This image by Melanie Cervantes is from Celebrate People’s History/Iraq Veterans Against the War: Ten Years of Fighting for Peace and Justice, a portfolio that celebrated IVAW’s first ten years and was produced by Justseeds, IVAW, Booklyn, Repetitive Press, and the Civilian Soldier Alliance.
(IVAW is now known as About Face: Veterans Against the War)
A line drawing portrait of a man with light brown skin and short dark hair against a bright blue background. Below, the text: “Camilo Mejia. ‘By putting my weapon down I chose to reassert myself as a human being.’” Additional small text states: “In 2003, after spending six months in Iraq and Jordan, Camilo Mejia became the first U.S. combat veteran to publicly refuse to deploy back to Iraq. In March 2004 he turned himself in and applied for conscientious objection. Mejia was convicted of desertion by the U.S. Military and sentenced to a year in prison. Since his release in February of 2005, he has devoted his time to speaking out against the war in Iraq.
