The Capitol police chief, Garner, stated that the officer "grabbed her" as she was already past him. No white male member of congress would be treated that way, or tolerate it.
Garner resigned as chief, shortly after the incident, because, since 2003, he was breaking the dept's nepotism regs. by hiring and employing his son-in-law at the dept. The DC police dept. is 67 minority staffed. The Capitol police, in the same jusrisdiction, is 30 percent minority, with few promoted to higher ranks. The capitol police suffer from poor race relations with each other, and with the public.
This was the headline when the story broke, on a TV station broadcasting in McKinney's district in 2006:
<a href="http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=77991">"Report: McKinney Punches Cop"</a>
If you can't let up on her....and I'm not saying she's a saint or a martyr, who is going to? You out to come visit....I live 15 miles outside of her district....all public schools are nearly all black, whites send their kids to private, mostly christian schools. The neighborhoods are completely segregated....
I'm not from here, and my sensitivity,,compared to those who have lived here a long time, is contrasting.
Put yourself in her place, I'm sure you already have done it. She could handle herself better, and she could be an angry militant. She's channeled her drive and reactions. It says at wiki that she's a doctoral candidate at Berekely.
This is a place where Dr. King, Rep. John Lewis who got his head busted in Selma in the 1965 march, and Jimmy Carter, are not held in particularly high regard. They are not "the pride" of the state. Maybe I would look at this differently if I grew up here, and maybe McKinney would be "more pragmatic" if she was from the northeast. It's 2008, there is still way too much intolerance and bigotry in this entire country. I don't agree with the Cox sisters' Atlanta newspaper (they are worth $12 billion each....) that "it was a long time ago, and everyone and everything is beyond criticism now".
This state voted even "redder" in 2006, than ever before. Extreme feeds extreme....in both directions. My point is, that, compared to democratic and republican presidential race "contenders", McKinney is not extreme. She is not going to support $630 billion annual military budgets, plus supplementals for the "war on terror". They all apparently do, even though they seem reasonable in front of a camera, or at a Captiol entrance checkpoint.
Last edited by host; 01-06-2008 at 11:49 PM..
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