Cynthia McKinney's Apologists

Even a racist will have apologists; in this case it is the angry woman of the New York Daily News, E.R. Shipp:

Cynthia McKinney may not be the best poster child for racial profiling. But in her anger at being accosted by Capitol police officers who did not recognize her as a member of the august House of Representatives, she is a black Everywoman.
Before her begrudging apology this week, McKinney, a Georgia Democrat, said she was a victim of bias. A cop didn't think that a black woman lacking her special lapel pin and ignoring entreaties to show ID had business walking around the metal detector and into the Capitol.

...McKinney's temperament is beside the point. Whether or not she overreacted, we must remember that profiling does still happen - far more than most admit.

....If she were less self-centered, Cynthia McKinney would focus attention on actual racial profiling rather than her hairdo and her 15 minutes of infamy.

Amazing - it seems as if Shipp is saying a black woman has every right to disobey protocol (by not wearing her ID) to ignore cops, and to react with violence once halted (after all, her temperament is "besides the point")

Shipp is trying to arouse ire over the issue of racial profiling, but this is the wrong case. By trying to claim McKinney is some type of bias victim in a situation where police practically begged her to stop before touching her elbow makes light of more serious bias cases that do arise. Thus does Shipp's instinctive anti - white racism actually hurt her own cause. McKinney is the Tawana Brawley of Congresswomen; that's why her colleagues are steering clear. Shipp should show the same discretion.

Furthermore, what type of column would Shipp be writing if, say, the unrecognized person in question was a white Republican, and he turned around and slugged a black cop? Does the same action change in legality based on the color of someone's skin? Or does Shipp believe that justice should not be color-blind? Bad call, E.R.; for you know not what colors justice may choose to see...

Take a lesson from Shipp's male counterpart in the News, Errol Louis, writing on the murder of a young white man in Harlem:

Nearly two weeks after Hehman, 20, was chased to his death, allegedly by a group of black kids - at least one of whom is said to have yelled "Get the white boy!" - no rush to the barricades seems likely. That inaction, in a city where so many ambitious politicians, clergy, business moguls and celebrities claim to be leaders, is both shameful and nauseating.

Thanks, Errol, for understanding that all forms of racism are dangerous, not just the ones that fit your agenda...