I personally think that Cynthia Mckinney has set a very bad example to our youth. I think she is putting a racial SPIN on a situation that demonstrated her unprofessional behavior. Our youth should not be taught that it is in any way appropriate to be disrespectful of authority. Even if this office recognized her and was only stopping her to harrass her, (which I don't think that is the case....please correct me if I am wrong) she has an obligation to stop and show proper identification. She then has the right and ability to protest to the authority over that individual. If our youth emulate the actions of Cynthia Mckinney, they may end up getting shot or spending a significant time in prison.

Now, assuming this was a form of harrassment to force her the show proper identification. To not recognize her among the hundreds of congress people, staffers, aids, lobbyist, etc. etc. etc. after she has had a radical hair style change and not having the pin that would immediately identify her as a member of congress would hardly, in and of itself, qualify as harrassment. She, as a congresswoman, has the required clout to deal with an officer, through official channels,who is truely harrasing her.

It actually bothers me to see our black leaders play the race card everytime something doesn't go their way. It waters down the credibility of our claims when we experience true racist actions. True leaders stand up and admit when they are wrong and don't cast blame on other people with claims of being "inappropriately touched" ....If this had occured on a lonely dark road in the south in the 1960's, I would say, "fight and run, girl" but this action by Cynthia is just rediculas....Then, although she is being harrased by the press, she was recently caught calling her aid a "fool" when she finished a news conference, walked offstage and did not realize she still had a microphone attached...she came back after realizing the mic was on and stated that what she said while not on stage was "completely off the record and was not to be used" Yeah, right! An honorable person does not say stuff that he does not stand behind.

I just think that Cynthia McKinney is a bad example to our youth.

I think it may be worth looking at the bigger picture,Cynthia McKinney is asking the US government the most troublesome questions, questions which virtually all the politicians are scared to ask even dare to think.

Questions over government secracy, missing trillions from the pentagon......trillions.....someone has been dipping their hands in the cookie jar.

She was voted out in 2002 following the media furore about her saying Bush knew about 911.......She never said anything about Bush prior knowledge, a made up a story with no statements as proof, this is what happens when real questions are asked, remember pentagon missing trillions.

Most people relise that by asking these questions she was going to come into a lot of difficulities like probably what you're witnessing now, as well as all attempts to ignore her or push her away, in 2004 she was voted back in.

When she was quizzing Donald Rumsfeld about the missing trillions CSPAN covered it not CNN/FOX, my guess is that this latest happenings with McKinney is BIG NEWS and all news stations are covering it?

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McKinney accused the officer of "inappropriate touching" and racial profiling in the incident, which government/police said they would use for terrorists by the way.

She has made an apology.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/06/mckinney/

I think Cynthia McKinney is great example for the young, she is like Dianne Abbot in the UK...they speak and vote the same way, it may come as a suprise but not many politicians do this.

Glory,

With all due resoect, you really have no idea who she really is, not because she may not be a representive of your state, but because of her character.I live in the district that she represents. The Black community and even some ofther non-Black communities know who she is for years. She didn't remain a congress woman for twenty years and reenstated for nothing. She is not this big rogue that Media is making her out to be.

The one thing that I like about Cynthia McKinney is that she is a people person, she is there for the little man and the big man. When she was out at the train station shaking hand with people, where were her opponents? No where to be seen. From my own experience, I was able to speak with this woman with an issue effecting me and some other of the members of the community.Try getting other people some others Black and White and you won't. She speaks out when nobody else will. Overall Cynthia is there when you need her.The problem that I'm having with this investigation is that they are trying to make something out of nothing. The only reason why I think they are trying to get her is because she's outspoken and she spoke out against Bush. To be honest, I believed she did hit the man, but I just don't believe she's going to outright hit the dude for no reason . She claimed that she was harrassed and has been done the same way for the past five years. Do you tell there is nothing with that?!

