"Cindy Sheehan has the soft, soothing voice of a mother. She has a gentle humor about her and she is generous with her hugs.

But Sheehan also has a message. Since her son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, was killed in Iraq in April 2004, Sheehan has been campaigning for peace and an end to the Iraq War. In August 2005, she camped outside President Bush’s home in Crawford, Texas, asking why America’s sons and daughters were fighting in Iraq.

Wednesday night, Sheehan brought her message to Charlottesville. Reminiscing about her time in Crawford, Sheehan told an audience at the Martin Luther King Jr. Performing Arts Center that she remembered thinking, “This is the beginning of the end of the occupation of Iraq.”

Sheehan’s speech included both humorous anecdotes about her experiences speaking around the country and the world and heartbreaking personal information about her son.

“Casey would be 27 this year if he were still alive,” she said. Her son was born on May 29 and Sheehan said they always celebrated his birthday on Memorial Day weekend.

“Memorial Day will never again be a day of barbequing,” Sheehan said. “Memorial Day will be the day that I grieve my son’s death and also grieve his birth.”

Ann Wright, who also spoke Wednesday night, wore a shirt commemorating the 2,445 soldiers who have died in Iraq as of Tuesday night. She said Wednesday that since she had made the shirt, the number had risen to 2,451. “The casualties keep going up in this war in Iraq,” she said.

Wright resigned in protest from the U.S. State Department in 2003 when the Iraq War began. She had spent 35 years as a public servant and 29 years in the military. She is now protesting military actions in Iran.

Sheehan is also opposed to a war with Iran, and today she will join protesters outside the White House to deliver a petition with more than 40,000 signatures that asks that America not attack Iran.

Both Wright and Sheehan have met criticism in the past from Americans who support the Iraq war or who do not believe U.S. troops should be pulled out. Bill O’Reilly has said that Sheehan is a “radical leftist.”

But none of those who applauded Sheehan’s speech Wednesday seemed affronted by her message of peace.

Sarah Hadden, an Albemarle County resident who attended the event and brought her teenage daughter, who is interested in the peace movement. “She said it was peace week at Western Albemarle High School. I asked her what that meant and she said she wasn’t quite sure, so I thought she ought to take some action,” Hadden said.

Before either Sheehan or Wright got up on stage, local singer/songwriter Terri Allard sang, raising her voice in support of the speakers’ message.

The Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice sponsored the event. William Anderson, chair of the steering committee for the center, said it was part of the group’s larger peace education effort.

“It’s a real opportunity for the community to hear from two peace activists who have … been courageous in criticizing the policies of this administration,” he said. “The tense relationships that we have currently with countries like Iran and Korea really make our message all the more important.”" (Sarah Barry, The Daily Progress, May 18, 2006)

Contact Sarah Barry at (434) 978-7266 or sbarry@dailyprogress.com.