RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images Concepcion Picciotto, who protested outside the White House for decades, died in Washington D.C. on Monday.
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There are a number of protesters stationed outside the White House on and off but it is believed Picciotto was the longest-running demonstrator on Capitol Hill and, likely, the orchestrator of the longest-running protest in United States history.
The Washington Post first reported the death of Concepcion Picciotto at a housing facility operated by a nonprofit that supports homeless women. Critics and even casual passers-by, reading her hand-lettered signs, dismissed her as foolish, perhaps unwell.
The incessant activist continued the White House protest when Ellen moved away, though her time there was greatly reduced after she was hit by a auto while riding her bike in 2012.
The Peace House is an organization that serves as a base for activists who would sit vigil on Pennsylvania Avenue.
They never saw their goals come to fruition, though D.C.’s congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has repeatedly introduced a nuclear disarmament bill inspired by them. The vigil and its keepers made a cameo appearance in Michael Moore’s 2004 political documentary film “Fahrenheit 9/11” and starred in another feature-length documentary, “The Oracles of Pennsylvania Avenue” (2011). She spent more than three decades at the anti-nuclear-proliferation vigil, braving snow, wind and rain.
There were also persistent questions about her mental health.
For 25 years, the self-described peace activist trio maintained a campaign in a symbolic small tent at the gates of the White House.
Peace House was sold past year, and Picciotto eventually found shelter at N Street Village, within walking distance of her vigil.
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“I don’t know”, she replied. In it, she quoted Psalm 35:19, saying, “Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause”.