What are you and other Black people who don't support her is trying to say that we shouldn't have a voice in governement? that maybe we should put a fake smile on our face and let bygones be bygones?. We had endured this for many years with the civil rights movements. THIS is exactly why Dr. King and other freeedon fighters fought for people like her, to have an opinion without persecution. I think about the time she lost to former Congresswoman Denise Majette.Have you ever wonder why Denise was put up there? She wasn't put up there because she was loved bythe Black people in her district, she was put up there as a result of the Republican party retaliation against her and they just used Denise. Denise was a democratic, African American woman, but you may as well say that she's a republican because she was a snoot and she only there ( and barely there for them) upper middle class Black people and Whites.

Do you know what a true bad example is? Anybody , in this case Black people, who are shamed of people because of how they behave or because they are outspoken----just somebody who wants to be there for everybody. What you want is a Black person who keeps quiet, who isn't there for the people and just there looking pretty for the camera. Wow what a crying shame. We have to many of those already. If you go along with the opinions of the people who are against her, then you just become anti-civil rights and anti-common man. Far as she distrcit they, as well as myself are already looking forward to putting her back in the office. Oh , they have a Black man, a democrat, who wants to run and criticize er, but Iwouldn't vote for him if I was the last person on earth. He did the same thing to a man at a meeting. like Cynthia is being done. The problem with our government, you can't speak out against Bush or you'll pay for it.

To Jay Jay & Cee Cee,

I appreciate your responses in defense of Cynthia McKinney. I am not here to crucify her. I don't mind giving credit where credit is due, but I also hold people accountable for their actions when their actions are inappropriate. If a leader does something good, it does not give them carte blanche freedoms to act in inappropriate ways at the times of their choosing. I hold all people, especially leaders to a high standard of conduct. It is completely inappropriate to cast blame for true facts that my be negative upon a "its because I am black, or it is because I spoke up, or it is because they are out to get me." FIRST: Did this incident accually occur? I believe it did. SECOND: Did it occur in the manner in which it is commonly reported? I believe it did. THIRD: Did the person in question respond in a manner that would be resonable, ethically, morally, or legally? In this case, I don't believe that she did.

I cannot teach my children the kind of situational ethics that you are suggesting. I cannot teach them that just because aleader does some things good, we cannot hold them accountable when the do something bad. I cannot teach them that if they are taken to task for something they have done that is wrong, that they should excuse it away rather than sincerly accept responsiblity for it and drive on. This puts her in the same catagory as Bill Clinton's "I did not have ..... with that woman"....or Marion Barry's ..."They set me up" or Jesse Jackson's child from an extra marital relationship or things of that manner.

I am not saying we should not have a voice, I am not saying that we should cast away any leader who does something wrong. No one is perfect. I am simply saying that when a leader or anyone else for that matter cast blame or fan the flames of a lie, they must be called on the carpet for it. I am not a sheep who blindly follow people. I am a man. I teach my children to be men and women of integrity. I teach them to accept responsibility for their actions. A bad action does not necessarily disqualify them for service, but it does require an appropriate cure.

In the case of Cynthia's so called "apology" this is a complete forest:

"There should not have been any physical contact in this incident," McKinney said.

"I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all, and I regret its escalation and I apologize,"

She admitted nothing. This is simply a clever way of getting the word "apologize" to come out of her mouth with the other words meaning nothing of substance.

Lets boil this thing down to a simple question. I understand that you know her and like her as a person and that is understandable. Do you think she was right in this situation? If you were passing a police checkpoint guarding an important facility and you did not have proper id or quick pass pin...even if you thought they should know you because you are Mrs or Mr BIG....Do you think it is within the authority of the officer to as that you at least stop to prosent proper ID? Or do you think that because you are Mrs or Mr BIG, it does not matter if he knows you or not, HE SHOULD KNOW YOU and just let you pass without as much as a question to verify your ID? Are you able to separate good from bad an hold a person who is otherwise good accountable for a negative action?

