“Don’t You Know Who I Am?”

I find it truly amazing that some public figures express outrage when they aren’t recognized by members of the public.

I half expect them to follow up "Don’t you know who I am?" by bellowing, "I’M CHARLES FOSTER KANE!!!"

I’m sorry, but this is the attitude of a spoiled brat. There are six billion people out there, and no matter how famous you are, not everybody is going to have heard of you or be able to recognize you. It should come as no surprise, then, when you run into such people–especially in an age in which the MSM can no longer force-feed the public with the same, "one-size-fits-all" diet of stories about public figures.

Yet some folks still take this attitude.

John Kerry is apparently famous for using the "Don’t you know who I am?" line when denied privileged treatment and is expected to take the kind of treatment everyone else gets.

And he’s not the only one with that mindset.

Witness the current brouhaha surrounding an incident on Capitol Hill where Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney apparently committed assault and battery on a capitol police officer.

According to the AP:

McKinney, 51, scuffled with a police officer on March 29 when she entered a House office building without her identifying lapel pin and did not stop when asked. Several police sources said the officer, who was not identified, asked her three times to stop. When she kept going, he placed a hand somewhere on her and she hit him, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity [SOURCE].

Okay, so the way this works is that ordinary members of the general public have to go through metal detectors, but congressmen get to wear a special pin that identifes them as such and they get to skip the security checkpoint. That already means that they get special treatment compared to members of the public. But McKinney wasn’t wearing her pin and so expected EXTRA-special treatment compared to members of the public (and her own colleagues).

That’s arrogant enough, but I find fascinating the statements issued after the event by her lawyers, who are named James Myart and Michael Raffauf.

Here’s the line Myart is taking (EXCERPTS):

Myart said McKinney would seek a criminal investigation against the officer, and a civil lawsuit against both the officer and the Capitol Police is being explored.

McKinney’s other attorney, Michael Raffauf, downplayed the possibility of pressing charges against the officer, saying, "Not every assault deserves to be criminally prosecuted."

Myart further called the incident racial profiling and said there was "no excuse" for Capitol Police not recognizing his client, and Raffauf said she was stopped solely because of her race, gender and politics.

"It is the job of the Capitol Police to protect members of Congress. As a part of that job, they are to know who those members are," he said. "Whenever you put a police officer out on the street, he is supposed to know his job" [SOURCE].

It seems as if the two lawyers have a kind of "good cop/bad cop" thing going, with Myart threatening a lawsuit against the officer and the capitol police and Raffauf sending the capitol police the not-so-subtle suggestion that "Not every assault deserves to be criminally prosecuted." Put those pieces together and you’ve got a between-the-lines threat/offer of "Drop this case under criminal law and we won’t come after you under civil law."

But not all the pieces here fit together so neatly.

Myart said that the capitol police didn’t recognize Congresswoman McKinney, while Raffauf said she was stopped because of "her race, gender, and politics." I’m sorry, but those two things don’t square. If you don’t recognize someone then how do you know their politics? I assume that McKinney wasn’t wearing anything that identified her political views.

All that–including playing the race and gender cards–is just smokescreen, though.

From the facts presented above, it looks like the officer did what he should have done: Try to stop a person trying to avoid a security checkpoint who was not wearing the pin entitling her to skip it and who was not complying with his instructions to stop.

The idea that he should have recognized her is baloney. There are 535 members of congress, and one cannot expect capitol policemen to recognize them all by sight. That’s why they have the pins in the first place.

(I’m even nervous about them not having to at least show photo ID for inspection at the checkpoint. It seems to me that lookalikes or people with lookalike pins are a potential security threat here. If getting in based on your face alone was enough or simply because you have a pin then it seems to me they’ve got a security hole that they need to close. They may have to now that McKinney’s violent outburst has brought the existence of such pins and the security procedures around them to the attention of the public.)

Unless it emerges that the officer used racial or sexual epithets or that he grabbed her in a grossly inappropriate way (and I’m inclined to give the officer the benefit of the doubt on that one, especially since McKinney seems to be gratuitously playing the race and gender cards) then I support the cop.

The capitol police have already forwarded the case to a federal prosecutor.

Unless new facts emerge, the prosecutor should throw the book at the spoiled brat.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

40 thoughts on ““Don’t You Know Who I Am?””

  1. This isn’t the first time she’s tried to pull this stunt.
    There are a lot of places where you have to wear a badge, pin or some other form of ID (like my local hospital). Why does she think she’s so all fired important?

  2. Jimmy,
    Clearly you don’t have the proper respect for your betters. Just ask Ms. McKinney.
    Cheers,

  3. When will the day come that people no longer buy the “racism/sexism/profiling” argument? Like the boy who cried wolf, you can only rehash the same accusations so many times before people stop accepting them and go, “Maybe not.”
    She broke the law, assaulted an officer, and in an ironic twist is one of the politicians who constantly call for more integrity and higher standards for those in public office (but only in selective instances, like when the office holder is conservative).
    Any other person would be in jail already, with some sort of charges. Why does the law seem to not apply to her? Or, at the very least, why does *she* think the law doesn’t apply?
    Jimmy, spot-on catch of that “Not every assault deserves to be criminally prosecuted” line. Totally biased and leading.

