[continued from previous message] 
  
 They wanted to keep Crazy Cynthia away from the microphone, of course 
 they did. Out of sight, out of mind. Can't have our elected officials 
 running around saying the same things the public is saying about the 
 war on Iraq! Makes us look bad! And thus it comes to pass that we get 
 news stories saying things like, "Since returning to Washington, 
 McKinney has kept a lower profile until last week's incident," as if 
 keeping quiet on public matters was her own idea. 
  
 The incident with the Capitol Police wasn't about her hair. It wasn't 
 about the identity pin. It's about the fact that when you are female, 
 black, antiwar, and militant, invisibility looks good on you, from 
 where the pro-war Dems sit. 
  
 Some of us are old enough to remember that many Democrats accused 
 Martin Luther King, Jr. of "ingratitude" when he began to speak out 
 against the Vietnam War. That was the very moment when, in the eyes of 
 many who had previously and publicly despised him, he was 
 transmogrified into the Great Civil Rights Leader, who had now "gone 
 too far" and "risked" damaging the wonderful "reputation" he had 
 earned, not to mention all the "progress for his people" that (hint, 
 hint) could be rolled back if a "backlash" were provoked. 
  
 Vestiges of this view persist today in some quarters. William F. 
 Buckley has said (recently) that he regrets that National Review 
 opposed Civil Rights. He has not, insofar as I am aware, expressed a 
 hint remorse for not supporting King in trying to stop the war in 
 Vietnam. 
  
 So now, today, we have Rep. McKinney calling Israel to account, 
 demanding justice for Palestinians, questioning what happened on 9/11, 
 giving no quarter on racial profiling, and voting against the war in 
 Iraq. 
  
 How are the do-nothing Democrats supposed to get the benefit of the 
 antiwar crowd, if there are people running around actively voting 
 against the war? 
  
 They act as though they believe all the country really needs is not to 
 end the disaster in Iraq but to let the "good guys" run it. 
  
 The noble John "Nobody Spins Me" Kerry writes an op-ed calling for not 
 one but TWO deadlines in Iraq (top that, Hillary!) and the whole party 
 has a conniption fit because all anyone can talk about is this uppitty 
 Black woman who won't let security or anybody else, including party 
 leadership, manhandle her. 
  
 Nancy Pelosi had her party theme all picked out: we were all supposed 
 to be talking about Tom DeLay and this "Republican culture of 
 corruption," and if anyone pressed us on Iraq, we were to demand, with 
 one mighty voice (are you ready? all together now ...) "that 2006 be a 
 significant period of transition" in Iraq. 
  
 The Democratic Party, in splendid unison, calling upon American sons 
 and daughters to hurl their bodies into the immolating fire, for the 
 sake of "a significant period of transition" -- who could resist? 
  
 How different from that other voice, that Black voice from Georgia, 
 joined by a handful of others, saying "Bring the troops home. Stop 
 this war. Now." 
  
 You begin to get a pretty clear idea why the Democrats have never 
 asked McKinney to give the rebuttal after a Bush State of the Union. 
  
 And as for the Republicans, with few exceptions, they don't ever 
 intend to let another person of color claim to be a victim of racism 
 without attacking her credibility. Not one more. (Recall how patiently 
 they explained to us all that what happened in New Orleans in the 
 aftermath of Katrina "wasn't about race.") 
  
 Let them convene their grand jury and push their polls. Maybe one day 
 a polling agency will call you, to ask what you think about white 
 folks telling people of color that they're wrong to feel that 
 anything, anything, is ever about racism. 
  
 Before judging Rep. McKinney, ask yourself, what kind of person would 
 still be in public service, after setbacks and sabotage attempts like 
 these? What kind of person would keep reporting for duty after being 
 consistently disrespected, and repeatedly challenged to "identify" 
 herself after 11 years in Congress? And then to be mocked and attacked 
 for her refusal to meekly "comply" when physically prevented from 
 going to cast a vote. 
  
 You got a bit of the answer if you saw Rep. McKinney on CNN with Wolf 
 Blitzer. I liked it when she refused to let him control the 
 conversation, but I have to tell you, we stood up and cheered at my 
 house when she told Blitzer, "Don't even begin to twist my words." 
  
 Among the comments at our table that evening was, "Why can't SHE be 
 president?" 
  
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