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Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney On The Issues
WHAT ARE CONGRESSWOMAN CYNTHIA McKINNEY'S POSITIONS ON THE ISSUES?
For bringing hundreds of millions of Federal Dollars to the District 4 For Peace and Justice For Respecting the Sovereignty of Other Nations For an Immediate Ceasefir in Lebanon For Bringing Our Troops Home Now For Quality Medical Care for Returning Service Personnel For the Anti-War Fast Conducted by "Troops Home Fast" For Evenhanded Treatment of Palestinians and Israel For Evenhanded Diplomacy on All Mid-East Issues For Respecting the Geneva Convention Rights of Guantanamo Detainees For a Full and Thorough Investigation into the 9/11 Attacks For Reduction of Tax Benefits to Large Corporations that Reduce Workforce For Making Corporations Accountable for Federal Contractual Monies For a Full Accounting of the $12 Billion Sent to Iraq in $100 Bills For Providing Farm Debt and Program Relief to Black Farmers For Verifiable Paper Trails and Audits in the USe of Voting Machines For Extension of the Voting Rights Act without Amendments For Developing and Investing in Alternative Energy Sources For Stem Cell Research For Enforcement of Environmental Laws For a Woman's Right to Choose For an Increase in the Minimum Wage For Tax Relief for the Middle Class, Working Class and Poor For Job Training and Expanded Vocational Education For Adequate, Available and Affordable Housing for All Citizens For Expansion of Grants and Aid to Post-Secondary Students For Full Funding of the No Child Left Behind Act For the Rights of Workers to Organize and Form Unions For Aid and Assistance to Victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita For Providing a Range of Constitutents Services Across the District and the Nation For the Establishmnt of the Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area Oppose Preemptive Strikes on Sovereign Nations Oppose Massive Profiteering on Weapons of War Oppose Tax Relief for Big Businesses Oppose Eliminating the Inheritance Tax Oppose Continued Tax Cuts for the Rich Oppose Privatizing Social Security Oppose Parts of the Patriot Act that Abuse Citizens' Rights Oppose Photo IDs for Voters
The list is endless. Cynthia McKinney is a courageous, active representative of the people. She believes in honesty and ingrity in government, and will speak "truth to power" whever necessary. Based on her positions, her experience and her hard work on our behalf,
Was thinking about how easily we accepted as natural German Chancellor Angela Merkel's reaction from being grabbed from behind by a white male. While at the same time, the overwhelmingly white, American public imagination eagerly awaited the result of a possible grand jury indictment for Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's reaction to the a similiar grabbing incident.
The situations aren't identical, of course. But they are illustrative as to how America's sub-conscious, when not overtly conscious, obsession with race makes any and every situation involving a black person potentially up for grabs for arbitrary interpretations that defy all logical comparison.
An Egyptian group has been 'welcomed' into the Al-Qaeda fold.
Or so we are supposed to believe.
I have a theory that every so often the Masters of the Universe have their folks in DC float out the most ridiculous thing they can come up with in 6 seconds. They give some CIA hack on the AP payroll the story to zip out to us. Then they sit back and watch their 'Pathetic Meter' and see where the American news watching population is sitting at. This story isn't worth any serious consideration.
I guess we should just git ready fo' da fighting dat's sho' to come. Yessuh. We's redy to get dem dair Ee-jip terrist.
The Last Plantation: Reflections on Cynthia McKinney and Racism on 'The Hill'
Much has been made of the McKinney Incident with the Capitol Police that occured on March 29, 2006. There has been a lot of heat while not very much light on the events of that day. And virtually no context has seeped out of a media machine that managed to produce dozens if not hundreds of stories and interviews about the incident that attempted to portray Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney as having punched, stabbed or struck a capitol police officer.
McKinney, a seasoned House Rep., claimed that the touching by the officer, had been inappropriate. She reminded the country of the racism that existed within the ranks and leadership of the Capitol Police. None of these excuses held water with the establishment media or the general populace, which seemed eager to dispatch the congresswoman. What's the real deal?
What was seldom, if ever, reported on by the corporate press was that Congresswoman McKinney, after being approached by Capitol Police officers that heard the General Counsel call a cab driver a nigger, demanded that the General Counsel be fired. She also supported the Black Police Officer Associations class action lawsuit against the Capitol Hill police force on charges of racism.
This is the backdrop to the media assault that ensued, with the obvious aim of smearing her with half-no-one quarter truths, while hoping those not hip to the realities wouldn't ask contextual questions.
To cover all of the angles of this incident would take more time than I have.
1. The Congresswoman was conned by Nancy Pelosi into apologizing. A bad move.
2. Although the Capitol Police claim assault, before deciding to charge McKinney, the Seargent-At-Arms and the Chief came to her DC office and apologized.
3. There is no precedent for the Capitol Police waiting 3 days to file assault charges against ANYONE.
4. Capitol Police built the public opinion case against McKinney by claiming to have video evidence that they later refused to produce.
Watch the video. Think for yourself. Don't believe the hype.
It is common journalistic and academic parlance to hear public opinion discussed in terms of 'Americans' think this or 'Americans' think that. I've always found this interesting. Even as a young child feeling isolated by my love of science fiction and theater (I think the latter was an avenue of retreat due to the ostracization earned by the former) I felt that discussions and reports of what 'people' were thinking were not to be trusted. Out of all the opinion stories I read, I never recalled having been asked what I thought.
