It may be that news stories are inaccurate, but as near as I can determine this is what happened:
Last Wednesday afternoon Rep. Cynthia McKinney went around metal detectors to enter the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, DC. Members of Congress are not required to pass through the detectors, although the congress critters are supposed to wear ID pins so the security guys will know who they are. And McKinney has admitted she wasn’t wearing her pin. In any event a Capitol police officer who says he did not recognize her and did not see any identification rushed to block her entrance.
After that it gets murkier. The cop says McKinney punched him in the chest. McKinney says the cop didn’t just block her; he also grabbed her, and she reacted to get him to turn her loose. McKinney also says the cop allowed her into the building after she showed him her ID. Allegedly this is all on surveillance tape, so eventually someone will look at the tape and determine who was at fault. Maybe they both were; maybe it was just a misunderstanding.
In any event, by Friday McKinney was claiming she was a victim of “excessive use of force” because she is an African-American woman. Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover stood with her at a press conference to offer their support. The President of NAACP Georgia said “The mistreatment of Cynthia McKinney at the hands of Capitol Hill Police is a tragedy of major proportion and points to the vigor of outright disrespect for women and people of color.”
This was too much for John Aravosis:
Yes, let’s cry racism and sexism and Democratism, I guess you’d call it, because a cop didn’t recognize you and you decided to not even wear your member of Congress pin, or turn around when the cop called out to you while we’re at war. Next time, it’ll be better if the cop lets strangers without their pins just barge into the halls of Congress, bypass security, and oh blow the hell out of the entire building because they’re afraid the person they stop might be – what? – a Democrat?
Today some of us lefties (example) are criticizing John for this post. Kevin Haden has accused John of “an elitism that knows no bounds.” Unfortunately the American Street page won’t build this morning, so I cannot read Kevin’s entire post to comment on it. Maybe later today.
But based on the facts as I understand them, I have to agree with Aravosis on this one. Seems to me it’s McKinney who’s being the elitist by assuming the rules don’t apply to her. Security personnel should not be asked to make judgments about who gets to break the rules and who doesn’t. In order to keep security systems fair and democratic — not to mention secure — everybody must abide by the same set of rules. If people with proper ID can bypass the metal detectors that’s fine; but if Ms. Big Shot forgets her ID, then she goes through the metal detectors. Even if the security people do recognize her. Even if she’s been in the bleeping House of Representatives since the charge up San Juan Hill.
McKinney did the wrong thing. It may be that we’ll learn the cop did use excessive force, but that doesn’t alter the fact that McKinney did the wrong thing by assuming she could sail past security without displaying an ID. This is true even if it turns out the security guys have been letting other people break the rules, in which case the whole operation needs to be tightened up.
We’ve learned the hard way in New York City that security personnel aren’t doing anyone any favors when they wave some people through security without checking them. The nice guy they’ve seen a hundred times, whose name they know, who has legitimate business in the building, could be carrying a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun and have murder on his mind. It happens.
There’s no more effective way to weaken security than to give security personnel conflicting instructions, or to expect them to do a job (check people going into the building) but punish them for trying to do it (checking people who don’t want to be checked).
If you spend time in New York City or Capitol Hill, you get used to security checkpoints. There really are terrorists who would just love to blow up Congress or take out a major landmark. And there are people — they seem to gravitate to cities — who commit irrational acts of violence. This is a reality we must acknowledge, especially in a nation like ours that’s knee-deep in firearms.
I’ve heard the argument that because McKinney has been a good friend to progressive causes we should support her. But I say we don’t do progressivism any good by making excuses for the bad behavior of progressive leaders. When leaders think we’ll support them no matter what they do, they stop listening to us. Washington already is swimming with alleged progressive leaders who don’t listen to us. Our number one job these days is to get them to listen to us; to make them realize that we’re watching them and will hold them accountable. Nobody gets a pass. This is not to say that we won’t support them in the future if they do something good. I’m not saying we should drive someone out of the movement for one mistake.
Giving leaders a pass, on the other hand, is what righties do. Mike Leonard writes for the Indiana Times-Mail:
Former Indiana Rep. David McIntosh once scuffled with airport security guards after he bypassed metal detectors and hurried to board a commercial flight out of Washington. Politicians made that potentially criminal act go away by placing a gag order on airport security.
