Posted on 04/01/2006 3:35:21 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
WASHINGTON — Rep. Cynthia McKinney on Friday declared herself the victim of a racist Capitol Hill police officer who her supporters said used excessive force when he stopped her from skirting a security checkpoint earlier this week.
"The whole incident was instigated by the inappropriate touching and stopping of me — a female, black congresswoman," McKinney said at a news conference, abandoning the apologetic tone she struck earlier in the week.
Capitol police are considering filing assault charges against the DeKalb County Democrat next week. But her lawyers said she was acting in self-defense when she struck the officer who tried to stop her.
"Cynthia McKinney, like thousands of average Americans across this country, is ... a victim of the excessive use of force by law enforcement officials because of how she looks and the color of her skin," said one of McKinney's lawyers, James Myart Jr.
McKinney spoke on the campus of predominantly black Howard University, surrounded by more than a dozen African-American children from South Georgia's Coffee County who held signs reading "Is Cynthia a Target?" and "Recognize Our Congresswoman." The children had been in town to tour Washington and visit McKinney, said their escort, Hal Pressley, president of the Coffee County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Singer and activist Harry Belafonte and actor Danny Glover also appeared with McKinney. They said they had come not in judgment of the facts of the case, but, as Glover put it, "to support our sister."
McKinney's lawyers said the white officer involved in Monday's scuffle should be investigated.
Police declined to address the racial accusations.
"We're currently investigating the matter. That's as far as it goes with us right now," said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, the police spokeswoman.
But police union officials from across the country denounced McKinney's tactics and said the officer involved — not McKinney — was the true victim.
"There was no excessive force here," said Lou Cannon, president of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents Capitol officers. "If she's trying to turn this into a racial issue, people should ask, 'Why is she doing this?' This is an insult to all police officers."
The FOP's national board, meeting Friday in Nashville, unanimously approved a motion commending the Capitol Hill officer, who has not been identified, and condemning McKinney, who was stopped because the officer didn't recognize her. Bill Peacock, a former DeKalb County police officer and a delegate to the national FOP organization, introduced the motion.
"There were two avenues she could take, one being the high road — admitting her error — and the other is to use the race card simply because the officer was trying to do his job," said Peacock.
McKinney's press conference marked the first time she has spoken publicly about the incident, in which the officer, not recognizing McKinney as a member of Congress, tried to stop her from walking around a security checkpoint, which members are routinely allowed to do.
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.
McKinney, who previously had released a statement saying she "deeply regretted" the incident, avoided details Friday. She said lawyers had advised her not to because of the possibility of charges against her.
As she had previously, she acknowledged that when she was stopped, she wasn't wearing the special lapel pin given to the 435 House members to help police and staff recognize them. But she said the officer still should have recognized her because he was trained to do so.
"I do wear the pin when I remember to wear the pin," McKinney said. "But the pin is not the issue. The issue is facial recognition."
"She's a victim," said Pressley. "For Ms. McKinney not to be immediately recognized by the Capitol police was, in itself, an insult. She's recognizable from around the world, so in D.C., our capital, you would expect that almost any police officer would recognize her, with all the controversy attached to her name."
Pressley said a Capitol Hill police officer — "like someone who just came off a plantation" — once treated some black children he brought to Washington "like animals."
Michael Raffauf, one of McKinney's attorneys, suggested that powerful Republican lawmakers who run Congress may be behind the accusations and possible criminal charges against McKinney.
"I find it highly unusual that this thing has gotten so blown out of proportion," he said.
Police have said it was extraordinarily rare, and possibly unprecedented, for a member of Congress to strike a Capitol Hill police officer.
McKinney said members of the Congressional Black Caucus are backing her, though members of Congress who were supposed to attend Friday's press conference didn't show up.
However, an influential African-American lawmaker, Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.), came to McKinney's aid Wednesday night. Millender-McDonald, the ranking Democrat on the House Administration Committee, which oversees the Capitol police, called the House sergeant at arms, Wilson Livingood, amid rumors that McKinney would be arrested, her spokeswoman, Denise Mixon, said Friday.
Mixon denied Millender-McDonald tried to prevent an arrest.
"The congresswoman did not intervene. All she did was ask a question: 'Where are we now?' " Mixon said.
She said the conference call also included McKinney and Tad Vandermeid, legal counsel to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).
Mixon said Livingood did not specifically address whether there were plans to arrest McKinney, saying, "An investigation is going on." Millender-McDonald asked to be kept abreast of any developments, and Livingood agreed to do so, Mixon said.
Staff writer Scott Shepard contributed information about Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald and The Associated Press contributed an account of what officers said occurred in the incident with McKinney.
"I do wear the pin when I remember to wear the pin," McKinney said. "But the pin is not the issue. The issue is facial recognition."
The issue is should an idiot be a congresswoman, Cynthia?
Belafonte is one dangerous dude.!!!!!!!!!
Ya gots ta reccanize!!!!</ gangsta>
Sorry- couldn't help it.
Can someone please remove the Georgia flag from my profile page? Good grief I'm embarrased.
I cringe, literally, when I hear her.
I am updating this old file with her newest excursions into Loony Land:
-Jihad Cindy? McKinney won't go quietly... indeed, she may not go away at all...--
Oh really? To be honest, if someone showed me her picture and asked me who it was, I swear I couldn't tell them, and I live in Washington, D.C. This is the problem with "celebrities", the hollywood types, sports figures, politician's, etc. They always think that everybody should know who they are. The most famous question asked by these a-holes when they get in trouble is "do you know who I am?". Egotistical scumbags.
She is. She is a traitorous, communist, radical, hateful B!%@#.
I think you've nailed it.
Unfortunately for McKinney, this is what happens to a person steeped in cynicism and hate, whether racial or otherwise. That chip on her shoulder is the size of Stone Mountain.
"Damn baby! What you did with you hair?!"
No, sweetie. The issue is security. Either you take it seriously or you don't. Obviously, you don't.
They may want to wait a couple of weeks with that invite...
I knew it wouldn't take long for Cynthia to spout the "Victim of Racist Police" line. I had faith in her and I see I'm not disappointed. We can put a man on Mars but we just can't stop institutional racism...
I didn't know that about Matthews. And he still refused to criticize McKinney? Sigh.
More melodrama instead of problem solving. Jesse Jackson is ginning up the same in New Orleans, I think. Melodrama. Meanwhile, blacks continue to solve their own problems by themselves rising out of poverty. buying homes, and running for office. Go Blackwell, Steele and Swann..
serves us right, for electing this trash and a lot of other trash to be our elected officials, and the argument that she is not from my district, i did not vote for her, misses my whole point.
"You can not edit this page."
Sorry.
Too bad the GOP cant make her the poster child for the Demo party. Then they would be accused of racism.
In any case, I say over and over, damn her and her ilk for what they have been doing to America for decades. It is because of them that we will never have racial harmony, and the divisions will never end.
I have thought Clover was especially loathesome since he condemned Texas for putting so many people to death, insinuating that as governor, GWB personally saw to it that a lot of black and latino men were executed. How vile.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.