Rep. Cynthia McKinney

[Phasad1913]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/....ap/index.html

Not sure how much you all have heard, if anything, about Cynthia McKinney's incident on the Hill where she allegedly hit a police officer.

I have mixed feelings on this one. She is claiming racial profiling, which is a problem, but on the other hand, you can't hit an officer. However, the report states that the officer reached out and grabbed her. Now, I have had the unforutnate experience of hearing some rather unprofessional language and seeing the same type of actions by police officers, so I might understand the frustration of being asked to do something if and when the officer should know who I am (if he should know) and THEN having the officer touch me in an offensive manner. I might have to lay one on him too. But, since we weren' t there, its hard to know which was the appropriate action to take at that time.

The other point, though, that makes me a little uneasy is how quickly the republicans made a resolution supporting the officer! I mean, how do THEY know that the officer didn't act unprofessionally and racially profile her? If he did, would the officer still be subject to respect and support by them? Interesting.

Anyway, I just don't know if this was the right time and/or incident for McKinney to bring up race and all that if she wasn't wearing her pin and the officer had cause to ask her to go through the detector. However, I get really irritated when as soon as anyone does highlight a racial incident, even if it is in their own perception, the chorus sings that race is not an issue automatically. That is like the immediate response whenever things happen and it is so frustrating. No one knows what happened in the incident so just like I can't automatically claim that it was a racist action by the officer, other folks who were not there shouldn't automatically assume it wasn't.

[TonyB06]

From what I've read, McKinney was not wearing the Congressional lapel pin, identifying her as a member of Congress and entitling her to walk past the security unchecked. That being the case, she, like anybody else, was subject to being stopped.

That should have been the end of it, but I read that words were exchanged and she may have been grabbed as she tried to go past. In the days post Sept. 11, security being what it is, I have to side with the officer (unless other conflicting information emerges).

As for the resolutions, that's politics (shrug). Any side will do what it can get any advantage it thinks it can. <---that's why the general public has so little respect for politics now.

[Marie]

Originally posted by TonyB06
From what I've read, McKinney was not wearing the Congressional lapel pin, identifying her as a member of Congress and entitling her to walk past the security unchecked. That being the case, she, like anybody else, was subject to being stopped.

That should have been the end of it, but I read that words were exchanged and she may have been grabbed as she tried to go past. In the days post Sept. 11, security being what it is, I have to side with the officer (unless other conflicting information emerges).

As for the resolutions, that's politics (shrug). Any side will do what it can get any advantage it thinks it can. <---that's why the general public has so little respect for politics now.

Hmmm, I've heard quite a bit about this on the news since it occurred. It was noted that it is the responsibility of the Capitol Hill police to know the members of congress by face, so they are not required to wear their pins at all times. I'm not sure if this is true, but it was noted in one of the news reports so take it for what its worth.

It think that the issue came in with the altercation that occurred after she was stopped and the continued pursuit of this issue by the cops. I think that it probably isn't likely that they do know every member by face, but it probably is likely that they don't press the issue once the member identifies them self. They could have been excessive with questioning her, but then sometimes 'we' act up at the hint of racism, so maybe she was carying on too. Who knows?

[BlueReign]

I know exactly how she feels. This has happened to me too many times at Trinity where I have taken classes and teacher workshops. I change my hairstyle like every other week. I have the same officers stop me and most of them are not white! I was wearing cornrows and a "Northface-looking" jacket and I am automatically stopped. I have seen other teachers I know who, I guess,"look like they belong there" walk into buildings and NEVER get stopped and I always get STOPPED! I guess I don't look professional enough? I don't know.

However, even though I always comply (with much attitude of course) I don't think I could ever be provoked to hit an officer. When they say stop, you should stop.

[Eclipse]

I know how it feels to be mistaken for someone else or over looked. Shoot, at my last job it was at least a year before people could tell the difference between me and another black female who was hired about a month after me. We looked NOTHING a like.

That being said, Ms. McKinney is my congresswoman so I kinda know how she rolls (no, I did NOT vote for her). She has a rep for thumbing her nose at rules. She used to, not sure if she still does, wear tennis shoes every day and complain if people said something about it. Her not wearing the lapel pin was not something she just forgot when she was running out of the house. She frequently does not wear it and then gets mad (again) when people don't recognize her.

She is very devisive and as a result, does very little for the district. She needs to sat down somewhere!

[Steeltrap]

Originally posted by Eclipse
I know how it feels to be mistaken for someone else or over looked. Shoot, at my last job it was at least a year before people could tell the difference between me and another black female who was hired about a month after me. We looked NOTHING a like.

That being said, Ms. McKinney is my congresswoman so I kinda know how she rolls (no, I did NOT vote for her). She has a rep for thumbing her nose at rules. She used to, not sure if she still does, wear tennis shoes every day and complain if people said something about it. Her not wearing the lapel pin was not something she just forgot when she was running out of the house. She frequently does not wear it and then gets mad (again) when people don't recognize her.

