On March 8, peace activist and gold star mother, Cindy Sheehan joined a delegation of women from Iraq for a rally at the U.N. to urge the organization to help prevent the outbreak of all out civil war in their homeland. Sheehan and about 20 protesters went to the U.S. mission to the U.N. to deliver a petition with 60,000 signatures seeking an end to the war.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states that "Congress shall make no law...abridging...the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances, while the Fourteenth Amendment extends this obligation to individual states as well. Well, at least that's the theory of it.

No one from the U.S. mission (an agency of the federal government) had the decency to come out and acknowledge their presence, so Cindy and three others including Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange, peaceably sat down in front of the building and refused to leave.

What was the response from the attending federal police and NYPD? According to Sheehan in an article she wrote about the incident, while Benjamin and the others were picked up "gingerly," Cindy herself was dragged across the pavement and treated "very, very roughly." Was Cindy targeted for special abuse because she is by far the most recognizable symbol of the anti-war, anti-imperialist, anti-Bush movement? Cindy said that she will continue to "stand up to them again and again...until our humanity is taken back."

Cindy Sheehan's uncompromising bravery is an inspiration to us all in an age of "free speech zones" and heavily armed paramilitary police more reminiscent of the People's Republic of China than the United States most of us were taught to believe in.

Al Ronzoni, Jr.
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