Former U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts parked in an unattended airport loading zone in a hurry to put his wife on a flight – post Sept. 11 – in Oklahoma City. He berated the attendant who ticketed his vehicle and then stuffed the citation under the officer’s badge and told him to “take care of it.”
It was unclear what made Watts more angry – that the attendant didn’t recognize him as a U.S. Representative or a former Oklahoma football star.
And then there was our own Rep. John Hostettler’s arrival at the Louisville airport with a gun in his attache case. A gun. Inside the airport. The congressman’s explanation was basically, “Oopsie!”
The Ho got probation – and lots of attention from late night comedians.
Are we supposed to be the mirror images of righties? I don’t think so. McKinney did the wrong thing. Let’s be grown-ups and admit it.
I’ve seen people in positions of power or prestige assume that ordinary rules don’t apply to them. They get used to it as a practice and some of them take umbrage when somebody of inferior social position enforces rules.
I’ve been a McKinney fan because she challenges the usual political order, and I think Boortz’ comments were despicable yet typical for the right wing.
But in this case I think McKinney forgot where she came from and whom she represents (something I suspect is too common in Congress).
Couldn’t have said it better myself. She was wrong. He likely was right to stop her. They should both make nice and the rules of security engagement should be tightened up and clarified for all concerned. She should also drop the race card and try to move on ASAP. McKinney’s voice is too valuable to be lost on such a trivial matter.
I’m still waiting for more information before I sit in judgment. I have heard that the guard came up from behind McKinney and grabbed her. If any man did that to me, he would be whacked with my very heavy bag. I also have heard that McKinney (albeit not one of the more agreeable Democrats) has had similar problems where the police seem to forget who she is and assume she must be the hired help. On one occasion, they let her white assistant in; but, would not let her in. Still, we haven’t heard a story that has been backed up with any evidence so I wait for that.
I do believe that all the righties who are calling her names and sitting in judgment should be taken to task for their absolutely hateful stuff (which, of course, is not surprising). Keith Olbermann on Friday referred to Boortz as a “boor with a t and z.” That cracked me up.
“But based on the facts as I understand them, I have to agree with Aravosis on this one. Seems to me it’s McKinney who’s being the elitist by assuming the rules don’t apply to her.”
What we have been given to date can hardly be considered “the facts” at this point. Besides, one of those “facts” is that McKinney did display her ID, and if that is the case then there is a serious problem here, with respect to how she was treated by the cops. And yet, for whatever reason, you decided to disregard that “fact” and make your judgement based on the other “facts.” To be honest, I find that disturbing.
If McKinney did not display ID of any kind, and breezed past, then yes, I would agree; she was wrong and the cop should have stopped her. However, if she did present ID, the cops were wrong to have stopped her, especially by grabbing her. Its too early to judge at this point, though, until we see the video or witnesses come forth.
Then there’s the finer point of identification, such as it is, in our society. Would a Bill Frist, Dick Durbin, or any number of white male congressmen (or white women for that matter) walking past be “identified” by the fact that they were visually recognized and waved through? If any of them had walked by the detectors I doubt if the police would have reacted that way, even if they hadn’t shown ID.
And yet, McKinney, black woman (we all look alike) walks by, and, since we are not normally what comes to mind when one thinks congressperson, then yeah, the cops think “who is this black so-and-so, who has the nerve to think she can just walk by, thus his (over)reaction to grab her.
I am not saying this is what happened, (I don’t know, but none of us do at this point) but, being black myself, I understand these dynamics all too well. Still, its premature to judge McKinney either way at this point, and yet, people are doing that, and I can’t help but noticing that this is yet another examplew of how race trumps all in this country.
Besides, one of those “facts†is that McKinney did display her ID
If you KNOW that she displayed an ID BEFORE she began to enter the building fine, but the news stories say she admits she wasn’t wearing a pin and didn’t show an ID until after the cop stopped her.
I acknowledge that what gets reported in the papers is not always what really happens. I hope the facts are clarified in the next few days.
If it turns out she did display an ID before she tried to enter the building then she has a legitimate grievance, and I’ll support her on that. Otherwise she doesn’t, and she should take her lumps and admit she made a mistake.