Glory2Glory,

But how do we know "honorable" people when we see them.?The thing that irks me about media is that they making it seem that this woman has been acting like this for all the 20 something yearsand more added years off her life and that is so not true. Everytime I've seen Cynthia McKinney in person and on TV, she was always class act.She 's friendly to people and cordial to people, the kind of women who would hold your kids when you don't ask her to( i know because she held my nephew as a baby and she didn't do it for the camera). Everytime I would see she was shaking hand s with the people and when was " keeping it real" she was never as loud and obnoxious as media is making her out to be.That is what people need to know about her. Yes, she hit the police officer in the chest and she shouldn't have did it, but is it professional for a police officer to mistreat her and 250 other Black capital policiers officers because of the color of their skin for years( I remembered reading something like that almost six months ago)? You just get tired of it and on top of that she was harrassed. Are you going to stand there and do nothing about it?

I have a question to ask you. What is your example a good role models? I ask that because I think when it comes to this issue that some of don't want to face realism.Right now everybody is looking at Cynthia McKinney because of what she did to that cop. But do youknow for a fact that all of those other people in Congress Black,White, Spanish or Asian are good role models. Do you know for a fact that they aren't doing what Cynthia has done( Oh some of them have done it --and even worse)? How do we know that they are not behind closed doors doing drugs, beating on their wives, commiting adultery,child molesting? etc. My cousin once had an interesting article from PLAYBOY magaizinewhere there was a woman who told all the ugliness that takes place in the Whitehouse between members including some of those who are suppose to be upright people. If you would have read it, your tongue would drop . She wasn't a bogus person. Her story was with merit.

Also think about some of our Freedom fighters who came before Cythia McKinney. Although we all know Dr. King as a Martyr( and a very kind man) some people , including some people in our own community thought that he was a social deviant because of going to jail to fight for our rights. How about Rosa Parks, she refused to give herseat for a White man and had to go to jail for it. Malcolm X he did start of on the bad side, but he end up being a great guy at the end. Our society say that people like them are bad people because they went to jail , they refused to do what they were told and so on, but they rebelled for a righteous cause. Cynthia is a rebel in her own right, but you better believe she a rebel with a cause and most times a righteous one.

The problem that I have with people ideas of good examples is that they want them to live lies or live in a glass box. They minutes somebody famous/well known does something outside our norm, they are branded as the worst people in the world.We associate good examples as people who are conservative, who are college graduates, who never ( supposedly) haven't inflicted harm on anybody, who are in high positions etc. We don't reality, nor do we want the truth. I don't know I prefer the truth. I want an honest person. I'm not only talking about what they say bust what the do in character. If there is anything I hate is people telling you that you are a bad influence on people, and they are even a much worse example to society than you are. I have no kids, but if I did have some I would want my kids to learn about reality---the reality of life. You're right nobody is perfect,butsheilding them and just looking at somebody saying their goodrole models isn't reality.

It's ironic. I recently, was reading a book about life from Billy Graham. Beingthe Humble Christian man that he appears to be,I would have expected for him to say the same words that you said. Though he feels that thereyou have to live a life according to the teachings of the bible, the shocking thing that he said that " we should shield our children from reality. He was saying that when we do that , we can cause more harm to our kids than, help.I agreed with his statement. Sometimes, when we think were protecting our kids from it, it can come back to roost on us as the same things we were trying to avoid, end up coming back on our kids.

Cynthia McKinney isn't a perfect woman, but she is not bad lady either, nor is she any worse than any of those holier than though people we have in the White house. I don't care if Cynthia would have came to the White house as some rebellious rock star, as long as she's serving my community and the people, that is what counts. I'm ashamed of any Black person who feels that way about her. I'm ashamed of any Black person who see's being honest as a bad thing. If any Black person is ashamed of a woman like her than we should be ashamed of any Black person who literally fought for her any other of Black freedomfighters because they didn't win thieir frredom , by being soft( although some of them certain tried to). I would much rather have a woman like Cynthia who speak the truth about the issues than to keep silent about it. When you see any of our people doing this, they are not helpingus They are setting us back by 200 years.---Another major shame .

