No thread for Virginia McKinney, congresswoman who allegedly hit a security guard who failed to recognize her after she walked past security checkpoint?

Cops Seek Arrest Warrant Against McKinney

POSTED: 3:40 pm EDT April 3, 2006
UPDATED: 7:18 am EDT April 4, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Capitol Police today submitted their case against Representative Cynthia McKinney to the U.S. Attorney's office, which will consider whether the Georgia congresswoman will face charges for tangling with a law enforcement officer last week.

Principal assistant U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips declined to say whether the referral included a recommended charge against the six-term Georgia Democrat or when a warrant for her arrest might be issued.

McKinney spokesman Coz Carson acknowledged the investigation, saying a statement will follow once they know where the investigation is going.

For her part, McKinney said she expects to represent her suburban Atlanta district for many years.

Black clergy and lawmakers came the defense of the firebrand congresswoman today. McKinney smiled as her supporters heaped praise on her leadership and her new look, her trademark cornrows replaced earlier this year by a curly brown natural style.

The 51-year-old McKinney scuffled with a police officer on March 29 when she entered a House office building without her identifying lapel pin and did not stop when asked. Several police sources said the officer, who was not identified, asked her three times to stop. When she kept going, he placed a hand somewhere on her and she hit him, according to the officials.

McKinney refused to comment today about her confrontation with the police officer.

Instead her supporters used a news conference this morning at the Community Church of Christ on Cascade Road to attack security procedures at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

They blamed the incident between McKinney and an unidentified police officer on racism. Speakers said the officer failed to recognize McKinney as a member of congress and grabbed her because she is black.

They also ridiculed the use of pins to identify members of congress. McKinney admits she was not wearing her pin when she was stopped by the officer when she bypassed a security checkpoint.

McKinney made a statement listing accomplishments of her office and scolding the local media for concentrating coverage of the slapping incident.

She refused to take any questions from reporters.

Supporters included Democratic state legislators Representative "Able" Mable Thomas and Senator Vincent Fort. Her supporters pledged to stand by McKinney.

McKinney held a news conference Friday in Washington in which she said "This whole incident was instigated by the inappropriate touching and stopping of me, a female black congresswoman."

McKinney, also a Democrat, declined to discuss the incident further since she still may be charged with striking the officer after she entered a House office building unrecognized and did not stop when asked. She and her two lawyers refused to say during the Washington news conference whether she hit the officer or how he touched her inappropriately.

Copyright 2006 by WSBTV.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

a. Stop watching The Situation Room.
b. Her name is Cynthia McKinney.
c. Stop watching The Situation Room.

i'm fucking coming over.

It was my first situation room. I just got cable last week!

It's Cynthia, she's one of my favorite congressional reps., and I'm afraid she's given an enormous gift to the Republicans. I am ambivalent about some of the things she is saying about this, but apparently there has been a pattern of police/security in DC (at the White House, etc. not at private companies) not recognizing her, which I imagine would get pretty annoying if it seems like it's only happening to her, one of the only black women in Congress.

cynthia mckinney is frequently self-contradictory & needs to chill with the anti-israel shit, but so heroic in so many ways - campaigning to declassify files on 9/11 & the assassination of MLK, working for union & miners rights in africa, encouraging american distribution of international news instead of domestic propaganda, challenging sexism & racism in the house, & quoting pac while speaking at king memorial last year. her principles are a huge asset to congress & and im proud to say she represents GA.

x-post

She's not afraid to take on the Bush administration very directly. She has also openly expressed the opinion that Bush had foreknowledge of 9/11. (I realize this will just make her appear more delusional for some of you, but she's joined by a growing number of others.) I believe she was strongly opposed to the invasion of Iraq.

I think there have been other things over the years, but I don't remember specifically.

Foreknowledge of 9/11 as in they knew a terrorist attack was likely, or foreknowledge as in they knew that on or around 9/11 hijacked planes would be flown into the WTC and other targets? Big difference.

Also, isn't she considered an anti-Semite?

I'm not a Georgian but I am a leftist, and it's incidents like this that play right into thee hands of the right. I don't think she's an "uppity negro," you stupid dipshit. I'm just reacting to what I saw when she was interviewed, where she came off as stone cold crazy. Look it up, watch it, and then get back to us.

And way to generalize about a large swath of Americans based on one Internet thread, +++++.

