Shame on you, Cynthia

Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, facing criminal charges for assaulting a DC Capital Hill policeman who attempted to stop her from entering Capital offices without wearing proper identification badges, is playing a racial card worthy of the late great Johnny Cocharan.

The facts that we know of are this:

An altercation took place between between Capital Hill security and Congressman Cynthia McKinney. It is alleged that McKinney attempted to pass by security checkpoints without displaying a badge that allows congressmen to avoid a stop.
Something happened-- the officer claims he "tapped" her. The Congresswoman claims he "inappropriately touched her". Opinions differ.

Congresswoman McKinney, it is alleged, swung on the guard and hit him in the chest with a cell phone. The Hill police are calling this assault. McKinney's lawyers are calling the guard's action assault.

And then the spinup...

n a news conference featuring actor Danny Glover and singer Harry Belafonte, McKinney said she would be exonerated and that "this whole incident was instigated by the inappropriate touching and stopping of me, a female, black congresswoman."

She had little else to say, citing the ongoing investigation into her allegedly striking a police officer after he failed to recognize her at a security checkpoint and tried to stop her from passing.

One Republican congressman dismissed the star-studded news conference. "Rep. McKinney appearing with the star of "Lethal Weapon"? Not exactly the message you want to be sending," said Ron Bonjean, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Asked Friday if Capitol Police intended to bring charges against the congresswoman, Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said only, "I know we're still investigating."

The 51-year-old legislator was surrounded by more than two dozen supporters at the Friday news conference, some carrying handwritten placards that read "Recognize our congresswoman" and "Is Cynthia a target?"

copyright, CNN

The issue, according to McKinney, is that the Capital cops were supposed to recognize her by facial features alone, and that she was stopped because she was black. The Capital Hill cops where supposed to recognize her, even after changing her hair style recently. This is not the first time she has had a run in with Washington security. When invited to the Clinton white house, an altercation took place with White House security

black House Democrat Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) seems to see things differently. When she recently visited the White House, she said, security questioned her but not the young white aide she accompanied. McKinney called her encounter "a classic case of stereotyping and outright discrimination."

The White House crime? When McKinney and her aide arrived at the White House gate, the guard, according to McKinney, "did not address his questions to me." Well, off with his head! "I'm absolutely sick and tired of having to have my appearance validated by white people," McKinney said. She instructed Clinton to tell his staff that "I don't need to be stopped and questioned because I happen to look like hired help."

copyright, Frontpagemag.com

My take on this:

I have nothing but sympathy for African Americans who are victims of profiling. Traffic stops and roustouts happen, just because of skin color. I wouldn't want to be a black motorist in the LA area, for instance. Stereotyping and profiling is a sad, inappropriate relic left over from a bygone era.

With that said!

Shame on you, Congresswoman.. shame on you for sullying your hands by lowering this to a racial and social issue, merely to avoid prosecution.

It's not a race issue. It's a security issue. Good men have died defending that building, and not that long ago:



Remember Joseph Chestnut and John Gibson, who got killed defending the Capital building from crazed gunman Russell Weston? That was only back in 1999. Are our memories so dim? Do we hold their legacy so cheaply?

Yes, Congresswoman, you are an African American Female Congresswoman. You deserve respect. But the men and women who work security checkpoints (many of whom are also African American!) also deserve respect. You're treating THEM like they are hired help, which makes your allegations of racism and stereotyping somewhat hollow and hypocritical.

Update: I realize for some congressmen any publicity is good publicity, but maybe this kind of publicity isn't the greatest, ya know what I mean?



And you might want to reign in that thug you have travelling around with you...



Say "black" a little more emphatically, please...