BTW, the New York City councilman who was killed by a guy who’d been waved through security was black. The rules aren’t there just to protect white people.
I agree with everything you say about Ms. McKinney’s behavior, I too think she was wrong to expect special treatment.Such rules are in place for HER safety and she has no right to expect to be treated any differently then anyone of us would have been.Politicians tend to think rules and laws don’t apply to them and frankly, with Bush cornering the market in that area so well we really don’t need another politician with a sense of entitlement.
HOWEVER,,,,I personally have a line in the sand and that line has been crossed the moment another human lays a hand on me.PERIOD.NO ONE has that right and they might as well kill me before I will be man handled by anyone.I have been arrested before and I KNEW I had been in the wrong, BUT I was treated with respect and even though I had committed a crime, there was no need to use force or man handle me.The police treated me as though I was innocent until proven guilty in court, they didn’t find it in order to shove me around because they could or to frighten me.
I don’t know what happened with Ms Mckinney.And I don’t know the experiences she has had in her life.All I can say is IF they touched her FIRST …..it’s on! IF anything Ms.Mckinney should have been handcuffed and removed if she was suspected committed a crime.IF reports are true that she was shoved by the officer, I say he is lucky all he got was a smack in the face… There will NEVER be an excuse for the police officer who shoves people around.That was not the correct way to address this situation. It seems to me if the story I heard is true, that two wrongs will never make a right.She was 100% wrong to expect special treatment and the officer was wrong if he shoved her.Just because she was accused of a crime, that does not make it open season on her..and it certainly does not justify shoving her, no matter how wrong she was.That officer would be today , suffering dearly from a dislocated penis had he shoved me.He should consider himself lucky.
Yes, let’s cry racism and sexism and Democratism, I guess you’d call it, because a cop didn’t recognize you and you decided to not even wear your member of Congress pin, or turn around when the cop called out to you while we’re at war.
Well. rules are rules and security is security and nobody has a problem understanding that. But when you try to support that idea with a lame-o we’re at war excuse, you kinda taint your arguement.
I suspect if Congresswoman McKinney has a chip on her shoulder she has earned it. Judging from the extreme responses to the report of this situation I have to conclude that she really makes certain people bristle. If any of us believe that a black woman in congress – especially one who doesn’t bow down to the party line – isn’t treated differently than white males, we simply aren’t being honest.
And my problem with John’s posting isn’t that he thinks McKinney is in the wrong in this situation. Rather, it is his characterization of her as a “nut’ etc. I have heard her speak on many occassions and listened to her respond to unscripted Q&A sessions that would have left many of her collegues tonge tied and speechles. She seems far brighter, more versed in reality, and much less inclined to fudge the truth in order to be acceptable than I have come to expect of our un-representative ‘representatives.’
I’ll take a little high handed acting out from such a person any day as a small price to pay to have someone in congress who isn’t a sleepwalking, greedy dunce.
I do think progressive need to ask themselves if they’re supporting McKinney’s version without knowing the full story specifically because McKinney is female, black and a liberal. Since I don’t think we’re going to know what happened unless neutral eyewitnesses speak up, and I’m not obsessive about having to give my bloggy opinion on every news item on any given day, I have little trouble withholding judgement against either McKinney or the cop. I think liberal bloggers should put a little less pressure on themselves; for the good writer it should be easy to come up with new content on any number of subjects without rushing into speculation on an event that happened out of our view.
And my problem with John’s posting isn’t that he thinks McKinney is in the wrong in this situation. Rather, it is his characterization of her as a “nut’ etc.
His language was pretty strong. But I agree with his basic point, that organizations like the NAACP might want to wait until they know for sure what happened before they sign on to McKinney’s version of what happened. Making claims of racism that turn out to be false is a variation on crying wolf when there is no wolf. It just causes people to tune out even when there IS a wolf.
We may found out that McKinney has a legitimate claim, but at the moment that looks iffy.
I only know what I’ve read here and in various newspaper/TV reports.
My opinion is that EVERYONE should just wear their f—ing ID. What is the big damn deal! Also, if it was the security person’s first day on the job??
