News Should US Representatives get...

Should US Representatives get...

special treatment? Cynthia McKinney walked into the Capitol without her badge on. The police officer did not recognize who she was and when told to stop, she kept walking. When the officer confronted her and went to grab her arm she turned around and hit him.

Now after the Capitol Police has asked for an arrest warrent for her, she has turned this into a race issue. But yet, she never turned it into a race issue when it first hit the news.

So what does everyone think? Should the officers take home a book and be forced to remember who everyone is? Or should the Representatives obey police orders just like anyone else?

I gotta agree with you. I heard about it when it first came out and she even said that she was in a hurry and everything, but not ONCE did she say anything about this being a race issue. It was all cool until the arrest warrent was sought. I personally don't see her getting away with it.

And like you said he was doing his job. Even all the republicans say he did what he was supposed to.

I bet if she was in the street and didn't obey an officers orders, then she'd be locked up right now.

/\ if that's on AOL, imagine the numbers if they polled people of intelligence

Im not the greatest with politics and anything associated with it...but that just sounds like another excuse...its always gotta be "its because im black" or something...although its probably not gonna happen, i hope she gets some jail time...

What are you talking about? The people that are still using AOL need some serious help.

Wow. I HATE it when people pull this type of shit. Its evil is what it is, and I so want to hit her right now. What the fuck makes people thing they have the right to pull that 'high and mighty' crap?

She didn't even apologize did she? I mean hell if I had lost my head like that I would hope that I would have the decency to come down later and apologize, regardless of whether or not it would affect my punishment, just because it would be the LEAST I could do to right my wrong...

I don't like AOL, and although i disagree with using it, I do not see any relation to people's intelligence or lack there of that use it. Granted they may know nothing about networks and are unsecure, but hell I know quite a bit more about them, (schooling and my carrer field) and I'm probably just as unsecure. lol Goes back to the old saying, "Doctors are their own worst patients", I guess...

Listen to this quote - from a San Francisco editorial on the situation:

"I know this might not seem normal," said McKinney. "But this wasn't a normal situation. You see, I hate Americans. Especially Americans who are in the armed services or work on the police force. While I would normally cry and wet my pants if a terrorist or criminal confronted me, this was different. When a police officer who protects and serves this country confronted me, I just became enraged and had to strike out. And I can't believe he had the nerve to actually stop me. Sure, I wasn't wearing an identifying pin, but everyone should know who I am. Everyone."

Holy smokes!? WTF planet is she on! If she hates America so much - stop bitching about it and get the fuck out of the country. They should slap the shit out of her.

$25.90/month, $19.50/month for 12 month plan

Wow. You can't even respond to that quote, it's so cut and dry and speaks for itself. No implications there. What a bitch.

First lets go back to the original issue. Am I saying "everyone that uses AOL had ZERO intelligence?" No. Out of all the ISPs and Email providers out there, does AOL have a high ratio of stupid people to smart people? From my experience of being on AOL's website, it has more glitz and glamour articles than any other homepage. Obviously it's geared towards your average Valley Girl. Stop getting angry just because you took offense to what I said.

When I had AOL, it devoured my memory. Its anti-virus program started a civil war with my Norton program and caused my computer to crash, until I figured out what was going on. AOL attempts to be in total control. As for the perks you mentioned, moviefone is accesible to everyone, most people find no problem shelling out 95 cents to buy a calender at Office Depot, and last time I checked the online music is also available to anyone from Netscape.

Actually, the story seems to be a little different, as far as I know. According to a Washington Post article,

So, she allegedly was just conducting business as normal. Congressmen and Congresswomen are regularly allowed to walk past security, according to the article. This is nothing new. I'm sure the security guard might give give an older white guy in a suit the benefit of the doubt as far as him being a senator, or he might even recognize the white gentleman's face directly. The difference in this instance is that McKinney is a black female. Just out of normal prejudice, the security guard may have thought that because of her race and gender, her chances of being a representative were smaller, or he just plain didn't recognize her, making him go after her in the manner he did. I think that as a security guard working in a House office building, it is your job to recognize each and every member of congress. If they were outside and there was a security threat, are you telling me this guard may not have recognized that McKinney was a representative and would not have responded accordingly?

I'm not defending her becoming physical with the guard, but being a person of color, it can get to you when people do things like this. Many times I've been confused with another black guy who is in my class/on my team, for example, even when we may look nothing alike. The anger of being the only senator not recognized and thus stopped by this guard, possibly day after day, may have been a factor in McKinney's actions. This is where I think the issue of race is coming into play.

