I have finally been forced to face the reality of my age. Actually I have been jolted into accepting it by the new ideas and the lack of morality all around me. I have started talking just like my dad used to talk. I say things now like, “I can remember a time when …”. And I can.
The most distressing part of getting older is realizing that personal responsibility is disappearing. There is no better recent example of this than Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.
Members of Congress are allowed to bypass the security checkpoints that are manned by White House police officers. But they are supposed to wear a lapel pin that identifies them as members of Congress.
Congresswoman McKinney did not have on the required pin as she walked past a security checkpoint. A White House police officer did his job. He attempted to stop her. She allegedly hit him in the chest.
So far in this little tale, there is not a whole lot to get upset about. An apology from the congresswoman would have been appropriate and the little incident would have been forgotten. Instead, Congresswoman McKinney decided to make a racial issue out of it. The congresswoman is claiming that the officer stopped her because she was black and because she was a female. She further stated that the officer should have recognized her.
Am I the only one who sees the irony here? Congresswoman McKinney is accusing the officer of looking down on her because she is a black lady. She then has the audacity to ask how the officer could have failed to recognize her. In other words, “how could a peon like you dare not recognize someone as important as I am?” Now who is showing contempt for a fellow human being?
Congresswoman McKinney admits she did not have the required lapel pin on. The lapel pin that the very Congress she is a member of says she must wear. She did not obey the law, but in her mind that is not the issue. She is attempting to convince us that anyone except a black female could bypass the security checkpoint and the police would look the other way.
That is ludicrous, but it is not the most ludicrous part of this story. The most ludicrous part is that she has a great deal of support in her quest for justice.
In behaving the way she is behaving, she is doing a great deal of harm to people of color.
As I write this, there are bigots of every color who are seriously abusing people because of their race. Every time a charge of racism is raised in a nonsensical manner, it makes it that much harder for persons who are really victims to be taken seriously.
Congresswoman McKinney says that she was assaulted by the officer and put in impending fear for her safety and so she had to respond. Is there anyone in America who actually believes that she thought the police officer was going to beat her up? The congresswoman’s entire defense is preposterous.
What lesson are we supposed to take away from this? Are we to believe that white men can simply walk past security checkpoints and no one will stop them? Should we be suspicious of the police officer? Did he pick this lady out of a crowd and think to himself, “All right, a black lady. I am going to beat the daylights out of her”? Did the congresswoman think, “Oh no, a police officer is about to beat me up. I have no choice but to defend myself. I will hit him in the chest”?
Yes, the whole scenario is idiotic. But it is an excellent example of the foolishness that goes on every single day in the capital city of our great country.
The ending to this story has not been written yet. The last chapter will be written on Election Day. My guess is that Congresswoman McKinney will be re-elected by an overwhelming margin, because she had the nerve to stand up and right a great wrong.
God bless our leaders, and God bless America.
J.D. Zumwalt Jr., a retired Special Forces soldier, lives in Vass.