As someone regularly incensed by security guards demanding to see my identification when I came into my building, I have sympathy. On the other hand
a) she is one of more than 400 representatives;
b) she is in a building where real security might actually be warranted;
c) she repeatedly refused even to acknowledge security.

She deserves whatever she gets, and doubly so if she hasn't consistently voted against all the Bush administration's alarmist measures. And calling it "racism" is a perfect example of why minority causes generate resentment.

The latter, which is also what I think probably happened. (I also often have the desire to hit people.)

yeah I know "that could never happen! you're a racist apologist etc"

anybody w/street smarts knows that fucking w/the cops when you're in their custody is a losing proposition. save it for court.

Batshit lefty conspiracy tendencies shared by some former Repbublican high-level government officials, uh huh (re: 9/11).

Yeah, the Racial Transitive Property is JUST THAT EASY.

1. Was she normally able to walk through security without her pin because the guards recognized her?

2. Did a guard who normally let her through security suddenly not recognize her because she changed her hair, and he grabbed her thinking that this was a strange black woman walking into Congress?

We're talking about Washington DC security here, so my instinct is to side with McKinny.

"I am absolutely sick and tired of having to have my appearance at the White House validated by white people," wrote McKinney, who later received an apology from the administration. "I don't need to be stopped or questioned because I happen to look like hired help.”

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/mckinney331

I still think she was wrong to hit the cop, I can't defend what she did.

xpost yeah that

it's interesting how you can explain away any of her associations w/anti-semitism yet every slight against her is a racial slur.

So it happened before. So what.I lived on a military base with 150 families and the security guards saw me at least 4 times a day going on and off base, entering and exiting through the main gate. And when we were on a high alert, they had to get the ID card of every person who entered the base. Even residents. Even people whom they saw every day for 3 years. There were times when I didnt have my ID and they waved me thru, but if they had refused me entry (perhaps a new guard was on duty that day and didnt know me) theres nothing I could have or should have done. I was in the wrong.

I have no sympathy.

not trying to "prove" anything. merely suggesting there could be other forces at play along with racism, or heaven forbid, maybe it's a misunderstanding that's spiralled into a racially charged incident. and I don't think you're an asshole, just a little quick on the trigger finger with accusations of racism.

I have frequently embarrassed myself by by having trouble recognizing Asians I definitely should have recognized, and that's despite Asian faces being part of the family thanks to my brother marrying a Japanese woman; and also despite my being able to honestly say I don't think there's no shred of racism in me re: Asians (which I couldn't so confidently or categorically say about blacks, unfortunately). I think it probably has a lot to do with what you are surrounded with early on in your life. Not that I really want to take this into a confessional, heart-baring exercise.

This kind of bullshit enrages me - as a DC resident for six years, I've had to gain credentials to access Congress, the Library of Congress, other law firms, other governmental buildings, etc. For this woman to think that, as a member of a 400+ member body, she can avoid the simple and easily followed security protocols in the US CAPITOL, it just shows an overblown sense of entitlement. That smacks of a lack of perspective and clouded judgment.

I wonder how common this is though (for other congresspersons--what is the correct gender-neutral term?).

This was Washington, though, which isn't exactly Whitey Central?

But how many black female congressvolk are there? I would still expect her to stand out.

"Though I'm not a politician I know all my rights / I had a fight with a cop just last night"

I don't really agree about John McCain (or whomever).

And yes, there are more important things. I'm mostly interested in the story, to begin with, because I'm sorry she apparently snapped and sorry that that's going to make it harder for her to do anything productive as a congresswoman.

uhm, xposts

xpost - set in what?

McKinney's behavior seems to indicate that she thinks she's above the law, and that she has to answer to no one, and I find that disturbing and offensive. Even if she somehow perceived racism in the very brief encounter, she still 1) violated security protocols and 2) physically assaulted an officer. The fact that a member of Congress is unable to follow basic rules and handle conflict without physical violence is not heartening, and unacceptable no matter what her race.

neither of those things killed newt or strom's careers, either.

Her decision not to wear the pin is a minor eccentricity that legitimately irritates the security teams who have to accomodate it. Security's repeatedly treating her as if she couldn't possibly be a congressperson legitimately irritates her. This kind of event can be a pretty natural result of that without anyone having done anything terrible -- the cop can be Just Doing His Job, yes, and McKinney can just be oversensitive to a history of getting the short end of the stick from that job. The issue here isn't that McKinney is demanding so much more respect than plenty of other congresspeople surely do -- the issue is that she has more reason to deeply and personally affronted by the perception that she's not getting it. But of course it's Not Right to hit someone, and that's that.

