Cynthia McKinney Makes Green Party Overtures
(APN) ATLANTA — “Run, Cynthia run!” chanted enthusiastic Green Party members and leaders at the Green Party National Meeting for 2007 in Reading, Pennsylvania, on July 15, 2007, according to video footage obtained by Atlanta Progressive News.
“If not us, who? If not now, when?” asked one Green Party activist in attendance after a screening of the movie American Blackout.
“It is us and the time is now,” former US Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) replied.
How would progressive Democrats in Congress respond to a McKinney-Nader 2008 ticket, another attendee asked.
“That would have a potential of shaking up a whole lot, a lot… I’m ready to join with folks who are ready to ratchet it up a little bit more. Let’s shake it up!” McKinney said.
“I think we need a slate of fresh faces to run and win at all levels and then you’re really talking about some change,” McKinney said.
“The situation in Black America is desperate. The political equation has not addressed the real quality of life issues in Black America.”
“That’s where you guys come in. Change the very calculus,” McKinney told Green members.
“Your platform, your ideals, address those very… quality of life issues… but who knows it in Black America? So we have a lot of work to do just even get the message out,” McKinney said.
“It is not acceptable for us to have business as usual anymore… And so, I know you guys are already the choir. So we just got to put me in choir books. Give me a sheet of music so I can sing the song too,” McKinney ended her remarks.
McKinney has not yet announced any official candidacy for the Green nomination for US President or any other nomination at this time.
MCKINNEY’S GREEN TIMELINE
2002-2004: McKinney, having lost her Congressional seat to Denise Majette, was reported to consider Green Party candidacy but decided to run again as a Democrat.
2004-2006: McKinney, after winning her seat back, served in Congress as a Democrat.
Late 2006: After losing in an election plagued by electronic voting problems, local Green Party activists speculate to Atlanta Progressive News of a possible McKinney Green Party run, including possibly for US President.
March 17, 2007: McKinney marches on the Pentagon against the US occupation of Iraq and declares independence from policies of endless war and both political parties responsible for such policies. “Our beloved America is dividing again into two Americas. Our struggle is for nothing less than the soul of our country. As an American of conscience, I hereby declare my independence from every bomb dropped, every threat leveled, every civil liberties rollback, every child killed, every veteran maimed, every man tortured. And I sadly declare my independence from the leaders who let it happen. We will not stop. We will win. We will take our country back!” McKinney said.
March 23, 2007: Asked if there’s any basis to the innuendo of a Green candidate McKinney in the future, “The Dems certainly didn’t bolster their case today, did they?” McKinney told Atlanta Progressive News. This was the day US Reps. Hank Johnson (D-GA), who currently represents McKinney’s former district, and most other Democrats voted to continue funding the US occupation, albeit with a withdrawal timeline.
May 25, 2007: McKinney tells WBAI radio in New York: “A massive realignment must take place for us to achieve that which we want to achieve and achieve a public policy the American people of this country deserve… If they think I was dangerous in 2006, then we have to step it up a little bit. We don’t retreat, in the face of a $100 billion war coming from a Democratic majority in Congress? No impeachment? George Bush has a veritable Armada heading toward the Persian Gulf…”
“I’ve had a very long relationship with the Green Party. I think honestly with the failure of the Democratic majority in Congress to repeal to the Patriot Act, to repeal the Secret Evidence Act, to repeal the Military Tribunals Act, to institute immediately actions for impeachment for this illegitimate… immoral Administration, to stop the war… I have to seriously question my relationship with the Democratic Party. I know the very learned listeners of WBAI have long been interested in how to have a truly independent voice. And I now understand that with the current Democratic majority in Congress it’s not possible.”
“What I’d rather probably talk about, what I could do as a potential candidate. 2008 has not been ruled out, some kind of effort. Certainly now it is questionable as to whether it would come under the banner of the Democratic Party, there is no way with the current crop of Democratic candidates… they cannot speak for me any longer,” McKinney said.
June 09, 2007: McKinney speaks at “Revolutionary Love” Event in New York to retire her 2006 campaign debt. “I know many of you are here because you want to know about 2008…”
“If I do something in 2008, they’ve tried to label me as the violent Congresswoman, but honestly they haven’t seen violence yet. What I’d like to do is violence to the system, violence to the oppression… So if I do something in 2008, and I really do want to do something in 2008, it will be the fullest expression I know of revolutionary love. Because we will make revolution and it will only be about love.”
One speaker asked, “In 2008, what color is your parachute?”
“It’s not red and it’s not blue,” she said.
About the author:
Matthew Cardinale is the News Editor of The Atlanta Progressive News and may be reached at matthew@atlantaprogressivenews.com
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