April
17 , 2006
The Touchable and the Untouchable
A Tale of Two Members
of Congress and the Capitol Hill Police
By JEFFREY BLANKFORT
It's
another tale of two members of Congress, of racism and hypocrisy,
and it serves as a reminder, as if one was needed, that Washington,
D.C., is in the heart of the old Confederacy.
Rep.
Tom Lantos and Rep. Cynthia McKinney are members of the Democratic
Party, but there the similarities end.
Lantos
represents South San Francisco and San Mateo County. He is white,
Jewish, Hungarian born and portrays himself as "the only Holocaust
survivor ever elected to Congress." He is an unabashed supporter
of Israel. That makes him, of course, an "untouchable."
He
is also the ranking Democrat on the powerful House International
Relations Committee, which provides him with unusual opportunities
to help Israel. He sponsors repressive legislation targeting the
Palestinians and Israel's Middle East adversaries and, when called
upon by Israel, he represents it in countries where Israel has no
diplomatic relations, a questionable activity by a member of the
U.S. Congress.
"He's
true blue and white" - the colors of the Israeli flag - a former
leader of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC,
Israel's official lobby, told the Jerusalem Post, referring to Lantos'
devotion to Israel. Lantos made his first trip to the Jewish state
in 1956 and has been there nearly 60 times since.
And
all along you thought his first concern was the voters in his district.
In
1991, in an effort to convince Congress and the world that Iraq
needed to be forcibly removed from Kuwait, Lantos helped stage a
hearing before his private Congressional Human Rights Caucus at
which the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador, pretending she was
a nurse who had been working in a Kuwaiti hospital at the time of
Iraq's invasion, testified that she had witnessed Iraqi soldiers
throwing babies out of scores of incubators on to the hospital floor
in order to take the incubators back to Iraq.
The
story was a total fabrication, but the outrage it engendered was
enough to get reluctant members of Congress to change their minds
and vote for the war. Despite articles about the fraud in the New
York Times, the Los Angeles Times and Harper's, Lantos was never
criticized on the House floor, let alone censured.
But
this story is not about Israel or Iraq. It's about the different
treatment afforded Lantos as compared to that meted out by the Capitol
Police to our second member of Congress, Cynthia McKinney, who represents
the De Kalb district in Atlanta, Georgia.
McKinney,
of course, is African-American, and one of the few members of the
Congressional Black Caucus who has not been cowed into submission
by the Democratic Party and the only one who has refused to genuflect
to the Israel lobby. But, again, this story isn't about Israel,
although its specter and that of its lobby seem ever present.
To
make matters worse - for McKinney, not for the pursuit of truth
and justice - she has refused to accept the official Bush administration
explanation of the events of 9-11, and she has participated in events
alongside of other critics of that narrative who have been marginalized
not only by both political parties and the mainstream media but
by the "gatekeepers" of the left.
She
has also been outspoken - while the Democratic Party has been largely
silent - about the disenfranchisement of Black voters in Florida
in the last two presidential elections, which is the subject of
a new film about her on that subject, "American Blackout,"
that opened in February at the Sundance Film Festival. In other
words, she is considered a "trouble-maker" in a colony
of "go-along-to-get-alongs."
The
Democrat Party leadership was overjoyed when McKinney was defeated
for re-election in 2002. After she had served five terms, AIPAC
decided to make an example of her for having criticized Israel's
treatment of the Palestinians. That led to a stream of money flowing
to her opponent, Denise Majette, from wealthy out of town Jewish
donors.
That,
a steady drumbeat of attacks by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
plus an estimated 40,000 votes from Republicans who crossed over
to vote in the Democratic primary were enough to turn the tide against
her. The Democrats were, in turn, mortified two years later when,
without their help, the plucky McKinney ran and was re-elected to
her seat.
To
show the party's displeasure, McKinney was denied the return of
her seniority by a tight-lipped Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco
congresswoman who serves as the Democrats' minority House whip.
And
McKinney, it turns out, is "touchable" - as those who
have been following her ordeal with the Capitol Police are well
aware. Touchable by a white Southern cop in a Capitol Police uniform
in a white dominated predominantly Black city in which the Black
majority are second class citizens and reminded of it every day.
So
when McKinney entered the halls of Congress over a week ago, one
of a handful of Black congresswomen - who should have been recognized
- and walked around the security barrier on her way to vote as members
of Congress are allowed to do, a Capitol cop on duty reached out
to stop her.