She is very devisive and as a result, does very little for the district. She needs to sat down somewhere!

To me, Ms. McKinney seems straight out of the resentment bloc of black politics. And from what you describe, she'd be better suited for a district that's, err, less affluent. McKinney sort of reminds me of Rep. Maxine Waters.

Rep. Waters is very effective for her constitutents, but she is a different politician than Soror Diane Watson, who represents a more prosperous slice of black Los Angeles.

[UpPinkies]

Originally posted by TonyB06
From what I've read, McKinney was not wearing the Congressional lapel pin, identifying her as a member of Congress and entitling her to walk past the security unchecked. That being the case, she, like anybody else, was subject to being stopped.

That should have been the end of it, but I read that words were exchanged and she may have been grabbed as she tried to go past. In the days post Sept. 11, security being what it is, I have to side with the officer (unless other conflicting information emerges).

As for the resolutions, that's politics (shrug). Any side will do what it can get any advantage it thinks it can. <---that's why the general public has so little respect for politics now.

A while ago I heard a black congress man say that he was alway checked for his pin and was stopped if he forgot it. He explained that his white counterparts would forget their pins and where never stopped or questioned.

I want to say it was Jackson Jr., but I could be wrong.

[Phasad1913]

well, regardless of the details, as with many other instances of "he said, she said" in race relations issues in america, if nothing else comes out of this situation it will hopefully make the capitol hill police more aware of how their actions come across to people if, in fact, they vary their responses among the politicians based on anything having to do with race.

[ladygreek]

To me the pin issue has been blown out of proportion. What if someone had unknowingly lost their pin and some random Joe picked it up and put it on. Would he be given access solely based on the pin? From what I read, the pin does not have a name or pic on it. So it would seem that face recognition is the best secutiry device, not the pin, which is why they keep pics of the congress members at the entrance.

Now I do think McKinney should have shown more restraint, and I find it curious that the other Dems did not show up to support her at the press conference. So what is really behind all of this?

[Eclipse]

Originally posted by ladygreek

Now I do think McKinney should have shown more restraint, and I find it curious that the other Dems did not show up to support her at the press conference. So what is really behind all of this?

I think they did not support her because she is a hot potato and you never know what you are going to get from her. If the Dems want to win major elections this term they are going to have to align themselves as more moderates and Cynthia McKinney has one of the most liberal records in the House.

[mccoyred]

Originally posted by UpPinkies
A while ago I heard a black congress man say that he was alway checked for his pin and was stopped if he forgot it. He explained that his white counterparts would forget their pins and where never stopped or questioned.

I want to say it was Jackson Jr., but I could be wrong.

To me, there are two issues:

1) The wearing or not wearing of the lapel pin does NOT guarantee that someone is who they say they are. I feel that if she was a white male (or even a white female), then the situation would have been handled differently by the officer; I have seen this situation myself too many times to count. This whole hairstyle thing is a red herring, IMHO.

2) Regardless, the officer should not have put his hands on her. If he wanted to detain her, then I am sure that there is a proper procedure to do so. I , too, would have probably acted up if some man put his hands on me, especially to restrain me or placed them in an inappropriate place. He messed with the wrong sista!

Frankly, this situation happens in some form or another every day to most Black folks. To recount one situation that happened to me:
A classmate and I (we are both brown-skinned with locs) were studying in campus library. He needed an internet connection for his laptop and politely asked the young white woman at the next table if there was a hotspot here since she was using her laptop. She nastily replied, "Yes, but its only for students". Considering that my classmate and I were GRADUATE students meant nothing, she just saw two Black folks who may have wandered in off the streets of Baltimore; this particular campus building does not require a student id for access although some do. We were dressed casually like all the other students in sight so her comment was uncalled for.

Anywho, I am not familiar with McKinney's politics or her other behavior but I would side with her on this issue because I have been there.

Oh, yeah, this is is the news at the same time of the incident at Duke. Why can't white men keep their d@$m hands to themselves? Yeah, I said it!

[ATLSigma99]

Originally posted by Steeltrap
To me, Ms. McKinney seems straight out of the resentment bloc of black politics. And from what you describe, she'd be better suited for a district that's, err, less affluent. McKinney sort of reminds me of Rep. Maxine Waters.

Rep. Waters is very effective for her constitutents, but she is a different politician than Soror Diane Watson, who represents a more prosperous slice of black Los Angeles.

As a former Los Angeles resident and a current resident of the Atlanta metropolitan area, I can assure you that Maxine Waters and Cynthia McKinney are nothing alike.

