Below is a partial transcript of remarks by Cindy Sheehan at the Dallas Peace Center 19th Annual Peacemaker Awards Dinner on Thursday, December 1, at the Renaissance Hotel in Dallas, TX, where she received the Phoenix Award for her role in revitalizing the anti-war movement with her vigil at Crawford:
When Casey was killed on April 4 {2004}, I thought all my hope was gone. You know, I just was existing. You know, the sun would come up in the morning, and I'd get up, and I would just exist through a long, horrible day of sadness and just not thinking that I was gonna have any more joy or hope in my future.But you all changed that for me in August, because you proved that you cared about my family and my sacrifice, and Casey, and the rest of the soldiers like Beatrice's nephew, Daniel – that you really cared, and you cared about the ones who were in harm’s way, and the Iraqi people. And millions of Americans supported Camp Casey, and over 12,000 of you actually came out there over the summer. So you gave us back our hope.Last Saturday was the first time I danced since Casey died, and I felt so good, and I'm surprised that it wasn’t splashed all over the Matt Drudge: "Oh, yeah, look at the 'grieving mother.'" But, you know, we do have hope now, and that gives us joy, because we know we're taking our country back, and we know we're bringing our troops home. And it's been so amazing – it all makes your head spin, what’s been happening since August. It's just – people are finally standing up. Journalists are standing up, politicians are standing up, other people are standing up, and they’re saying, "It's okay
. It's okay
to speak out against the lies and the deception that led us to war. It's okay
to say this war was a mistake. It's okay
to say 'Bring the troops home.'" And we did that in August. We made it okay. We made it okay to do that.