McKinney
allegedly turned around and struck him in the chest with the cell
phone she was carrying in her hand, and now, incredibly, the Capitol
Police have taken this minor incident to a federal grand jury.
Now
what about the "untouchable" Tom Lantos; how did he get
into this story?
Six
years ago this May, Lantos was driving his car in Washington, D.C.,
and ran over the left foot of 13-year-old Owen Sanderson. Sanderson
and his eighth grade classmates from a school in Bolton, Mass.,
were crossing the plaza in front of the Capitol when the congressman
drove over the boy's foot, sending him to the pavement screaming
in pain, the boy and his teachers told the press. Lantos then left
the scene without getting out of his car to see whether the boy
had been hurt.
As
the Boston Globe described it, "While several horrified teachers
and the principal shouted at Lantos to stop, the California Democrat
sat rigidly, staring straight ahead and refusing to get out of his
white Ford Taurus, which carried U.S. Congress plates."
"The
first thing I heard was Owen screaming," said Ken Tucker, principal
of the Worcester-area school. "Owen's foot was pinned under
the car."
Lantos,
72 at the time, finally reversed slightly, freeing Owen's foot and
ankle, and drove off without checking on his condition, said Tucker
and several teachers. Lantos said he had no idea the boy had been
hurt. "I was driving to my office," he said. "There
was a typical spring mob of tourists and kids and so on. …
One of the kids, horsing around, not looking or something, jumped
in front of the car, stumbled, then got up and walked away."
Owen's
teachers and principal were dismayed at what they saw as insensitivity
and arrogance by a government official, the Boston Globe reported.
"If he had stopped and spoken to us, we would have had a much
different response to this," said Malin, the art teacher. "It's
called human decency."
Youngsters
"learn too often in life that if you have money and power,
you're above the law," said Perkins, the school nurse. "That's
not the way it's supposed to be."
The
teachers, Tucker and the tour guide disputed Lantos' assertion that
he did not know Owen was hurt. Lantos "was asked several times
to get out of the car by myself and the teachers," Tucker said.
"He was told, 'You hit a kid and you need to stop.'"
"He
was trying to drive through a crowd of kids, was what he was doing.
Why or how, I don't know," Tucker said. "He didn't roll
down his window. He made no offer to get out of the car."
Laura Friend, an English teacher who was among those chaperoning
the 68 students, said she raced toward the Taurus and screamed at
Lantos through a half-open window.
"I
was saying, `Stop, stop, stop! Back up, back up, back up!' He didn't
look at me. He didn't even take his hands off the wheel or anything,"
Friend said.
When
it appeared Lantos might not stop, Tucker said, he stepped in front
of the car. A Capitol Police officer twice told the principal to
move out of the way or he would be arrested, Tucker and several
teachers recounted. "The officer said, 'Look at his license
plates. He's a congressman. If we need to get in touch with him,
we can find him if need be,'" Friend recalled.
The
boy he hit said he did not harbor bad feelings toward Lantos or
his wife, Annette, who was a passenger in the car.
But
"it's disappointing that they didn't get out and say, 'Are
you OK?' I just feel bad he didn't call to apologize."
Lantos
paid a $25 fine after being issued a ticket for "failure to
pay full time and attention," said Lt. Dan Nichols, spokesman
for the Capitol Police, adding that the investigation was closed.
Which
brings us back to the Capitol Police and Cynthia McKinney and her
accusations of racism on its part. One wonders what would have been
the fate of McKinney or any member of the Congressional Black Caucus
had they run over the foot of a white child, congressional plates
and all.
As
it was, when McKinney leveled the charge of racism against the cop
over her encounter in the Capitol, not one Democrat, not one member
of the Congressional Black Caucus, chose to stand with her and with
Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover, who had flown out to be at her
side, at a Monday morning press conference.
Her
fellow Georgia congressman, John Lewis, one time civil rights hero
but in the decades since a Democratic Party loyalist, had the audacity
to tell her, "You need to come to a non-violence workshop."
Compare that with the comment from Ohio Congresswoman Marci Kaptur
who, in the same NY Times article, described her as "a modern
day version of Sojourner Truth. The edge of her knowledge singes
some people. Sometimes turmoil surrounds the truth."
On
Wednesday, April 5, with the grand jury case hanging over her head,
McKinney met with members of the CBC and, following that meeting,
in an effort to defuse the situation, she offered a public apology
to the officer and to the Capitol Police, saying, "I am sorry
that this misunderstanding happened at all. I regret its escalation.
