Racial profiling real -- and McKinney is no help

Another perspective of the McKinney situation of the past couple of weeks or so. Sun-Times columnist Laura Washington even has an opinion on the subject. Perhaps this race card business is starting to lose it's effect now. Check out these three paragraphs...

For most African Americans, the phenomenon is alive and well. Just ask a young black man walking down the street at high noon in Glencoe or Winnetka. Just count the minutes it takes for the police to roll up. But when a grandstander like McKinney puts it out there and is exposed as a fraud, it gives the critics a clear shot at the old saw: "There you people go, whining again."

Witness Rep. Tom DeLay's remark last week: "She has a long history of racism. Everything is racism with her," he said, adding, "This is incredible arrogance that sometimes hits these members of Congress, but especially Cynthia McKinney."

DeLay is right. Can you believe it? McKinney's antics have allowed an
indicted, disgraced, antediluvian congressman to grab the moral high ground. Whenever people of color falsely claim racism, we all become targets. We don't need our own so-called leaders giving comfort to the enemy.

This columnist called McKinney's act grandstanding. One could say that is exactly what she was doing. Add to this fact that Rep. McKinney wasn't even supported by her fellow Democrats. None of them stepped forward to defend her or support her. This prompted the apology last week.

Washington is right though. Something involving race is going on somewhere in this country and it takes a grandstander like McKinney to cause someone to consider this just an unsubstantiated charge. Like I said earlier if this was Barack Obama this situation would have been different because he's not as tempermental.