McKinney harassment documented in new movie

By Robert "Rob" Redding Jr.

Publisher

    WASHINGTON, May 01, 2006, 12:55 p.m. - A movie about black voter disenfranchisement shows Rep. Cynthia McKinney being stopped by U.S. Capitol Police on her first day back to Congress.

    "American Blackout" shows the congresswoman, who is being investigated by a grand jury for striking a police officer in March, getting a hug from a black officer one minute and in the next frame being stopped by a white officer.

     In the movie, the white unidentified officer is heard repeatedly shouting to the Democrat "Who are you guys with?" - as the film crew approaches the Capitol from her House office building across the street.

    "That's just the typical kind of treatment that I receive," she is heard telling the officer and film crew, "It's typical. So I'm not surprised and I am not offended."   

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    The officer promptly apologized for not recognizing her trademark cornrows, which she still had in her hair at the time and did not have in the most recent incident.

    She later said in reference to the incident in the movie, "some things never change, that's what Tupac [a rapper] said."           

    This portion of the not yet released movie may establish a pattern of how the largely white police department, which currently has deep divisions between its black and white officers, deals with the black congresswoman on a day-to-day basis.   

    In contrast, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who is white, was driven home by police department officials after his green 1997 Ford Mustang convertible crashed into a security barrier near the Capitol shortly before 3 a.m. He said he is seeking help for an addicted to prescription pain medication, but there is wide speculation in the media that he was drunk.

    Last month, a source told Redding News Review that Paul McKenna, a white officer who says McKinney struck him in the chest with a closed fist, knew who she was. The source also said the incident has caused infighting among U.S. Capitol Police's black and white officers.

    "This case is tearing the department apart," said the source, who noted that the department has already had a history of rifts between its black and white officers dating back to 2001.

    There is currently a class action complaint and several other race-based suits still pending.

    "The blacks say the whites were screwing with her, but the white officers are saying that she should have stopped," the source said.

    Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a Capitol Police spokeswoman, has denied that there is dissention among black and white officers over the McKenna incident.

    "It sounds more like gossip rather than fact," said the spokeswoman, who would not deny whether officers had been recently reprimanded for fighting.

    She has referred all question about whether McKinney was recognized by McKenna to the U.S. Attorney's office, which is investigating the case.

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