Common Ground and the "Journey for Humanity" Tour Unite Against Bush
Articles by Volunteers | Friends and allies | Lower 9th Ward
By Devin McNulty
Photography by Mavis Yorks
NEW ORLEANS - On Wednesday, July 11th the prominent anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan visited Common Ground as part of her eighteen city “Journey for Humanity” tour. Sheehan and her caravan met with Common Ground leaders and volunteers at the Common Ground Relief's Distribution Center in the Lower Ninth Ward.
“This administration must go!” declared Sakura Kone’, media director of Common Ground, in reference to the Bush administration’s lackluster response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita in New Orleans.
Sheehan asserted that “(Our) common enemy is the enemy of peace, the enemy of justice but most importantly the enemy of humanity”. Sheehan connected the goals of Common Ground to her own goal of ending the Iraq war, and stood in solidarity with its work against what she attests to be George W. Bush’s “crimes against humanity” in New Orleans.
Soon after, Sheehan traveled across town to the Survivor’s Village protest in Duncan Plaza, adjacent to city hall. She met with housing and homeless rights advocates who are challenging Mayor Nagin to devise a plan for the return home of public housing residents. Sheehan then left for Atlanta, GA to continue her “Journey for Humanity” tour across the south that culminates in Washington DC.
Cindy Sheehan began to protest the Iraq war vociferously when her son was killed on April 4, 2004 in Iraq. In August of 2005, she attracted international attention through her Camp Casey demonstration outside of President George W. Bush’s Texas ranch. In May 2007, she officially withdrew from anti-war activism to return home to her family.
When President Bush commuted the sentence of White House aid Scooter Libby for obstruction of justice and perjury, Sheehan was catapulted back into the struggle and launched her caravan through eighteen states. She also announced her plans to run for the seat of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, if the congresswoman fails to introduce articles of impeachment against the Bush administration.
Sheehan and her caravan’s final destination will be a sit-in at a House Judiciary committee in Washington DC. While there, they will demand impeachment proceedings be initiated. This action will be followed by a demonstration in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York to highlight the Middle East refugee crisis resulting from the Iraq war.