And let me just note that it's not exactly uncommon to find stubborn tight-wound eccentricities and pridefulness in hugely successful black women in this country, because you can't become a hugely successful black woman in this country without a whole lot of stubborn force and tight winding and thick skin. I say that more just in general than about this specific case, because I feel like there are lots of cases where successful black women get criticized for those qualities, and I wonder if people really understand where a lot of them are coming from.

Laura, I don't see anything here to indicate that McKinney thinks she's "above the law" or "has to answer to no one." I see a lot to indicate that McKinney is very sensitive to feeling that she's being treated like she's below the law, and has everyone to answer to -- and that that feeling is surely part of her (obviously wrong and not-right) behavior in this instance.

Soon-to-retire Rep. Tom DeLay (R.-Tex.) said today he would file an ethics complaint against Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D.-Ga.) for striking a Capitol Police officer should no other House member do so first.

DeLay’s comments came during a wide-ranging interview at his Capitol Hill office with reporters, including HUMAN EVENTS Editor Terry Jeffrey.

“If nobody in this House files an ethics charge, I am,” DeLay said in response to a question about McKinney. “Her behavior is outrageous. And it’s not the only time.”

DeLay was asked if he supported the Capitol Police’s actions following the incident with McKinney, which took place last week when she bypassed a metal detector and a police officer stopped her.

“You bet,” he said.

“It’s outrageous behavior,” he said about McKinney. “Had it been Tom DeLay, the Ethics Committee would have met the next day.”

The subject of McKinney came up after DeLay recounted a fond memory he had of a Capitol Police officer killed in the line of duty. When asked about his best and worst days as a lawmaker, he said his best day was the GOP’s sweep in 1994.

The worst day, he recalled, was July 24, 1998, when Capitol Police Detective John Gibson was shot to death by Russell Weston Jr. in DeLay’s office. Fellow officer Jacob “J.J.” Chestnut was also killed that day protecting the congressman’s staff from the gunman.

The episode prompted DeLay to erect a tribute to Gibson on his office wall. He told reporters that a plaque he keeps in his office with the words “This Could Be the Day” serves as a reminder of Gibson, who had discussed its meaning with DeLay only two days before he was killed.

great. let's play into that, then, instead of talking about how the bush administration basically watched an african-american city get destroyed.

If she looked even half as crazy as she looks here, she ought to be thankful she didn't get maced.

I agree that she is probably very sensitive to being treated like she's below the law, but acting out by flouting authority is not an appropriate way to dealing with one's sensitivities, even if it is psychologically understandable. I'm sorry, but having personal issues, even very real and important ones, is not an excuse for hitting someone. It is particularly unacceptable in someone who holds a position of authority.

She knew she wasn't wearing the pin, and even if being stopped irritated her, it was within the bounds of the security rules. She's a grown woman, and she should have been able to summon a modicum of respect and decorum, or least she should have been able to control her anger. If her personal eccentricities prevent her from doing that, perhaps they are a liability. Personally, I expect more self-control from my leaders... hell, I expect it from my friends, or anyone I respect, regardless of their personal issues or sensitivities.

x-post Dan, Neal Boortz had some . . . choice words to say about her: "Boortz: Rep. McKinney 'Looks Like a Ghetto Slut'."

it's not about ignoring, it's about actively taking control of the debate. that's part of the problem with the democrats these days is who else besides mckinney - who like it or not was regarded as batshit crazy before this nonsense - is talking about katrina? that's not the republicans' fault. they're going to do whatever they can to keep actual issues off the table.

don't you make declarations like this every single damn day?

xpost - When you described anyone who didn't call "racism" as considering her to be an uppity negro.

let's go do some coke

sigh.

Regardless of the fact that I think she was a total idiot for hitting that guard (although I have no idea if it was a full-on punch or if she tried to slap his hand away, as there are huge semantic differences between the two), a lot of the criticism here is taking the all-too-familiar cast of White People Don't Get It.

