LAFAYETTE PARK - There's a famous park here in Washington, across the street from the White House. By the government it's
called Lafayette Park, or President's Park. By some cab drivers,
press, and public it's called Peace Park, D.C.
It's the kind of place where the champion demonstrators of the
western world congregate 24 hours a day throughout the year, to
make their views known to the president, who lives just across
the street
There's a woman in Peace Park who has become quite famous for
her four-year continual presence, day and night, seeking a total nuclear ban.
Meet Concepcion Picciotto,
the Chief Demonstrator
of Lafayette Park
LIFE AT GROUND ZERO
Concepcion Picciotto is tough.
Compact, sturdy, courageous, stubborn, and tireless in her
fight for juistice, she's pioneer stock. One of a kind.
Concepcion holds the world record for the longest-running, 24-
hour-a-day continuous peace vigil against nuclear weapons conducted by an individual.
Not rain, nor sleet, nor police out hunting "campers" in the
middle of the night, have been able to dissuade her from her
chosen course.
Through the night she sits upright in a chair lest she be
arrested.
Her sentinel signs should go straight to the Smithsonian when
she decides to retire them.
In 1975, Concepcion began her career as a protester on the
steps of the courthouse in New York City, seeking the return of
her adoptcd child in a domestic dispute.
"The police constantly threatened me. I was very scared, moved
from one city to another. Finally I said to myself, 'You have
nothing to run away from.'"
She decided to come to Washington, DC to see if higher courts
could help her. She lobbied all over town, and became more and
more involved in communicating her beliefs, using signs and
literature.
"I was panicked to be in the streets, which I never was before," she told Kimberly Caviness, a reporter from the Georgetown Voice, in 1985. "Every day I came to protest at the White House."
In the summer of 1981, Concepcion encountered William Thomas, a
philosopher with a cause and a unique method of communicating.
Thomas had begun a 24-hour-a-day anti-nuclear protest on June
3, 1981.
Concepcion listened to his conversations with passersby. He
spoke of his adventures as a pilgrim crossing North Africa without a penny in his pocket. He spoke of what he had learned in his travels.
"Unless humanity eliminates nuclear weapons," he said, "nuclear
weapons will eliminate humanity."
"God didn't design the planet with borders," he said.
"The U.S. government and the Soviet government have created
false borders based on differing economic systems, and are threatening life on the planet to maintain those borders," he argued. "It's not logical."
Concecpcion became convinced that Thomas spoke the truth.
"What is the use of fighting for the rights of the homeless,"
she came to believe, "if we push the button? No world!"
Concepcion Information List | Conchita Personal Story
Photographs | The President's Neighbor
