A blow against racism

It’s a victory for Rep. Cynthia McKinney. On June 16, a grand jury in Washington, D.C., declined to indict her for assaulting a police officer.

It’s a victory against racism. On March 29, a cop had stopped her at the congressional entrance, refusing to let her bypass the metal detectors as members of Congress are usually allowed. McKinney, a Black woman, explained that when the white male officer inappropriately grabbed her, she struck him in response. The “assault” wasn’t enough for the cops to arrest McKinney during the incident, and police even had to initially apologize.

Other African-Americans on Capitol Hill have reported similar racist profiling at the security checkpoints.

It’s a victory against police brutality. Police somehow later decided that they suddenly had enough evidence to charge McKinney with the felony charge of assault against an officer. As is often the case in struggles around police brutality, the cops tried to portray themselves as helpless victims and McKinney as the aggressor.

The president of the Capitol Hill police organization says that the grand jury’s decision not to indict McKinney is a blow to officers’ morale. No doubt the officers are surprised and disheartened that in this one instance, the “justice” system—which upholds tyrannical police occupations in communities of color—worked against them.

It’s an anti-imperialist victory. McKinney has been targeted for years
by Republicans as well as reactionary Democrats for her outspoken stances in support of the Palestinian right to return, against the war in Iraq and more. In the arena of bourgeois politics, where most politicians have little or no interest in their constituents’ needs, McKinney has consistently stood out by saying the war budget should be used instead to fund people’s needs. She has also helped to expose imperialist corporate interests in Africa.

Grand juries meet in secrecy, so the racial makeup of the jurors who voted not to indict McKinney is not known. But the fact that the grand jury hearing took place in Washington, D.C.—an area with a 58-percent Black population—means the probability of Black jurors is high, and that may have contributed to the outcome.

The strength of the Black population of D.C. is also why the case of Rep. William Jefferson—the Black representative from Louisiana who has helped secure funds for the area in the aftermath of Katrina—has been moved out of Washington and into Virginia.