McKinney Plays the Race Card While 42 Black Congress Members Stay Quiet

Georgia Congresswoman (D) Cynthia McKinney may likely face an arrest warrant against her for striking a police officer in a "scuffle" last week. She tried to get past metal detectors which is what Congress people are allowed to do but didn't have her lapel pin on her identifying her as a congresswoman. A Capitol police officer "body blocked" her after the officer asked her three times to stop. Miffed and angers, probably so, she struck the officer. This story gets more and more ludicrous while she and her lawyer go on about playing the tried and true but very, very old race card tactic.

Her lawyer, James W. Myart Jr., said, "Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, like thousands of average Americans across this country, is, too, a victim of the excessive use of force by law enforcement officials because of how she looks and the color of her skin."

A lot of hot air and full of baloney, too. Was it excessive when a Capitol Police officer manning the metal detector booth asked her to stop, three times, all because he didn't recognize her when she went around the metal detector? All Congress members wear lapel pins identifying them as Congress members so they can quickly go around metal detectors at the Capitol entrance. McKinney didn't wear hers. And now she's on the defensive saying all this is a black thing.

Members of Congress wear identifying lapel pins and routinely are waved into buildings without undergoing security checks. McKinney was not wearing her pin at the time, and the officer apparently did not recognize her, she has said.

"Congresswoman McKinney, in a hurry, was essentially chased and grabbed by the officer," Myart said. "She reacted instinctively in an effort to defend herself."

Several Capitol Police officials have said the officer involved asked McKinney three times to stop. When she did not, he placed a hand on her and she hit him, they said.

She certainly makes it sound like as if inside the Capitol building is a place where people are routinely mugged. So much for her "self-defense" excuse. And the officer "attacked" her bcause of the change in her hair style?

Congressional staffers who have worked with McKinney said several factors may have contributed to the officer's failure to recognize McKinney as a member of Congress.

McKinney usually does not wear the special lapel pin given to members of Congress to make them easier to identify, and she apparently was not wearing it Wednesday morning, congressional and police officials said. Kerri Hanley, of the House sergeant-at-arms' office, said members are not required to wear the pin, though most do.

Police also keep books with pictures of each member at security checkpoints in the Capitol and in House and Senate office buildings to help them recognize lawmakers. However, even if the officer had consulted the book, he may not have recognized McKinney, who has altered her hairstyle since her official House photo was taken, congressional aides noted.

This is not the first time McKinney has had an encounter with Capitol Hill police. When she first arrived in Congress in 1993, an officer failed to recognize her because she was new and not wearing the congressional pin. After she complained, police put pictures of McKinney up at each security checkpoint to ensure it would not happen again.

McKinney also once ran into problems at the White House. USA Today reported that when McKinney, who is African-American, and a young white aide arrived at a welcoming ceremony in May 1998 for then-Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, the guard at the gate deferred to the aide as the person of authority. Once in the executive mansion, McKinney said, another guard tried to stop her until Rep. James Moran (D-Va.) stepped in.

"I am absolutely sick and tired of having to have my appearance at the White House validated by white people," McKinney wrote in a complaint to then President Bill Clinton. "I don't need to be stopped or questioned because I happen to look like hired help."

The White House apologized to McKinney.

She was just angry because some police officer had the audacity to stop a black Congress member from attending her duty. Gasp! The thing is. She is not the only black Congress member to work inside the Capitol building. And all of them do, supposedly so, wear lapel pins identifying them as Congress members rather than the color of their skins. "What’s a surefire way to identify Members of the House amid the swarm of faces on Capitol Hill? Look at their lapel."

Currently there are a record number of 43 black or "African-American" congress members that serve in the 109th Congress with 42 in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate. Freshman Senator Barack Obama of Illinois is the first black, male, Democrat to serve in the Senate. While fourteen black women serve in the 109th Congress, all in the House. One of them is lunatic fringe Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. Black Congress members make up nearly 10% of the total House of Representative population of 440 members.

Maybe we should ask these black Congress members for their opinions on this McKinney matter that this was all about racism? Here are the names.

Black Congress Members, 109th (2005 - 2007) - House:

Sanford D. Bishop, Jr.
Corrine Brown
Julia M. Carson
Donna Christian- Christensen
William Lacy Clay, Jr.
Emanuel Cleaver
James E. Clyburn
John Conyers, Jr.
Elijah E. Cummings
Artur Davis
Danny K. Davis
Chaka Fattah
Harold E. Ford, Jr.
Al Green
Alcee L. Hastings
Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.
Sheila Jackson Lee
William J. Jefferson
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Carolyn Cheek Kilparick
Barbara Lee
John Lewis
Cynthia McKinney
Kendrick Meek
Gregory W. Meeks
Juanita Millender-McDonald
Gwen Moore
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Major R. Owens
Donald M. Payne
Charles B. Rangel
Bobby L. Rush
David Scott
Robert C. Scott
Bennie G. Thompson
Edolphus Towns
Maxine Waters
Diane E. Watson
Melvin L. Watt
Albert R. Wynn

Black Congress Member, 109th (2005 - 2007) - Senate:

Barack Obama


The whole thing will be resolved soon enough because the whole incident was captured on security camera to see whether there was any "inappropriate" touching according to McKinney.

"Let me be clear. This whole incident was instigated by the inappropriate touching and stopping of me, a female black congresswoman," McKinney said. "I deeply regret that this incident occurred."

I think she keeps digging a deeper hole everytime she opens her mouth. And now points to her "afro" hair as another reason for the "racist" attack by a Capitol police officer who attempted to stop her.

In a draft of a statement that McKinney did not release, she said the officer "body-blocked" her during the incident, and she blamed his failure to recognize her on a recent makeover.

"It is ... a shame that while I conduct the country's business, I have to stop and call the police to tell them that I've changed my hairstyle so that I'm not harassed at work," McKinney said in the draft, which was obtained by WSB-TV of Atlanta and posted on its Web site.

Will McKinney ever stop flapping her mouth and just let the investigation continue its course? Next time, McKinney, if you don't have your identifying lapel pin on you that identifies you as Congress member, better listen to the Capitol police next time. They are only doing their job to protect and secure the Capitol building. Wear the lapel pin. Makes it a whole lot easier on everybody.