We're All Americans Now After the attacks of September 11th different slogans designed to bring people together around a common foreign policy began to surface. One of them was, "we're all Americans now". Simultaneously, this phrase attempted to acknowledge something about our collective past and make a reconcilliatory overture. The slogan acknowledged that the US was something of an apartheid state but that the urgency and magnitude of this new threat was reason enough to set aside the normal operating parameters and grant temporary citizenship to those previously, and historically, denied it. I found this particular appeal to nationalism the funniest because it illuminated the ridiculousness of the American facades of democracy, meritocracy, freedom...you know the rest.
Like some ground floor Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) offer that comes along offering YOU ground floor access to a venture about to take off in a major way. This time it was the War On Terror. And like a typical MLM, the people at the top made all the money and the folks at the bottom (us) footed the bill with money for our schools and what could have been (and could still be) a universal healthcare plan to cover everyone.
But I digress. Regarding being American...now. I don't consider myself an American. At least not in the sense that you're bound to hear on any of the major news outlets and most of the 'alternative' ones as well. American is usually written and said, meaning white.
But what if you're not white?
Next time you hear that public opinion among Americans says this or that, ask yourself if non-whites or anyone not within the middle-class (or above) white heterosexual archetype, feels the same way. Like anything, this isn't monolithic, but I think you'll surprise yourself just by asking yourself this question. Actually go further and ask non-whites and you might be surprised at how 'American' public opinion actually means the public opinion of white folks in America and is quite irrepresentative of the experiences and thoughts of non-whites.
The Power of Language First I should point out that white folks are the primary target of this linguistic tactic of mislabeling whites as Americans. The effect of mislabeling is the fostering of tumultuous relations between whites and blacks and the disruption of whatever even or positive relations there are.
It goes like this. Americans is meant to signify 'whites'. However, when asked about that pointedly, most whites will say that to them American means everyone. So when whites encounter non-whites they expect them to hold opinions at least somewhere close to the place where 'American' opinion or belief lies.
there is a spectre in the white American public imagination of the extreme, unreasonable and irrational black person with whom rational discourse is an impossibility so don't even try.
When white Americans encounter blacks whose thoughts, ideas and experiences lie well outside of what whites have been conditioned by reports and nooz on the opinions of 'Americans' they quickly cast these non-white folks into the irrational box along with Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan and any others said to be residing in this delusional state. On several occassions I've received lodging assignments to this group home during discussions with whites.
The use of the term 'American' in actual reference to white thought and perspective sets a psychological dismissive predisposition toward the true experiences, ideas and opinions of black folks as they lie outside of the hegemonic box created by predominantly white media and academia.
So, Who Is An American? This question shouldn't suggest a contest of patriotism or nationalism but instead rights and true equality. When we begin to honestly address historical issues of housing and job discrimination, land theft, wealth usurption and other forms of oppression that historically have and continue to create the very different realities and the prisms through which those realities are viewed and lived-only then will we truly be able to honestly describe ourselves as simply Americans.
This is how right wingers (and some on the Left with the right wing mentality) respond to logic. One question asked of him. Five minutes later, he still won't respond.
Tension was the word going into yesterday evening’s debate between 4th District congressional candidates Cynthia McKinney and Hank Johnson. Neither candidate receiving a majority of the vote, a special run-off election was forced for August 8th. This was the first of two public debates to be held before the run-off election. And round 1 went to Hank Johnson.
Johnson, appearing comfortably stiff, read lines and repeated talking points in the characteristic fashion for which he has become known in Dekalb County. His nondescript delivery did the job in that the presentation wasn’t a disaster. Cynthia McKinney’s delivery was the inverse. Again, in characteristic animated fashion, she smiled in the point counterpoint exchange with Johnson; highlighting Johnson’s apparently numerous ethical dilemmas around campaign support from Republicans and his financial relationship with companies that bury trash in Dekalb County. Johnson also kept the focus on ethical issues, questioning McKinney’s congressional vote attendance record. He also took issue with what he characterized as her dismal record of getting proposed legislation enacted in the congress. Ethics discussions can sometimes be indicative of what an elected official will do or how he/she will conduct him/herself in office. However, this case is different. Not because ethics don’t matter, but because the reason this run-off is even happening isn’t due to ethics at all.
The Anti-Candidate Johnson’s primary attribute is that his initials aren’t C.A.M. In my travels and conversations, I’ve found that most Johnson supporters know little to nothing about his positions on the issues they care about. He is their choice because he is the anti-McKinney. And that is why McKinney lost this debate. She spent time pointing to Johnson’s ethics issues, and clearly there are some, but the attack was ineffective and nonsensical because Johnson’s support doesn’t come from a veneer of high ethical constitution. His supporters back him because he is not she. All that Hank needs to do is avoid a fatal shooting in the foot to win these debates. That being said, McKinney is clearly the more engaging and gifted orator and could easily wipe Johnson away by focusing not on him but herself. Highlighting her strengths and her record on the issues, the very things the AJC and other mass media, in their laser-like scrutiny of the congresswoman, never seem to get around to but the very reasons her constituents are so committed to her as the representative of the 4th district of Georgia is the strategy in which she will find success.
Without a doubt, the next and final debate will be toxic with Johnson attacking McKinney on who knows what issue of personality. There is nothing else he can do since she is clearly the most progressive member of Congress from Georgia; one of the most progressive in all of the US in fact. The congresswoman should forget Johnson’s ethical dilemmas; no one cares, and instead focus on how and why she is the worst nightmare of the anti-black, anti-gay, anti-choice right wing that supports Hank Johnson.
Hank Johnson is simply the latest in a series of right wing campaigns to remove the progressive voice of Cynthia McKinney from the US Congress. No one, including his supporters, knows or cares about Hank Johnson. And in a couple of weeks after McKinney wins the run-off, no one will even remember his name. The tactics of her debate strategy should reflect that.