It was stupid. She shouldn't have done it. She rather obviously thought she was being singled out for her infractions in a manner dissimilar to the way her colleagues were treated, which may or may not be true. As I see it, there are two things that should happen here:

1) McKinney should be punished for not wearing her badge and for striking the guard with much less "know your place, uppity Negro" rhetoric attached to the censure.

2) All the other representatives should get yanked by the guards if they break the rules for access; it's unclear whether this was happening already or not but in any case it should be made clear that blowing off the guards will get you snatched regardless of who you are.

exactly -- this was my reaction, as in if she really WAS such a "troublemaker," then wouldn't they be all like "oh no, not HER again?!?"

i have no opinion about whether or not ms. mckinney is a good legislator -- she isn't my rep.

Homeland official charged in online sex sting

much like nabisco's statement here:

And let me just note that it's not exactly uncommon to find stubborn tight-wound eccentricities and pridefulness in hugely successful black women in this country, because you can't become a hugely successful black woman in this country without a whole lot of stubborn force and tight winding and thick skin.

you can't really be a successful politician in america without being somewhat of an asshole. that goes for politicians i like, too.

bob delay?

i'm not. never ever touch a cop, never ever talk to a cop without a lawyer. dumbest, dumbest things you could ever do.

But by whom? The DNC? As you know, she regained her seat in congress after losing it (probably over some comments about 9/11*), so apparently the people in her district decided she at least wasn't so batshit crazy that she wasn't worth putting back in congress.

When a not-reputedly-batshit-crazy moves to censure Bush, how much mainstream Democrat support does he get?

*Even if people refuse to consider conspiracy theories, is there no support here for a serious independent investigation, for releasing more evidence, for unmuzzling Sibel Edmonds?

It's weird that this statement a) reads so patronizing ("She's a good person! And so pretty!") due to b) not being connected in the article with its place in the story (If you look like that for ten years then you change to this, you're gonna get stopped for a while).

I mean I'm assuming that's the case, or else why the hell is that sentence even in there.

But by whom? The DNC? As you know, she regained her seat in congress after losing it (probably over some comments about 9/11*), so apparently the people in her district decided she at least wasn't so batshit crazy that she wasn't worth putting back in congress.

When a not-reputedly-batshit-crazy moves to censure Bush, how much mainstream Democrat support does he get?

see also: "that's the problem with democrats" sentence i wrote above.

Where is this rhetoric exactly?

I did not say that anything was an excuse for hitting a guard. I only took issue with your (and other people's) characterizing her motives as feeling that she was "above the law" (or "self-important").

I feel toolish pointing out that distinction, but I think it's incredibly important, because there's a habit among lots of people of imagining that as soon as someone says anything about race, they must be trying to forgive and excuse anything non-white people do. Cf this thread, on which (for instance) you claim that she's "placing the blame solely upon racism."

Maybe I missed a link or a post somewhere, but can you point to evidence that she's "placing the blame solely upon racism?" I see her and her lawyers talking about race; I don't see even her lawyers saying that the whole thing is down to racism. I see them explaining that race (and probably gender) (haha and lack of "good hair") had a role to play in the situation. And that seems entirely accurate to me, because it seems to me that the source of McKinney's behavior (inexcusable behavior!) was sensitivity to a pattern of feeling like she didn't get the level of respect afforded to other people in her office. (I wouldn't be surprised if that feeling had something to do with her refusal to wear the pin in the first place.)

Also on the White-People-Not-Getting-It front, I think there's this assumption here that "just doing your job" in a situation as banal as a checkpoint can never have race-related effects, but that's completely backwards. It's precisely in situations like this that people get the clearest picture of exactly how much respect they're being afforded. (Ha: compare exactly with that stupid Black/White reality show, where from what I've read the white guy made up as a black alien can't figure out what's different but the black guy made up as a white alien suddenly notices that shoe salesmen are now bending down to actually put the shoes on his feet.)

Again: it is totally wrong to hit people and she should not have done so.

"This whole incident was instigated by the inappropriate touching and stopping of me, a female black congresswoman."

She also refuses to accept responsibility for her part in the situation, and while the policeman may have his portion of blame as well, if you claim total innocence, I don't know where else the blame can go except entirely to the other guy. I don't see her or her lawyers talking about anything else except race (and gender), so who or what else does she think is at fault if not the policeman and his alleged prejudice?