[Eclipse]

Originally posted by mccoyred
To me, there are two issues:

1) The wearing or not wearing of the lapel pin does NOT guarantee that someone is who they say they are. I feel that if she was a white male (or even a white female), then the situation would have been handled differently by the officer; I have seen this situation myself too many times to count. This whole hairstyle thing is a red herring, IMHO.

Agreed, but the reality is that is the easiest way to be identified. I read that the officer asked her to stop 2 or 3 times and she did not. At that point he grabbed her arm. What other way do you think he should have handled it? I can imagine someone walking by you fast and not getting good look at their face and, because the hair style is different not knowing who it was. I have stood behind people I know in fastfood lines and not recognized them. I would gather that the officers are instructed to use face recognition first (based on your statement that the pin does not guarantee that someone is who they say they are), lapel pin second and then maybe some picture ID.

Originally posted by mccoyred
2) Regardless, the officer should not have put his hands on her. If he wanted to detain her, then I am sure that there is a proper procedure to do so. I , too, would have probably acted up if some man put his hands on me, especially to restrain me or placed them in an inappropriate place. He messed with the wrong sista!

Frankly, this situation happens in some form or another every day
Oh, yeah, this is is the news at the same time of the incident at Duke. Why can't white men keep their d@$m hands to themselves? Yeah, I said it!

So if a security guard tries to verbally stop someone and they don't, what do you think they should do to detain the person if they can't "put their hands" on them? I think, in this day and age, McKinney should be glad all he did was grab her.

You know, I am not so Polly anna that I don't believe and KNOW that racism is alive and well and happening every day. I see it in my personal and professional life all of the time. But to take two dissimilar events are paint a broad stroke against white males is beyond rediculous. We gotta stop

[mccoyred]

Originally posted by Eclipse
Agreed, but the reality is that is the easiest way to be identified. I read that the officer asked her to stop 2 or 3 times and she did not. At that point he grabbed her arm. What other way do you think he should have handled it? I can imagine someone walking by you fast and not getting good look at their face and, because the hair style is different not knowing who it was. I have stood behind people I know in fastfood lines and not recognized them. I would gather that the officers are instructed to use face recognition first (based on your statement that the pin does not guarantee that someone is who they say they are), lapel pin second and then maybe some picture ID.


Liivng in the reality that some women change their or even entire look every day, I still believe that that excuse is lame. For the reasons that Soror LG explained, the 'pin' is not an appropriate form of id. What about a congressional photo id like we use for school or normal everyday jobs?


So if a security guard tries to verbally stop someone and they don't, what do you think they should do to detain the person if they can't "put their hands" on them? I think, in this day and age, McKinney should be glad all he did was grab her.


I am sure that the Capitol Police Policies and Procedures manual describes what is the appropriate use of force for situations such as this. In this day and age, maybe there should be a better way of identifying such important people. (see above)



You know, I am not so Polly anna that I don't believe and KNOW that racism is alive and well and happening every day. I see it in my personal and professional life all of the time. But to take two dissimilar events are paint a broad stroke against white males is beyond rediculous. We gotta stop

I guess we will agree to disagree on this one, too. I guess I am not as discriminating as you are. I tend to look for patterns and relationships and commonalities. If it looks like a duck....

[enigma_AKA]

I'm not totally sure with this one yet, per se, because I don't know the whole story...but in my Race and Criminal Justice class this week, my professor and four students (one who is a best friend) who worked on Capitol Hill confirmed that it is an expectation of all entering certain buildings on the hill to have a pin identifying their status/purpose in the respective building.

*For instance, students showed pics of themselves with congressmen/women with their respective Intern badges and members of U.S. Congress pins on. The interns said that even when walking from office to office, that their identification needed to be in clear sight as to not get stopped for security measures.

*All confirmed that there are metal detectors and armed guards standing guard to confirm identities from the get go. If they don't know you, you stop. If they do, you'd better damn well be famous (like the President or Speaker of the House) or you will get stopped/shot/possibly jumped if you do not have said identifying pieces. Security is nothing to play with in any instance!

*All also said that in instances of removing articles of clothing--like if one were to take of a jacket in the middle of the day--that it having that pen was such a regimented practice that it was second nature to wear your jacket over the shoulder to show the pin or show proper picture ID to officials.

My thoughts are that while I don't agree that McKinney was right for hauling off and hitting the officer (she took it ten steps past credibility with that move), there is some legitimacy to the argument that there is/might some experienced discrimination, whether intentional on behalf of security or unintentional. It wouldn't be surprising if guards let some Whites/men pass without proper (as noted above) identification. That they didn't recognize her makeover is plausible, but her face should have been familiar enough, had they done their job of learning all the congresspersons like they should have.

But--simply put, she should have just shown ID and kept going instead of taking it to the nth level with TV appearances and all that other stuff. We'll just have to wait and see how this turns out.

enigma_AKA