In response to the June 5 letter, "Anti-war activist Sheehan seems to be missing," I'm happy to report that Cindy Sheehan is alive and well and continuing her protest of the ongoing wars.
Sheehan is a leader of a group called Peace of the Action, and it has organized a "Sizzlin' Summer Protest" in Washington, D.C., in early July involving daily protests and public education about unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) which are causing enormous death and destruction in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The group also will protest the wars daily in front of the White House, according to peaceoftheaction.org.
Anti-war protests continue throughout the country, including in Duluth, the Twin Cities, Grand Rapids and other communities in Minnesota. A group of 24 Minnesotans from around the state traveled to Washington, D.C., in January to meet with our representatives and senators to speak out against the supplemental funding to continue the war in Afghanistan. They also participated in a protest in front of the White House and in similar protests at the offices of Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken in Minneapolis and St. Paul in March.
Unfortunately, the numbers of anti-war protestors do seem to be down and there is less media attention than in the early years of the wars. I think strong feelings against these wars continue, but people's attention has been diverted by the other major problems of the day, including health-care reform, the economic crisis and, most recently, the environmental disaster in the Gulf.
Ironically, if we would stop spending enormous sums of money on war, perhaps these other problems could be resolved.
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Vicki Andrews
Grand Rapids