I think the police are justified in their actions considering McKinney's behavior, but there is more to this story than simply decrying that McKinney has "pulled the race card." Before people go quoting Fox news, saying she is racist, think about the situation from her perspective.

Read the story for yourself:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/03/AR2006040300998.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/03/AR2006040300998.html



*BTW, it's technically not possible for black people to be racist, but I'll save that for another discussion.*

1) Shes a complete bitch and I hope she gets charged with assault...

On the AOL issue... You could say that since its easier to use than other services that maybe people with less intelligence use it...

On the other hand Im sure their are very intelligent people who dont use the internet as much and like AOL's quick content.... People hate AOL because its the "Big Guy" and its cool to hate that provider...

I will agree they are overcharging people... however they dont just give email and internet access.. they provide other services like spyware blockers virus protectors and a LOT of content that only AOL users can access....

Back to the topic... the woman is a complete bitch and she needs to be taught a lesson simple as that... In fact I would give the officer a comendation because he did his job... how easy would it be to get a look alike or surgery to look like someone else.... yeah its a stretch but you never know...

I dont see how any people can really side with her!

1)
You think they should know everyone?

How long would it take you to learn 535 faces in passing?


2) Police were justified. End of story. Even if they weren't, assault on an LEO isn't exactly legal, whether you're a member of Congress or not. Throw the book at her.

If it is your job to know and protect those faces, you have no excuse for not knowing one. I believe McKinney has a right to be annoyed when a security guard holds her up unnecessarily. She was wrong to hit the guy, obviously, but this situation is akin to a security guard not recognizing a senior level executive going into his/her office... some people you just have to recognize...

There are 535 members in Congress like some one already stated. The officer was said to be new on the force (new to me means few weeks). Now look at it from this perspective. You are in a college lecture for..lets say algebra that has 300 people in it. The professor teaches that class twice meaning he sees around 600 class members a day. Do you expect that teacher to know everyone by name/face after a few weeks?

Also, at first if I remember correctly she blammed the incident on the fact she had a new hair cut and the officer just didn't recognize her. Well now that its a media hot spot it has to be race because (no offense to anyone) it seems to be one of the easiest way for people w/ a history of discrimination against them to get out of trouble.

And, I believe the day of CNN ran a blurb that in the past she had been warned about not wearing her ID.

No matter how you look at it the officer was doing his job. The Chief of the Capitol Police was just on TV saying basically this: Its protocal for anyone to be stopped who is not identified as a congress member (she wasn't wearing ID) and that further more even if you are stopped the bottom line is that you DON'T HIT A POLICE OFFICER. It seems like a lot of people in the media and such have made this such a race issue that its been put on the back burner that she hit an officer that was doing his job. Either way its nice to know the Capitol Police are doing their jobs.

She was not held up unnecessarily. She was not following proper policy - she was not wearing ID. Tough luck..she needs to suck it up and admit that she made a mistake.

How many companies have over 500 senior executives? C'mon man - be realistic! Do you have any idea how long it would take to learn 500+ faces from people that you don't even interact with!?

EXACTLY. There is absolutely no way to justify her actions, regardless of who thinks she should've been stopped or not.

Ok...so tell me this.

You are the police officer. You just recently started. You see someone walk past the metal detectors with no badge/pin on. Are you going to stop that person and ask for ID regardless of their race or gender? Or are you just going to let it slide knowing that if anything happens in the capitol and that person is involved, that you can pretty much get in trouble, fired, etc.

Now I don't see why she's apologizing if she believes its a race issue. If I pulled the race card on someone for doing to something to me, I wouldn't be apologizing for anything. I would want the other person to aplogize to me first before I aplogized for my actions.

In a high security environment like the US Capitol and the House and Senate office buildings, it is my belief that as an officer protecting these offices, you should know the names and faces of all of the elected officials who work in those respective locations. If not, I don't see how you can perform your job effectively. If you rely on someone wearing a pin and being able to notice their hairstyle, then you're setting yourself up to be duped by impersonators. It really wouldn't be hard to find another black female of the same build cornrow her hair, put her in a suit and attach a pin to her lapel.

The question now lies in whether or not other representatives are recognized without their pin. I would assume that McKinney is not the first to forget her pin and then attempt to walk past the security checkpoint anyway. Obviously, hers is the only incident of this type to recieve this much media attention. With this assumption in mind, I would say that because she stands out more than most representatives due to being a black female with a trademark hairstyle, the fact that she was singled out while others performing the same action were not constitutes racial profiling.

Actually no, not lurking. As I said before I'd rather not get into my opinions on that whole issue because it opens a bigger, unnecessary can of worms. Let's keep the discussion on topic.