Maha, I’m still waiting for the video and more information before declaring anyone at fault in the brouhaha. But…
Per a former Hill staffer who commented amid the massive entries over at Aravosis’ site, Congresscritters are not “required” to wear the little gold pin. Another commenter mentioned Congress members had been advised by security to not wear their gold pins outside, as they made them easily identifiable to terrorists or other bad actors. Another commenter noted, and McKinney’s statement stated, she “displayed” her Congressional ID card, presumably a more notable ID. Plus, according to several commenters and even Tweety, guards are required to know the Congress members by sight. Period, no exceptions for hairstyle changes or different colored suit.
Another commenter mentioned that a friend in law enforcement said they are trained to not grab someone from behind as the law enforcement person so doing cannot see what the person they’re grabbing has in front of hin or her–gives the grabbee the element of surprise. So, per that criteria, the guard messed up in two ways: Not recognizing a member of Congress and using poor technique in stopping said member.
So, why is Cynthia McKinney getting this treatment?
Why did Drudge get right on the Shame, Shame, Shame headline of the story?
Why did the powers that be decide to remove her from Congress initially through a challenger in the primary, one who got exceptional financial donations from out of staters?
She is a true gadfly and a most “inconvenient woman.”
I respect most of her actions, votes, speeches, and opinions. I don’t approve of every single thing said or done by her or by anyone. I cringe at some of the things Hillary says, does, votes for–as I did for some of the things her husband did as president. But I would not attack them in the way McKinney is being attacked.
What is going on here?
But, of course, I’m one of those Lefties Tweety always denigrates. What did he call us? Leftie wackjobs?
Making claims of racism that turn out to be false is a variation on crying wolf when there is no wolf. It just causes people to tune out even when there IS a wolf.
Yeah, like the time when Al Sharpton was screaming for justice in the Twanna Brawley case.
Congress members are NOT REQUIRED to wear the pin at all times! They ARE required to carry their ID with them. Many congress members breeze through the checkpoint without wearing a pin and they are not grabbed by the police.
McKinney has been repeatedly unrecognized by the Capital Police that are TRAINED to visually recognize the 535 members. This is not the first time, she is repeatedly singled out and challenged.
The chief of the capitol hill police has repeatedly had to apologize to her for his officer’s continual harrasement of her and even has her photo on the wall of his office!
McKinney has a video on her website where she is hugged by a black police man and seconds later challenged by a white officer.
McKinney was on her phone and late for a meeting and was not listening for an officer that needed more training.
He followed her down the hall and grabbed her shoulder, the one holding the cell phone. Her arm was pulled back suddenly and the cell phone hit the officer in the chest.
I am absolutely shocked at the left-blog writers that are carrying the water for the GOP. McKinney is one of the handful of actual Democrats in congress, under attack constantly by the GOP, they don’t need anyone else’s help. Aravosis has lost a lot of respect in my eyes for his disgraceful post about McKinney, one of the few people left in congress that supports his right to exist. I had been talking myself into giving AmericaBlog some of my hard-earned money, and then I read his uniformed insults.
This was not an isolated incident, this was made into a story by the conservative main-stream media, as a way to attack one of the only actual democrats left: AND YOU ALL FELL FOR IT!
Please suspend your judgement (pre-judice) until you have heard from someone other than the conservative media.
Another commenter noted, and McKinney’s statement stated, she “displayed†her Congressional ID card, presumably a more notable ID.
Yes, but the statement from McKinney that I read said she displayed it AFTER she’d been stopped by the security guard, so it doesn’t count.
If in fact congresspeople are not required to show ID before entering the building, this needs to be changed. There are too many of them to assume that security guards will be able to accurately identify each one.
Any security checkpoints I’ve had to deal with insist that everybody have ID, even the “regulars,” and if you forget your ID the guards aren’t supposed to wave you through even if they know your face and your name and have said good morning to you every day for the past three years. There are reasons for this. If what you say is true, then Capitol Hill needs to tighten up.
I though the McKinney post by John Aravosis was racist and I communicated this in a comment. The result: my comment was deleted and I was banned from the site. Many others had their comments deleted and were banned from AmericaBlog…
http://katrinamemo.blogspot.com/2006/04/banned-by-americablog.html
Here is what the folks over at Steve Gilliard’s blogg have to say about the Cynthia McKinnery affair….
http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2006/04/matter-of-judgment-i.html
Edward: Once again, if in fact the Capitol Hill police are letting some people through security without checking ID it should stop. It’s not the proper way to run security. That’s how security lapses come about. It is NOT realistic to expect security personnel to always be able to identify the 435 members of Congress on sight.