Glory2Glory,

Yes , I remembered when he was said to have done that, but are you going to say that he's no longer a great leader because he slept around on his wife and that maybe we should have waited and possibly just have nothing done about our rights? I'm curious. whar would have happened if Martin was fighting in those days and we would have found out about this? Would you have told him that he should step down because of his sexual activities? I think about Coretta Scott King. You would probably say she's a great woman because of how she was portrayed as a freedomfighter and how she helped people. But media don't tell you everything about people. Just as much as you being disapppointed with Dr. King, His wife was no better was no better than he as a matter of fact this great " role model" wasn't as great as mediawas making her out to be. I'm not saying this out of disresepct( God rest her soul), but she wasn't the person that she portrayed in the magazines. I'm not saying this from Heresay ( although I know many people who vhave) or something I've read in EBONY, I know this, like Cynthia McKinney on a personal basis and know it for a fact She was faithful to her husband, but she wasn't faithful to the millions of people( unless you had some money and was famous) she claimed to be helping.

I'm not saying that just becaue they are Black leaders, that we should overlook corruption that some of them many do.( Just like some of their White counterparts may do), but does hitting a man in his chest , warrant a grand jury investigation( according many people in law enforcement somehting that Cynthia doesn't require a grand jury investigation) depending on the extent of the injury, what she did would be a misdemeanor( and that is what they are speaking of doing with her) and wouldn't require what she going through. If you or I did that to each other we would be charged with aggravated assault and no grand jury would be there. So why does Cynthia have tohave one? and I stand by what she said, she's Black, She's female and she's outspoken against the Bush administration. She may have apologized for the incident, but she's not admitting there were no problems. I seen her again on the news. Out spoken as ever and hope she continue to turn up the heat on our messed up government.

If they are going to punish Cynthia, they should be fair with it. There have been people in Congress who have done wrong, did what she did and worse. Look at Tom Delay. He got involved in some corporate scandal and was found guiltyof what he did. You didn't hear media making a big deal of it. He even was able to come back and serve, but he resigned. One person who is serving from my state in the House of representives stole some money, cheated on his wife( and married the mistress, That was Newt Gingrich. he too, resigned).and another got in trouble for Drunk driving, but yet Cynthia is the biggest offender of all time? If hitting somebody( the man is ok)is the worse offense you can commit, then I guess murder is a misdemeanor.

.What I'm most concerned about is what is going on in my community, how they are serving us and that they continue serving it. I 'm an unbiased person and I just don't like Cynthia because she's Black,or because she serves in my district. I like her because she WORKS for the peopleand she committed to doing it. What ever she say she's going to do, she'll do her very best to do it. She has worked hard to to improve the lives of others and their communities. That is why I love her. She'a a woman of her word. Far as what Cynthia did to the officier, what Martin did and what Bill Clinton did in their personal lives have to do with , what on earth does that have to do with me? What does their personal issues that have to do with me? What does it have to do with our government? What does it have to with the economy, education, or the environment? In that case for every wrong doing that they do we should ALL be in locked up for everywrong doing we do. We all have skeletons in our closets? You , I and every body else has them, whether serious or non seriouspast or present. For each time we judge people we need to really evaluate our lives and make sure that we can fit the " honorable" category, to make sure were going to be the best representive for our children and to our society. I'm not and never claimed to be a girl scout, so if anybody accuse me of being such, I'll tell you otherwisw( as a matter of fact, I have on here on several occasions.

PS. That's a very unfair catergory you put her in. Cynthia doesn't belong in the same category that Marion Berry is. She didn't commit a major crime. Oddly with Marion Berry, I don't know if this is true, but many [people voted him in office because similarly to Cynthia McKinney, he was there for the community.( Before he got on that crack)