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| McKinney Speech Highlight of Progressive Summit. |
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Green Party of Michigan McKinney Speech Highlight of Progressive Summit Possible Green Presidential Candidate Decries Bush Administration's "Long Train of Abuses and Usurpations"; Urges Action on Causes of "Mini-Intifada" in Benton Harbor Former US Representative Joins IPPN National Steering Committee. For her keynote speech at the 6th annual National Summit of the Independent Progressive Politics Network (IPPN) this weekend in Ann Arbor, Cynthia McKinney received three standing ovations -- and a standing invitation: to run for the Presidential nomination of the Green Party of the United States (GPUS). The summit, titled "Building Unity During Urgent Times", brought together over 100 progressive activists representing 50 member groups and 19 states across the country to discuss and help create a united strategy for 2004. McKinney -- the first African American woman to represent Georgia in the U.S. House -- won applause and approval from the audience throughout her speech at the Michigan Union building's University Club room aturday on "War, Racism, and the Economy". She cited the Declaration of Independence to remind the activists that, when the people face "a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, . . . it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards of their future Security." Listing some of the Bush-Cheney team's more despotic abuses and usurpations, McKinney observed, "An administration that would lie about peace and security -- and send our best and underpaid brightest overseas on the basis of that lie -- will lie about anything." She said Bush took away military overtime pay in an early executive order -- and, more recently, only grudgingly gave delayed pre-deployment health screenings promised after Gulf War Syndrome struck many in the first Gulf war. And she decried Bush's "Michael Dukakis moment" of landing in a fighter plane on an aircraft carrier which was held back from entering its home port for the photo-op. McKinney also accused the Bush administration of ignoring "serious deficiencies at home". She said Bush's racial politics were evident from his administration's treatment of Affirmative Action -- and, noting recent cases of fatal abuse of police powers against innocent citizens in New York, asked rhetorically where the no-knock warrants for Enron, WorldCom, and other corporate wrongdoers were. Then she turned to Michigan's "mini-intifada": the situation in Benton Harbor. People there "have their list" of victims, she said, just like any other urban African American community. Terrance Shurn is only the most recent, and only one of over 20 local policebrutality complaints this year. The case of 16-year-old Eric McGinnis was the subject of the book _The Other Side of the River_ by Alex Kotlowitz. McGinnis, who dated a white girl and used to frequent a nightclub on the Saint Joseph side of the river, disappeared in 1991 while fleeing police; five days later, his body was found floating in the river. McKinney noted that the NAACP had called for calm in Benton Harbor after the rioting there -- but said this was not enough for families with children in danger of being killed: "Dialogue must be followed by swift and decisive action." But not just any action, she added. "Placing U.S. troops in Benton Harbor is as helpful in solving that community's underlying *problems* as placing troops in Liberia -- or the hot sands of Iraq." After the speech, McKinney took questions from the audience -- and Margaret Guttshall of Detroit, herself a Green candidate for the 6th State House seat in 2002, asked whether McKinney would run for President as a Green. McKinney, who has met with the GPUS Presidential Exploratory Committee and taken part in a conference call with the Black Greens caucus on the subject of the 2004 elections, did not answer directly. She did say that, if she were to run for President, she would use the campaign as a platform for promoting many issues: "This country is failing on so many fronts." Issues named included arms sales to dictators, pollution from weapons made with depleted uranium, and the limits imposed on voter choice and representation by single-member districts. Planning and preparing for 2004 was a major focus of IPPN's Sixth National Summit, hosted by the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) and its U-M Student Greens and Huron Valley Greens locals. Friday evening's plenary session "2004: What Are Our Options?" was taped by C-SPAN. The interactive discussion was initiated by Labor Party national co-chair Baldemar Velasquez, who is also the founder and president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), and GPUS co-chair and Coördinating Committee member Anita Rios. "Movement music" opened many sessions on the summit's agenda. The performers -- Matt Jones, founder of the SNCC Freedom Singers of the 1960s civil-rights movement; internationally-known folksinger David Rovics; and the inspiring duo of Pat Humphries and Sandy O. -- also united for a concert Saturday evening and a workshop Sunday on the role of arts and cultural activities in the progressive movement, now and in the past. Other workshops included candidate training, fundraising, organizing using the Internet, educating the public, and centralizing race and challenging white supremacy. There were caucuses for gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender (GLBT) attendees, women, people of color, and youth -- and paralle discussions on sexism, heterosexism, racism, and ageism. The sessions' results will help draw IPPN's "Democracy 2004" map of issues from the perspectives of many people and parties. Workshops directly linked to IPPN covered the network's quarterly newspaper and other mediums of communication; member outreach and recruitment, In business sessions, the network -- which has over 50 affiliated groups nationwide -- adopted a new mission statement and refined its "Principles of Unity". At one business session after her speech, McKinney received another invitation -- she was nominated for a seat on IPPN's National Steering Committee. She promptly and graciously accepted, and was elected with 21 other people to a new, more diverse committee -- which includes 45% people of color, 55% women, 14% youth (under age 30), and 9% GLBT. Some summit attendees joined the Ann Arbor Coalition Against War's peace rally on the front steps of the Michigan Union before lunch. It was well supported by street and sidewalk passers-by. Some photos from the summit
are available at the GPMI Web site: www.migreens.org. |
