Former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and the National Hip-Hop Political convention are teaming up to battle police brutality within in the African American community.
“Cease Fire: Stop Police Brutality,” a five-day national event that calls for participants to engage in non-violent protest against recent acts of police brutality, is scheduled to begin Nov. 21, the anniversary of the Atlanta police slaying of 92 year-old Kathryn Johnston.
Vigils, press conferences, rallies, panel discussions, teach-ins, poetry and concerts will take place through Nov. 25, which marks the one-year anniversary of the shooting death of 23-year-old Sean Bell by New York Police.
"From full body cavity searches of black men on the streets of San Antonio, to DNA samples taken from black men in Charlottesville, Virginia, America's 'War on Terror' has become for some a 'War of terror.'" said McKinney in a statement. "It is time to draw attention to the actions of rogue police officers who target for harassment and even murder the poor and defenseless among us; and it is time to stop it. I support the Hip Hop Community's Cease Fire: Stop Police Terrorism Campaign."
In March 2006, McKinney, then a U.S. Congresswoman, accused a Capitol Police officer of brutality after he tried to stop her from entering the Capitol's Longworth House Office Bldg without showing her badge. The officer claimed it was she who roughed him up when he attempted to keep her out of the building.
McKinney later apologized about the incident on the floor of the House of Representatives, neither admitting to nor denying the charge, stating only that: "There should not have been any physical contact in this incident."
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