I'm not saying race doesn't play a role in her reaction, or that her frustration was unreasonable, or that it shouldn't be considered in judging the situation. The question is how realistic her perception of racism was, and whether that justifies what she did. The race issue can surely mitigate circumstances, but based on what I know so far, I don't think it can absolve her of responsibility for behaving badly, which is the attitude I take issue with. xpost

yeah, cuz mckinney isn't an authority or anything. why do you support someone who helps prop up the system responsible for the cops?

I completely agree with that.

Really I'm still back on her fucked-up hair.

There's also the simple dictum of "if you are in the public eye, don't walk around with your hair all fucked up because it's embarrassing to the rest of us".

very threatening

Now THAT looks good!

cops will use any excuse to press assault, so it maybe is smart not to ever let them have one.

Women who have to deal with cops and other 'security' are pretty au fait with what they are and are not allowed to do, and TOP OF THE FUCKING LIST is that they are not allowed to touch you precisely BECAUSE of the ambiguities that might result. Proper procedure: more cops or guards, NO TOUCHY.

LUNCH BUDDY NOT HERE YET. NEED TO GIVE LUNCH BUDDY COPIES OF LUNCH BUDDY'S RESUME.

But look, for the record here:

(a) I don't see anyone here who's entirely taking the position that circumstances "absolve her of responsibility" for hitting someone.

(b) I don't see why we'd conclude that "McKinney seems to believe the policeman had no right to stop her" -- she described the stopping as "inappropriate," not unlawful, and if she has a sense (right or wrong) that other congresspersons aren't treated quite this way, it would make sense for her to call it "inappropriate."

(c) I think the quote you're offering is not so simply interpreted as "placing the blame solely on racism" -- she passes the buck (lamely) by saying that the guard acted "inappropriately." She suggests that both gender and race played a part in the situation, but she doesn't say that's what made the actions inappropriate, if you see what I mean. Sorry if that sounds like Clintonesque semantics, but it makes a huge difference.

(d) I also don't understand the expectation that her lawyers, who are the ones doing all the talking about this, would accept responsibility and blame for the hitting part -- that'd be something, sure, but dude, they're lawyers. Charges may be pending concerning this case! Their whole job is to explain mitigating circumstances and evoke sympathy for why she might have done what she did -- so long as charges are pending against her, we can't really expect them especially to be big about her taking responsibility.

(e) If people are really going to talk about this for more than a morning or two, I hope we get to see the video that was surely taken -- I'd bet anything the whole thing was two tiny touches and then over.

(xpost: Okay you're on some serious "all black people look alike" shit now)

as far as making fun of someone's hair-do goes: IF THEY ARE ON MY TEEVEE, THEY ARE FAIR GAME!

http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/4302/captwx11103302039mckinneyscuff.jpg

& looking much better on the same day as w/ the photo everyone is making fun of. (the politics of choosing news agency photos! i mean there are dozens of "batshit insane" looking agency photos of every famous person, politician, whatever -- what get runs depends on the angle of the story.)

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/6102/r9148577288mo.jpg

Secondly, there are days where her hair looks bad. The first pic I posted is definitely one of those days; look how much neater her hair looks when she's outside of the building! It's patently obvious she got windblown all to be damned and didn't have a chance to comb her hair before talking to the press.

Thirdly, you know damn well that just as there would be a segment of church or the office who would be perfectly fine with that hairstyle, there would also be a segment of church or the office who would be looking at her as presented in some of these pictures and saying, "Can't you afford a brush?"

Fourthly, if she looks Kelis then so does the nappy version of S. Epatha Merkerson. Generally speaking, blatantly middle-aged women do not look like 20-something sex kittens.

You say this as if there weren't plenty of white Georgians who view her as some uppity troublemaking negro who can't keep her mouth shut!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40250000/jpg/_40250939_kelis_pa.jpg

i never said black ppl cant look bad, but i dont think natural black traits make you unprofessional or disgusting because theyre different than the traits of white people, and i dont think a black woman should need a blonde beyonce weave or spend 2 hours with the heat iron every morning to be taken seriously

you will never be blacker than me, Ethan. Sorry.

Ah, I see. If you're male, you're at the mercy of the cops, but if you're female, then there's always the danger of sexual harassment. Some invisible cop-forcefield must be used to immobilize women. What a load of crap.

xpost dan wtf

Now I pleaded, "Dr. Slumber, I just can't bare
To have another one of these crazy nightmares"
Then all of a sudden she turned around
And starin at me with that all-white gown
With a Catholic smile, showin all her teeth
Was that ugly female, Anita the Beast...

xpost yeah man youre alright w/ me!

