at least some part of the event over the 2 hours that Sheehan was there.
Sheehan started off by discussing why she was late, the fact that she was banned from Scranton, PA. and her sudden realization that the Catholic Church opposed views like gay marriage that she supports to some degree. From there Sheehan discussed her prior 2 books, her dislike of President Bush (with numerous jokes and insults directed towards him), and her disenchantment with President Obama and the existing Government structure. Which led to her discussing her book (which there were no copies of in the book store) via a cheat sheet of photocopied pages.
The group of people present were subdued and attentive while Cindy Sheehan spoke. Several laughed loudly as jokes/insults of President Bush and/or President Obama were made. The entire group joined Sheehan in her dislike, and distrust, of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Many nodded their heads as Cindy Sheehan described in part her observations of the myths that she believes are the American Government and society (which her new book details). This included her declaration that America is divided into 2 classes, Robbers and those that are Robbed From; as well as that she believe most Americans are so sheepish as to be willing to die for these myths she exposed in her book.
Of the many statements Cindy Sheehan made that stood out for anyone not on an extreme political view, several were particularly surprising. Cindy Sheehan described the Cuban Revolution 50 years ago as “no better or worse than the one [revolution] 200 years ago.” She described how she sought economic justice and human rights in America, detailed why she felt elections don’t matter, mentioned how over the past decades no President has held term for more than “4 - 8 years”, many for a single term [which ignores the limitations of term limits]. Sheehan even described how she felt compounds were necessary, seperating people from the Government, though she strongly felt violence was wrong.
One later part of Sheehan’s discussion that was of interest was when she described how she disliked the concept of limited x-ray screenings at airports, even after the underwear bomber event occured, and refused to allow her bags to be opened at airports without a warrant. This caused a member of the group to excitedly note it was the “14th amendment”. No one bothered to correct the individual, since the 14th amendment deals with slavery, while the 4th Amendment deals with privacy and warrants.
Later in the discussion Cindy Sheehan descibed, almost with pride, how she has been arrested numerous times, is banned from the White House (after President Obama took office), had been shot with rubber bullets, and had a new technology used to ‘destroy the cells of her body’ (actually a LRAD, as seen on the television show Future Weapons, is a non-lethal crowd-control and hailing device).
At this popint the floor opened up to questions. Of the various local members of the news media waited for a member of the group to speak up, Michael Vass - president of M V Consulting, Inc. and author of this blog, spoke up.
This was the hardest questions asked of Cindy Sheehan publicly during the event. One of the easier questions out of the 4 questions that came from the group was from Jim Clune, about why Sheehan is banned from the White House, who stated with pride after he was asked for his name by this writer that, “I was arrested with her.” Whether Mr. Clune was a plant for such a situation or merely proud of his acts of civil disobedience along with Cindy Sheehan is unclear.
Perhaps the most interesting part of her answers to questions was her comment
“I forget who said it but it’s in my book, I think it might have been Thomas Jefferson or Karl Marx I don’t know…one of those guys…somebody like that, that said people shouldn’t be afraid of their government, governments should be afraid of their people.”
The group could not decide if it was Jefferson or Marx. In fact it was a line from the movie V for Vendetta, and originated in the movie (possibly the comic book the movie is based on but I cannot confirm that clearly). The quote that goes to Jefferson can be found here. Though confusing Marx and Jefferson does appear to be unusual.
In all the event was very quiet, and civil. Several books were signed, and Cindy Sheehan answered every question posed to her by the news media and from the group alike. She then went on to speak at another event later in the day.
Thus it is up to the individual to decide if Cindy Sheehan is as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Carter have stated, those opposed to the policies of President Obama do so because they are racist. It is up to the individual to agree or disagree with the major media’s sudden reversal of policy to not follow every move and statement by Cindy Sheehan in her anti-war and anti-government activism. Perhaps the most interesting question that you may ask yourself is the question posed to this writer by George McAnaname (an associate of Cindy Sheehan seen in the video standing to her right in the white shirt),
“Who do you think embodies the principles of Dr. Martin Luther King more, President Obama or Cindy Sheehan?”
**Note - Additional video of the event will be added to this article as it is editied and formated. The limitations of manpower and technology will not allow this to be done and included in a timely manner for immediate publication.**