And it may be that the security guys are racists who have an easier time identifying white men than black women. That doesn’t mean we should make security looser to be fair. It means we should make it tighter to be fair.
Actually, one other piece to the story. BEFORE I saw John Aravosis’s story or heard about her press conference, I saw blog posts that the Capitol Police might be charging McKinney with assault.
Now I’m sure she wasn’t the only person who security has had problems not recognizing (though a TPM post shows that McKinney’s had more problems than most), but even if them stopping her wasn’t racist, filing charges might be perceived so.
Maha wrote: “It is NOT realistic to expect security personnel to always be able to identify the 435 members of Congress on sight”
Sure it is! Every single doorman in NYC can visually recognize every single resident in their buidlings, and the spouses and children. In larger apartment buildings that can be over 1000 people. If doormen can do it, then why can’t highly trained police?
Most security is a bad joke that has far more to do with inurring the people to a police state than actually securing anything.
All ID can be faked. To properly secure congress I would expect that NO general public would ever enter that building except by appointment with a rep. EVERY one entering (including the reps) would pass through detectors AND have to display a photo ID externally at all times when within that building to be inspected by police at any time without warning.
I don’t want to live in that America. Bush didn’t lift a finger to stop 9/11 specifically for this kind of outcome, to get Americans used to showing ID to police at any time. Just one of the many results reaped for allowing that to happen.
Another example: Border Patrol. They have a border patrol checkpoint up here in Vermont on just one of the interstates about 100 miles from the Canadian border. Why? What’s the point? it has NOTHING to do with catching illegals. It has everything to do with harrassing citizens, making intrusive police stops the norm and reinforcing racism. The locals call it the ‘Whiteness Check’ If you are white, then you are a local Vermonter and c an pass. If you are not white, they pull you over and run your ID through their computer. Smart people get off the highway and go around the Whiteness Check. Therefore we can reasonably conlcude that it has nothing to do with security at all.
To actually secure the Capitol Building, every Rep and Sen has to be iris scanned and RFID chipped AND wear their photo ID cards at all times. They nned to be retinally scanned when they enter the building and again when they want to enter the chambers. This is not America, this describes a totalitarian state.
Something else I just thought of.
The right-wing media is shouting all about her not wearing a lapel pin.
Is that really all it takes to get past the metal detectors? All someone needs to do is make a few fake versions and they have unlimited access?
How can anyone reasonably argue that facial recognition is less superior than an anonymous lapel pin?
Since it is a given that the Reps are not required to display their ID cards at the entry points, the righties are arguing that a bland pin be the second line of ID.
As usual, so many of the rightists arguements catch us at first and we take them seriously. Rarely do we stop and run a simple sanity check on these statements. For when we do we realize that their arguements are ludicrous.
As I have said before, I don’t want the anonymous police-state and mandatory ID checking that is so reminicient of totalitarian regimes of earth’s past. I want those police trained at least as well as a Manhattan doorman from the Upper East Side that can easily recognize their residents and select resident’s friends and family. They don’t need any pin.
Robin, there is no way I could remember 435 faces accurately, so I can’t very well expect anyone else to remember 435 faces accurately. A pin and a face both might make it possible for some. Maybe they can use some of the face recognition software I’ve seen on TV to be less intrusive.
It’s obvious you have some kind of problem with checkpoints and IDs. Please note that I’m not calling for a national ID card. I think the random bag checks in the NYC subways are for show. But it would be absolutely insane not to have security checkpoints outside of places where lots of government officials work. This has nothing to do with being a “gestapo state” and everything to do with living in the real world.
It seems pretty clear cut that the officer was struck
while doing his job. Now, I would not like somebody
belting me while I do my job. I think she should get similar
to what Zsa Zsa Gabor got….jail time, fine, and community
service.
If the stories are correct and the Grand Jury issued a
warrent.
I really hate it when one of the powerful stomps a working
class person into the ground like that.
Her problem seems less a victim of racism, and more a victim
of her own swelled head.