Okay, in what universe do you live where white people don't get made fun of for having windblown hair?

Also, my "absurd race-baiting" is a response to your absurd race-baiting, for example the thing you wrote on this thread that was presented in a manner where it could be mistaken for my viewpoint.

That this spun out of me making jokes about the crazy picture CNN had been using as their front page pic for this story is kind of pathetic on both sides.

Just as a side-note I don't know how old any of the three actually are, but I always thought McKinney looks like she'd be closer to Kelis's age than Merkeson's! (Though I do know that Merkeson is significantly older than she looks, which may skew things -- we should all hope to age that well.) Also McKinney's natural curl is closer to Kelis's loose-and-bouncy than Merkeson's tight-and-close. (Though I still imagine Ethan was making the connection just as much on the chubby-cheeked round-eyed look they both kinda have.)

Tom Delay is still the funniest thing on here, what with the whole "Man, if everyone was gunning to investigate me for being totally corrupt, then no way am I letting a cellphone swatting to by without censure -- it just wouldn't be fair to, like, me" -- ha, like he just wants everyone to understand how hard and unfair it is to have people investigating your high-level lawbreaking!

Can we go out for ice cream now?

xpost x2 hi nitsuh!

I just had lunch with Laura and wanted to do so!!!! OMG. I ended up having violent time travel fantasies about murdering the inventor of Tasti D-Lite

http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0702/072202traficantjames.jpg

this guy was also a congressman -- and yes, he DID get mocked for his hair (and other things).

Let's get it on in public
Just let it go I promise that you'll love it
Oh daddy don't you wanna be my subject
Ooh let's get it on in public Ooh

it was like the only thing that came up.

git out!

Without knowing the facts of the confrontation, if I was in a position to hit a cop once in awhile ... damn, Kissinger was right about the ultimate aphrodisiac. (This has nothing to do with the Capitol cop who snapped at me on my '02 visit. Nope.)

YES YOU CAN

haha, yer crazy. check the dude with the rat on his head up top and half of the other demented looking people in congress. john stewart was making delay hair cracks last nite. there is HISTORICAL PRECENDENT for making fun of public leaders and their looks. get one political cartoon.

that said -- scott: what some people are objecting to as racist and/or sexist isn't mckinney's hair per se, but the fact that the likes of boortz are saying that it's "not proper" and "lacks the proper decorum" for a forum as "dignified" as the House of Representatives (and that such statements are really masks for cheap racist and/or sexist attitudes). not just the "ghetto slut" crack (which really gives the game away), but i don't remember anyone questioning traficant's "lack of decorum" for wearing his 'do!

(Often coming from white people who seriously don't seem to realize that black women's hair is not naturally straight, which lack of thinking-about-it-for-two-seconds is still mindboggling to me.)

(who, me?)

trife seems to think that i should respect mckinney and her hair because she is black and because racists make fun of black features. well, i don't have to. she is part of a system that i despise. and i'll call a bad hairdo a bad hairdo any day of the week. including my own. which is every day.

x-pst to eisbar

Thank god someone's asking the hard hitting questions!

Arf, Scott, it's fine to think anyone's hairdo is kinda bad. The larger issue here is that there's a murky and non-simple spectrum between (a) thinking someone's hairdo is bad because it just isn't working and (b) thinking someone's hairdo is bad because it looks "black" -- not culturally black but genetically black, curly, nappy.

You could say that the latter's unfair and the former's just aesthetics, but even that's not always simple -- because what exactly are our aesthetics for black women's hair? People don't really have aesthetics for how black women's hair can work in this culture, and that's maybe even more true of black people than white -- the aesthetics for how black women's hair "looks good" are totally borrowed from white women's straight hair.

So it gets pretty complicated at some point.

The Boortz thing adds a whole other level of associating black hair (and black people) with ghetto low-lifery, but it's mostly just hilarious because dude, any non-self-respecting ghetto slut would keep that shit pressed crispily super-flat or way more tightly cornrowed than McKinney ever has or else just bad multi-colored weaved-out (except all of the above with underlying "buckshot" nappiness spilling out around the edges). Anyone who thinks ghetto sluts have hair like either era of McKinney's needs to spend more time with ghetto sluts.

yeah, this is where i stand. just to be clear. cuz at that rally, oh man, there is no way i would have left the house looking like that.

