It’s impossible to turn a blind eye to murder

October 2, 2009

Cynthia McKinney speaks on Palestine, poverty and politics on a tour to support the SF Bay View newspaper

Review by Jasmine Hain, Youth Poverty Scholar, Poor News Network

After speaking at the Lunacy Theater at an event that the Poor News Network staff helped to organize, former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is interviewed by writer Jasmine Hain and her mother, Vivian Hain, for PNN TV in Poor’s office above the theater. – Photo: Poor News Network

“I am my father’s daughter,” said former Georgia Congressperson Cynthia McKinney to a standing-room-only crowd on a warm Sunday in August.

She was at the theatre below POOR Magazine’s offices in the Redstone Building speaking as part of a benefit tour organized by POCC Block Report Radio in support of the Bay View newspaper.

McKinney spoke on a wide range of topics from Hurricane Katrina to the murder of Oscar Grant and her own struggles with the Israeli government in support of Palestine. She spoke of her early life as the daughter of a Georgia politician who spoke the truth and how he inspired her to begin her political journey.

There were many parts of her speech that evoked strong feelings of agreement and understanding in me.

When the interviewer, Marcel Diallo, from Black New World in the West Oakland Bottoms asked her what or who had inspired her to venture into the world of public policy and social justice through politics, she said that her father, ex-Georgia House of Representatives member, was her driving force.

When she mentioned this, I couldn’t help but make the connection between my mother and me – I have fought alongside my mother in the political field of battle over welfare reform and social justice for welfare families and children.

McKinney mentioned that her many attempts to reach out to white farmers’ communities in Georgia were fraught with racial tension, because she was of African descent.

This reminded me of when my mother and I spoke in legislative meetings in the Statehouse and Republican legislators would try to avoid our topic or to control how many representatives spoke on welfare policy. It reminded me of the struggles of trying to get through to a group of people who are on the other side of the spectrum and how at times my mother and I felt very outnumbered.

Later in her speech, as I was thinking this, McKinney said, “Politics changing public policy changes those statistics.” By this point in the speech, she had fully captured my attention.

McKinney also spoke about the struggles she had faced in Gaza and the controversy and opposition she has faced from the Israeli government.

About the Israeli bombing of Gaza last winter paid for by U.S. taxpayers and condoned by former President Bush, she said, “For me this was just another example of the U.S. bombing another country where the people look like me.”

She addressed the fear of conflict the U.S. government has about its policy concerning the Israeli government and how ultimately this fear is costing peoples’ lives. McKinney said, “Many congressmen live by fear. They are afraid of the pro-Israel lobby and wait for the people to counteract them.”