Stephen Pearcy (activist)

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Stephen Pearcy (born March 4, 1960) is an attorney and anti-war activist. He and his wife, Virginia Pearcy, first made national headlines in February 2005 after displaying a stuffed American soldier's uniform hung with a noose on their Sacramento home with the words, “Your Tax Dollars at Work.”^[1][2] After someone trespassed on the Pearcy’s property and tore down that display, the Pearcys replaced it with a similar display with the words, “Bush Lied, I Died.” That display was also torn down by another vandal. Both vandalisms occurred while TV news crews were present and were captured on film, but the Sacramento District Attorney’s office declined to prosecute the vandals.^[3][4]

The displays were controversial and on one particular evening drew hundreds of people to the Pearcys’ home either to support or criticize them.^[5] About two hundred supporters of free speech and peace (including Cindy Sheehan and then-husband, Pat Sheehan) stood on one side of the street to defend the Pearcys’ message, while a roughly equal number of opponents of the Pearcys’ display (including Melanie Morgan and members of Move America Forward) stood on the other side of the street.^[6]

Pearcy eventually won a $5,000 judgment against one of the vandals, and he received and out-of-court settlement for $3,500 from another.^[7][8]

In August 2005, Pearcy made national news once again when he exhibited a painting at the California Department of Justice in Sacramento showing a star-spangled map of the United States being flushed down a toilet. The painting included the words, "T'anks to Mr. Bush!" The art exhibit was controversial, and generated a protest and counterprotest event that once again included supporters of the exhibition facing off with opponents of the exhibition. Again, people from the group Move America Forward came to protest Pearcy’s protest art.^[9][10][11]

In June 2007, Pearcy brought a flag-draped coffin to a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in Sacramento. The coffin had a sign that read, “Hillary, Stop Funding This!” The bomb squad was called after Pearcy refused a Secret Service Agent’s request to search the coffin. The coffin was empty, but Clinton was forced to wait at the airport for two and a half hours during the search, and several hundred contributors and potential contributors were forced to wait outside of the event just as long. Many potential contributors left the fundraiser before Clinton finally arrived, and the protest action drew national media interest once again. ^{[12][13][14][15][16]}

Stephen Pearcy and his wife live primarily in Berkeley, California but often spend time at their other home in Sacramento, California. Between 2005 and 2007, the Pearcys organized over 40 anti-war events in the Sacramento area, most involving several hundred people. Pearcy brought Cindy Sheehan to several of the anti-war events he organized in Sacramento, and the events drew large crowds.^{[17][18][19][20][21][22]}

In September 2005, Cindy Sheehan moved into the downstairs portion of the Pearcys’ Berkeley home just after Sheehan returned from her famous trip to Crawford, Texas, where she demonstrated outside of President George W. Bush’s ranch.^[23][24] Sheehan lived with the Pearcys, rent-free, for just over a year, during which time she travelled extensively to various peace events and wrote two books.

Pearcy has occasionally written articles for CounterPunch, the Smirking Chimp, the Sacramento News & Review and Dissident Voice.^{[25][26][27][28]}

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