McKinney is a useful tool for the right wing.

OMG NOT EVEN NANCY PELOSI???

(a) you say this as if this is a BAD thing (xpost to dan); and (b) don, when did you become so fond of nancy pelosi?!?

there was a clip of her speaking at a rally on the news with all these people around her holding signs and THAT is when i thought she looked completely out of hand. all the other pictures are fine.

b) since when did I intimate, even in the slightest, that I am fond of Nancy Pelosi?

xpost

You know why these threads get out of hand? Because we start discussing an incident none of us know anything concrete about, and then we try to divine complicated stuff about the people in question based on nothing but our general life-impressions (I include myself there), and then we start using our other biases and prejudices to work out what life-impressions other people are projecting onto their assumptions about What Really Happened, and so after a while we're arguing not about what anyone actually says or believes, but what we presume that they're presuming when they say something about an incident none of us really know anything specific about.

Seems like if you're going to be working the Big Leagues, overseeing the door to one of the most important buildings in America, you might be familiar with this woman as well.

It would behoove Rep. McKinney to wear her lapel pin, but she could've done a better job of responding to the incident. Remember how Tom DeLay smiled like a he'd been named Grand Poobah in his mugshot photo? Politicians can kill with kindness, even the assholes.

http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/rids/20060401/i/r1533894256.jpg?x=257&y=345&sig=PI4p_fMXH3meD4fKbuO7GA--

i don't really call myself anything. i've never been a part of a group. maybe i'm just grumpy. for years i never paid taxes, didn't have a bank account, didn't have credit cards, didn't have a driver's license, didn't vote, etc. that has changed over though. i have one credit card. i have a small savings account here. i started paying taxes 5 or 6 years ago. i still don't vote. i'm not registered and have no desire to register. i have no desire to be a part of the american political system in any way. i have no desire to serve on a jury. i'm a pacifist and i won't be a party to murder, killing, a genocidal war on drugs, a corrupt justice system that benefits the rich, free trade that destroys poorer nations, etc. oh, lots of things. and i don't believe that you can "fix" a corrupt system. what was Thoreau? I'm with him. I believe in hyper-localism. Nobody should ever travel further than they can walk.

egomaniacal-congresswoman-in-conflict-with-authoritarian-dickhead-security-guard-shockah!

and as much as McKinney might have reason to be sensitive or cynical or defensive about the whole security regimen, I'd say that the donut-eaters probably have reason to be twitchy as well with people who refuse to wear their Congressional pins.

Her lawyer: ""Whatever response she's had — a slap, a push, a shove or hit — is not a criminal matter in these circumstances."

i think it may also somewhat vary state by state?

working for union & miners rights in africa Miners rights in Africa? Are her constituents miners in Africa. Weird. Maybe if she lobbied against the EU common agricultural policy she'd help some African farmers, but you don't see that.

O RLY?

http://www.goodbyecynthia.com/images/mckinney.gif

http://www.goodbyecynthia.com/

note the careful selection and editing of photo to maximize resemblance to something out of bamboozled.

2. When Whitey moves to Switzerland and starts getting a subtle daily stream of bullshit 'cause he speaks with the wrong accent, the penny finally drops on Whitey as to why African Americans "overreact".

Also the whole sexism issue: is it akin to walking and chewing gum at the same time in that people seem unable to talk about the racism *and* sexism thing or is racism somehow more important here? This is why I've had nothing to say about McKinney having the occasional bad hair day in a VERY humid city.

In my experience (and those of friends) most rank-and-file male cops are sexist and reactionary, which is always such a nice combination with that whole handing a bully some power thing. BTW how do you hit someone with a tiny cellphone anyway? From the chat in the press you'd think she'd hauled on the guy with an early-'90s cancer brick.

raise your hands if you've ever had "contact" with the police.

parsing whether Virginia McKinney punched out the security guard or just ruffled his feathers or whether a cell phone qualifies as a lethal weapon misses the point on a very practical level. getting physical with the police when you're being arrested (or challenged) just plays into their hands, the confrontation becomes a game that's rigged for them to win. I'm not saying this is right, but if McKinney kept her hands to herself she'd have much stronger grounds for lawsuit and probably been able to garner more public support.

