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Cynthia McKinney Attorney: ‘This case has just begun’
By David Stokes
The Atlanta Inquirer
Updated Apr 18, 2006 - 5:22:00 PM

Days after noted Hollywood actors/activists and a throng of youth and young adults stood in support and by the side of U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) to hear her comments pertaining to an altercation with the U.S. Capitol Police on Mar. 28, legal action remains an option and is being considered against the Congressional member who is claiming “being a Black female” and general racism was the catalyst for the incident.

At a news conference at Howard University in Washington, D.C., renowned actors Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover joined various supporters, Ms. McKinney and her attorneys to state an investigation is welcomed into the physical altercation of Rep. McKinney allegedly hitting a U.S. Capitol policeman after he called for her to stop and not enter the Longworth House Office Building for the House of Representatives.

It is mandated procedure that House members wear Congressional identification lapel pins upon entering and while in the Capitol. Rep. McKinney, on the date of the altercation, was not wearing her pin.

During a brief statement at the news conference, however, “the whole incident was instigated by the inappropriate touching and stopping of me: a female, Black Congresswoman,” she said. In a written report outlining the act, she said, “(the officer) approached me, body-blocked me and physically touched me. I used my arm to get him off me. I asked him several times not to touch me. He asked for my ID, and I showed it to him. He then let me go, and I proceeded to my meeting.”

U.S. Capitol officials were considering filing an assault charge against Rep. McKinney. According to the U.S. Capitol Police, an investigation remains in effect that could lead to criminal prosecution.

James Myart Jr., one of Rep. McKinney’s attorneys, indicated self-defense was the reason for the alleged hit to the White U. S. Capitol policeman. “Cynthia McKinney, like thousands of other African Americans in this country, is a victim of excessive use of force by law enforcement officials because of how she looks and the color of her skin.” The Capitol officer has since said he didn’t recognize Rep. McKinney because of a relatively new hair makeover, and due to the absence of her Congressional pin.

“Many members of Congress do not wear their ID pins,” stated the pastor of Stone Mountain’s Victory Baptist Church, Reverend Dr. Kenneth Samuels, a frequent guest of Rep. McKinney’s who has visited Capitol Hill. “There are no names and no photos on the pins. If this pin is standard security for the U.S. Congress, I submit that the Congress is insecure.” The DeKalb County NAACP president also indicated that while all Americans are “concerned for our security, one’s dignity, respect and civil liberties should not be (abridged).”

While Atty. Myart and other supporters spoke, “Is Cynthia A Target?” and other placards were held by local children.

During a news conference Apr. 3 at the weekly Concerned Black Clergy (CBC) of Atlanta meeting comprised of elected officials and religious and community leaders, Rep. McKinney was supported and well-received by the homefront. Although she did not speak of the altercation, she called off a litany of accomplishments achieved while back in office, thereby, allowing local supporters to defend her cause. “Mine is a Congressional office that is working for the people,” she proclaimed.

“We are here to support our congresswoman, Cynthia McKinney, not only because she assists with the helpless and hopeless,” CBC President Reverend Darrell Elligan said, “but she’s a competent, courageous female and person who represents us well. She’s committed to serving all people ... who not only talks the talk, but walks the walk. We want to send the message that Congresswoman McKinney is not only Georgia-born, Georgia-fed, but is Georgia-protected.”

He further declared, “We want all to know she has our support unconditionally.”

With charges of racism and racial profiling towards Blacks in general, Black Georgia elected officials detailed instances of alleged “racial profiling” that have taken place at the state Capitol.

Georgia State Representative Tyrone Brooks, upon speaking of a 1968 incident in Washington, D.C. following an SCLC march in which activists were arrested while “walking around” in the nation’s Capitol, stated, “racial profiling took place (then), and it’s (the same) in 2006. “This incident is not all about Cynthia, it’s about African Americans in America.” Rep. Brooks, a state legislator since 1980, told how he felt affronted and became “angry after being treated like a little boy, like one just arriving as a country bumpkin” during the public viewing at the state Capitol of Mrs. Coretta Scott King on Feb. 4.

“I was offended how we were treated as Black lawmakers,” he said, indicating how all Legislative Black Caucus members were relegated to a third-floor railing by the Georgia. State Patrol. According to Rep. Brooks, “They were locked out while the White folks were down circulating (near Mrs. King’s casket). A double-standard and unequal treatment exists, and if it’s happening to us in Atlanta, it’s happening to Cynthia McKinney in Washington.”

Georgia State Representative Roberta Abdul-Salaam went a step further with the same type of tale under the Gold Dome. Claiming she was “physically accosted by another (House) member,” she said she reported the incident to Capitol Police, but was told to report it to the House Speaker. “Nothing was ever done.”

“There is an assault on Black women,” the one-term Clayton and Fayette County representative stated. “I need to understand the level of disrespect going on with us women: women in positions, women who have earned our places, worked hard to be and stay where we are because we care.”

She stressed that, “Racial profiling is a well-thought out and well-planned attack on the Black leadership that’s going on from the Gold Dome to the White House.”

Said Georgia State Representative “Able Mable” Thomas, “(Cynthia’s case) is not a criminal matter; it’s a political matter. What’s really going on in America right now, that they don’t want Black America to know about at the moment that’s not been spoken—some people just can’t take (Cynthia) being a comeback kid.”

Reinforcing that sentiment, another of Rep. McKinney’s attorneys, Michael Raffauf said, “I find it highly unusual that the incident has (reached possible criminal prosecution).”

He suggested that Republican leaders are behind the investigation and charges of assault. “This case has just begun. When all of the information is out and available for review and all avenues are afforded to this American citizen as guaranteed under the U. S. Constitution,” he argued, “it will have been shown Ms. McKinney was a victim of force.”

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