And I apologize."
But was McKinney on target in charging racism against the white
Capitol Police?
According
to the evidence, most definitely so. When the Black officers in
the U.S. Capitol Police filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against
the government in 2001, they expected to get justice, reported the
Final Call newspaper in August 2003. What they say they've gotten
is retaliation. At the time the article was published, they were
threatening a second class action suit, the paper reported.
The
officers took their case to Capitol Hill July 30, 2003, for a press
conference alleging the Capitol Police Department's pattern of "filing
excessive and unfounded disciplinary charges against prominent members
of the class action, as well as a pattern of harassment, including
exclusion of class members from the U.S. Capitol Complex and a series
of auto tampering, break-ins and vandalism of class members' automobiles."
"We
suspect that such conduct by the department smacks of retaliation
against the class members and is designed to undermine the momentum
of current settlement negotiations," class attorney Nathaniel
D. Johnson told the Final Call. Officer Larry A. Ikard, a member
of the class action, spoke on behalf of the 358 Black members of
the Capitol force.
"When
will someone become accountable for the blatant acts of discrimination
the African American officers have had to endure throughout our
tenure? How can we be responsible for egregious acts committed against
us?" he asked. He told the audience about training opportunities
he was denied and being subjected to a racially hostile work environment.
The
Congressional Black Caucus responded to the officers' complaints
with a letter June 26 to Chief Terrance W. Gainer and members of
the U.S. Capitol Police Board.
"We
are incensed and embarrassed at having to deal with these same systemic
issues of discrimination against African American officers in our
own U.S. Capitol Police force, now in the 21st century," the
letter stated.
"In
these uncertain times of terrorism, concern over homeland security
and crises abroad, these police officers are entrusted with the
responsibility of guarding and protecting us as members of Congress,
our staff and the Capitol buildings and grounds, as well as our
constituents who visit the Capitol."
The
letter, signed by the 39 members of the CBC, concluded by saying,
"We strongly urge the Capitol Police Board to implement far-reaching
non-monetary remedies and oversight measures to ensure that discrimination
against the African American officers ceases, and we fully support
the complete monetary settlement proposed in the letter to the U.S.
Attorney's Office."
It
was the same Chief Gainer who filed the complaint last week against
McKinney. But it seemed to be a different CBC, one that not only
failed McKinney, but apparently failed to defend itself against
a racist remark directed at all its members by Texas' poster boy
for sleaze, Rep. Tom De Lay, who recently announced he was not running
for re-election.
"Cynthia
McKinney is a racist," DeLay said on Fox News Channel's "Fox
and Friends," a day after abandoning his re-election campaign
under a cloud of ethics violations and charges, the Associated Press
reported. "She has a long history of racism. Everything is
racism with her. This is incredible arrogance that sometimes hits
these members of Congress, but especially Cynthia McKinney."
While
McKinney was being slandered right and further right by other Fox
commentaries and the same racist talk show hosts who raged at her
re-election, she was sandbagged from the left by columnist Earl
Ofari Hutchinson, who somehow thinks the Congressional Black Caucus
is something other than what it currently is, a rather meek handmaiden
to an even meeker Democratic Party.
"A
big tip that the race squawk won't cut it in this case is the mute
reaction of the Congressional Black Caucus and other Democrats,"
wrote Ofari in an article entitled "The Sad Saga of Cynthia
McKinney," as if either group - and particularly the Democrats
- was deserving of any credibility in this day and age.
"Not
one Caucus member publicly charged to her defense," he went
on, "and not one Democratic House member stood at her side
at her initial press conference when she cried racism. In all likelihood,
she apologized at the quiet urging of Caucus members. No, McKinney
was wrong."
No,
Ofari was wrong, and the refusal of the CBC to stand behind her
at this time, along with their refusal to demand a return of her
seniority when she was re-elected, will go down as shameful chapters
in the caucus's history, while the betrayal of McKinney by the rest
of her fellow Democrats and the party itself is consistent with
their betrayal of the rest of America.
Jeffrey
Blankfort is a radio program producer with KPOO in San
Francisco and KZYX in Mendocino and KPFT/Pacifica in Houston. He
is a journalist and Jewish-American and has been a pro-Palestinian
human rights activist since 1970. He was formerly the editor of
the Middle East Labor Bulletin and co-founder of the Labor Committee
of the Middle East. He may be reached at jblankfort@earthlink.net.
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