Portrait of Chelsea Manning

“Pfc. Bradley Manning,” by Robert Shetterly

“If you had free reign over classified networks and you saw incredible things, awful things . . . things that belonged in the public domain—what would you do? God knows what happens now. Hopefully worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms . . . I want people to see the truth. Because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.”

Companion essay by artist Robert Shetterly follows on page 2.

Find out what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong that will be imposed on them.

—Frederick Douglass¹

Chelsea Manning was a logical and necessary subject for my portrait project, Americans Who Tell the Truth (http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/).

I began painting the portraits in January 2002. Feeling angry and desperate about the dishonest, official propaganda that was taking this country into another illegal and immoral war, I felt compelled to give up my long artistic career to become a better citizen. I felt betrayed by my government and by the mainstream media. And I felt irrelevant as an artist and a citizen to do anything about it. I was full of grief for all the potential victims of this war. And ashamed of the bullying arrogance of U.S. imperialism: “You’re either with us or against us.”

But, what to do? I sensed that to indulge my anger and cynicism by using my art to rant about the lies of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld et al. would not only have no political effect but would increase my anger and my sense of impotence. I decided to begin surrounding myself with Americans I admired, my own role models, Americans who had exhibited courage and perseverance to insist that the ideals of our Declaration and Constitution be honored when the status quo showed contempt for them. I wanted to paint our own better angels not only to give wise counsel to our current society but to give me strength.

My goal was to paint fifty portraits. I had never painted a realistic portrait. I expected that I would neither reach that goal nor find an audience. In a project that has now had countless moments of serendipity and agency, I have painted nearly 200 portraits and traveled with them all over the United States to schools, colleges, libraries, museums, community centers, and churches. I quickly discovered that there is a large segment of this country’s population as nostalgic for its professed ideals as I am.

A healthy democracy depends on several factors: An engaged citizenry, an educational system that tells a true history, a fiercely independent media, elections that offer candidates who are dedicated to solving real problems, a political system free of special interest money, and leaders who serve the people by telling the truth. We currently have none of those things. Often it would seem that our notion of democracy hangs on the courage of people like Daniel Ellsberg, Jesselyn Radack, Thomas Drake, Frank Serpico, Edward Snowden, and Chelsea Manning. As Snowden says, “The public needs to know the kinds of things a government does in its name, or the ‘consent of the governed’ is meaningless. . . . The consent of the governed is not consent if it is not informed.”²

And, like Snowden, Manning knew that crimes were being committed, news was being suppressed, policies being made without the knowledge of the people who are ultimately responsible for those actions and are paying for them with their taxes. She suspected that the entire weight of her own government would be turned against her for releasing the information she had access to. She cared more for the truth and the ideals of democracy than her own welfare.

Chelsea Manning has been called a traitor by her government. She is. She is a traitor to the National Security State. She’s a traitor to the people who would prefer to operate behind a wall of secrecy with no accountability in the name of security. But she’s...