It's So Easy Bein' Green: McKinney/Clemente '08 For Truth And Justice

It's So Easy Bein' Green

The Green Party's presidential ticket is set: Cynthia McKinney [top photo] has captured the nomination, and she has selected Rosa Clemente as her running mate.

According to Reuters:

The U.S. Green Party says it is a partner with the European Federation of Green Parties and the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas.

"Green parties are the first parties to recognize that our role in the world is stewardship of Earth's natural resources rather than domination and unrestrained consumption of the goods of the Earth," the party said in its proposed platform for the 2008 election.

Cynthia McKinney

CNN offers the standard media spin on McKinney's political career:

McKinney represented a suburban district of Atlanta, Georgia, as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives for six terms -- five consecutively.

First elected in 1992, she lost a primary challenge in 2002 after suggesting in a radio interview that members of the Bush administration stood to profit from the war that followed the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

They did stand to profit, of course, and they have done so. You'll notice the CNN report doesn't deny her suggestion.

The "primary challenge" she lost in 2002 came about because of her opposition to all the 9/11 lies. You should read this [PDF] document, if you haven't already done so: "The 9/11 Commission Report, One Year Later. Did the Commission Get it Right?" It's devastating. And it's in the public record because of Cynthia McKinney.

We could sure use a prominent national politician with enough courage to speak the truth -- especially if it happened to be one they've already run out of town twice!

In 2004 she ran again and won with a low-key campaign in which she largely avoided controversy. But voters ousted her again in 2006 after she was accused of a physical altercation with a U.S. Capitol Police officer who questioned her after failing to recognize her at a security checkpoint.

How many terms must one serve in Congress before the U.S. Capitol Police officers begin to recognize you?

The dude was hassling her, and all the charges against her have been dropped, and still the cloud hovers.

This cloud is the modern media's way of saying "Uppity Nigger!" And if the modern electorate had any brains, we would all vote for her, just because of the way she's been smeared.

What is it about Cynthia McKinney that frightens the mainstream media, the mainstream Democrats and the pro-Israeli lobby? What are they all afraid of? Whatever it is, we need more of it -- very badly.

The LA Times says:

In her campaign, [Cynthia McKinney] is pushing for the impeachment of President Bush and a quick end to the Iraq war. She also advocates a human rights plan that includes reform of the nation's voting system and slavery reparations for African Americans.

Sounds good to me. What if we all have to vote Green this time? Will that kill us? Or is it about time?? As another piece in the LA Times points out: "Obama, McCain agree on many once-divisive issues".

Rosa Clemente

In stark contrast to Barack Obama's fluff and drivel, McKinney's choice of running mate shows exactly what she's thinking, as Wikipedia reports:

Rosa Alicia Clemente (born 18 April 1972) is a community organizer, journalist and Hip-Hop activist. Born and raised in the South Bronx she is a graduate of the University of Albany and Cornell University. A much sought-after commentator, political activist, community organizer and independent reporter, Clemente has been delivering workshops, presentations and commentary for over ten years.

Clemente's academic work has been dedicated to researching national liberation struggles inside the United States, with a specific focus on the Young Lords Party and the Black Liberation Army. While a student at SUNY Albany, she was President of the Albany State University Black Alliance (ASUBA) and Director of Multicultural Affairs for the Student Association. At Cornell she was a founding member of La Voz Boriken, a social/political organization dedicated to supporting Puerto Rican political prisoners and the independence of Puerto Rico.

And here's Rosa Clemente herself, on being selected to run with Cynthia McKinney:

I am honored and excited to accept this invitation to run with Cynthia McKinney. Cynthia McKinney is a hero to me and many others across this country and around the world for her courage in standing up to George Bush while the Democratic Party establishment caved.

This campaign is the opportunity the Hip-Hop generation has been working for. This is our time to address the issues affecting our communities – rising unemployment, the high cost of food and housing, a lack of quality public education and access to higher education, the prison-industrial complex, and unaccountable corporate media. These issues are not being addressed by either the Republican or Democratic nominee.

I choose to do this, not for me, but for my generation, my community and my daughter. I don't see the Green Party as an alternative; I see it as an imperative. I trust that my Vice Presidential run will inspire all people, but especially young people of color, to recognize that we have more than two choices. Together, we can build the future we've been wanting.

I agree with her on that, but with one reservation: We can build anything we want ... but only if we want it badly enough.

Today's final words come from Rosa Clemente's acceptance speech:

I stand on the shoulders of a generation of young people of color that are united, that clearly understand that we are suffering from structural racism, institutional racism and capitalism.

We are fighting for survival. We fight for the faceless, the mic-less, the speechless. Black and Brown and poor faces.

We are not fighting for the right to a just vote, we are fighting for the right to a just life.

The government of America has perpetrated wars not only abroad but here at home:

• War on drugs.
• War on youth.
• War on those who fight for freedom.
  

We are faced with issues that are getting progressively worse:

• No livable wage.
• No affordable housing.
• The AIDS pandemic in the African and American and Latino community, especially with heterosexual African American women and Latinas.
• Lack of free healthcare system.
• The stranglehold of media conglomerates that do irreparable damage to marginalize communities with stereotypical, racist and sexist propaganda.
  

We can lead the nation with a microphone. Hip-Hop has always been that mic, but now the green can be the power that turns up the volume of that microphone.

When Cynthia McKinney called me and asked me to be her running mate I immediately said yes. That is my personality. To always say yes when it is a cause that relates to justice for people.

And then I got scared. Not because I was asked, but what it means.

What this means for me and my entire generation, the Hip-Hop generation. I am honored to be part of this, because it means that we have now been asked not only to step up but to act up, to act against people who would rather see us crumble than succeed.