Given her past history w/the security, they were probably gunning for her and she took the bait. A display of passive non-violent resistence on her part would've been a far more effective protest.

More than you, I'd bet.

Anyway, I gather she just made some statement of apology on the House floor.

Bitter ROFFLE at CNN.

Can't do worse than some now in there!

1 - it amazes me that after all this time ethan still hasn\'t learned that his whole aggro schtick doesn\'t, like, open anyone\'s eyes, or raise anyone\'s consciousness. instead, it tends to drive people further into racism, further into hostility, further into antipathy.

or at least, that\'s been the effect on me, quite frankly: i feel warier (and wearier) of the whole issue, and i feel like i\'ve become a person less likely to speak up against racism, or against a racial injustice, as a DIRECT consequence of reading ilx and ethan\'s posts. and it\'s not just the \"i find him so grating that anything he stands for, i\'m against\" thing, either.

which sucks because sometimes ethan posts some seriously funny and observant shit, but only like 15% of the time.

2 - wait, so about the bicurious link, jess isn\'t hinting that he and ethan sucked each other off, is he? (see 3333333333\'s post)

maybe this is old news but it\'s kind of a SHOCKAH to me, that is if that\'s the clue i\'m supposed to be getting.

sorry for logging out but i\'m a pussy.

xpost yes because "i hate blacks more" is exactly what i wrote. well done.

and

http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/CARI.McKinney.gif

from here

There's some weird level of cartoon-convention suspension of disbelief going on there that's kind of hurting my head.

poor guy, makes you wonder how with his diminutive stature he can guard anything at all.

American Blackout
Directed by Ian Inaba

This stylish, intelligent, and timely documentary examines the disenfranchisement of the black vote through the lens of Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's (D-Georgia) political career.

George W. Bush’s narrow victory in 2000 launched an historic investigation into Florida’s election process. Mainstream media focused on dysfunctional ballots and Supreme Court litigation, but McKinney investigated the private company hired by Florida to generate voter lists, which effectively strangled the black vote and handed Bush an unlikely victory. Inaba reveals how black political power is systematically squelched, including the slander McKinney endured when she stood up to the Bush administration on 9/11 and Iraq, and political machinations that disempowered the black vote in the Georgia Democratic primaries and the presidential election in 2004.

American Blackout shows how African Americans are fighting a war inside our country for their right to vote and Inaba reminds us how incredibly important this fight is to the fate of all Americans.

http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=77

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20070701/capt.a33d8f7f2e20433a9b0a7a7740584e5c.cynthia_mckinney__gasm104.jpg?x=260&y=345&sig=GVre3WCytKrO26SnCfIg1A--

Former U.S. Rep. McKinney enters presidential race as Green
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is running for president as a member of the Green Party, which she says shares her views on ending the Iraq war, protecting the environment and other issues.

McKinney, who served five terms in Congress before losing her seat to a fellow Democrat last year, declared her candidacy in a video posted late Sunday on the Web site of a group that had been drafting her to run.

"The Democrats are no different than their Republican counterparts, eat out of the hands of corrupt lobbyists and feed at the same corporate trough. I am proud to say that the Green Party is my new political home," McKinney said in the taped announcement.

McKinney's name will appear on ballots in California, Illinois, Arkansas and several other states holding presidential primaries on Feb. 5, according to www.runcynthiarun.org.

oh no

So, the figure wasn't six million after all?? What about those punished and even imprisoned for saying so?? Is this a "You can't say, but I can" kind of thing?? https://t.co/14bHxV0hOX

— Cynthia McKinney PhD (@cynthiamckinney) May 16, 2020

great revive

conspiracy shit always boils down to this sooner or later it seems

there is huge distinction between challenging a genocidal death toll between 5m+ and 6m+ and denying that it ever happened. I'm not saying I agree with the historian quoted in that Haaretz piece and even if he was right it still wouldn't vindicate the type of scumbags who have fallen foul of Holocaust Denial laws like this Cynthia McK seems to be suggesting.

welp
*fills in “rampant antisemitism from a (formerly) famous black person” square on the “2020 is a cesspool” bingo card*

I looked up Robert David Steele, the right-wing conspiracy maniac recently discussed in the batshit rightwing cartoons thread, and on his website he advertises a podcast or lecture series or something or other where his co-host is...Cynthia McKinney.