  5. 20 years ago I worked at Cadillac Motor Car Headquarters in Detroit. The main guard was notorious for making sure not a soul entered the building without proper identification prominently displayed, no matter how well the guard knew him or her. I was present one day when the General Manager of Cadillac entered the building and the guard stopped him for not displaying his ID. The guard was rewarded for stopping him, not admonished.
    From some of the news clips I’ve seen, this woman appears to be deliberatly causing problems. If I were her constituent I’d be embarrassed and sure wouldn’t vote for her again.

  6. Here’s a thought. If the security officer’s job is to know all of the *special* people, why on earth are the *special* people wearing the pins in the first place.

  7. It is reported that Ms McKinney is Catholic. Maybe she needs to speak to a spiritual counsellor.

  8. My father has a collection of great stories with a point. One he used to tell us was about someone high up in the Carter administration (sorry, I don’t remember the name).
    It seems this man felt he was too important for secret service checkpoints. The secret service was to recognize his car (whichever he happened to have that day) and open the gate to White House parking area immediately. If he had to slow down, someone would get chewed out.
    So the secret service agents memorized the license plates of all his vehicles, etc. so he didn’t have to slow down. And every day, after he drove in, they notified the person nearest the elevator that he was coming in. And every day, the person sent/took the elevator to the top floor. And every day the administration hot shot had to wait for an elevator.
    And the day he left office, the story was in the Washington papers (with his name) for everyone to laugh at him.

  9. Gotta love politics…
    “Some Republican members of Congress want to commend U.S. Capitol Police after a confrontation between an officer and a congresswoman.The proposed resolution does not mention Georgia Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney or the argument she had last week with a Capitol Police officer who did not recognize her. McKinney allegedly struck the officer.”

  10. They are seriously discussing prosecuting Her Highness for assault and failure to comply with a police officer. As soon as she dragged race into it, I knew she was scared.

  11. Don’t you know who I am?
    I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

  12. Your point, No-Name? If anyone was the “least of these” in this scenario, it was the cop who was simply trying to do his job.

  14. Most famous people seem to want to avoid attracting attention while walking around doing everyday business. Methinks those who say, “Don’t you know who I am?” wish they were more well known than they are.

  15. Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, even after I have been among you such a long time?”

  16. Dude, Jesus is GOD. If you don’t know him, then he can definetely point that out.

  17. “When you elevate the cop, you lower McKinney.”
    McKinney did that herself.
    I see the random comment generator is back in operation. You should get a patent.

  18. We got a no-name troll here, folks.
    Jesus took two attitudes toward people: He was sharp toward the arrogant who needed to be brought down a few pegs, and he was compassionate toward the downtrodden who needed to be lifted up.
    McKinney is far more like the Pharisees who made their phylacteries wide and got their egos punctured by Jesus.
    The copy (so far as has been reported) is much more like the downtrodden by the high and mighty (read: McKinney) who Jesus lifted up.
    Don’t feed the troll.

  19. McKinney did that herself.
    You do it to McKinney with your words.
    McKinney is far more like the Pharisees who made their phylacteries wide and got their egos punctured by Jesus.
    Not after you treat her like a doormat and walk all over her with your words.

  20. You do it to McKinney with your words.
    No, you raise up the arrogant with yours.
    Not after you treat her like a doormat and walk all over her with your words.
    “Whispering harm where harm is not.”

  21. Let he who is without sin cast a stone at her. Jesus came to raise everyone up. Not just the folks you like.


  22. Let he who is without sin cast a stone at her. Jesus came to raise everyone up. Not just the folks you like.

    “Not every assault deserves to be criminally prosecuted.”
    Then it was the teachers of the law casting stones.
    Now it is the writers of the law casting the stones.

  24. Which one is without sin? Let him cast a stone at her.
    McKinney, 51, scuffled with a police officer on March 29 when she entered a House office building without her identifying lapel pin and did not stop when asked.
    “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

  25. “The Capitol Police do an excellent job.” – Rep. Nancy Pelosi, (D) CA 8th Dist.

  26. You can try to justify your hardened hearts all you want. You will not succeed.

  27. “I don’t think it was justified. … I find it hard to see any set of facts that would justify striking a police officer.” – Rep. Nancy Pelosi, (D) CA 8th Dist.

  28. You can try to justify your hardened hearts all you want. You will not succeed.

  29. Anyone who assaults anyone deserves to be criminally prosecuted. For Ms. McKinney to put forth that she’s the innocent party here is laughable. This poor (probably underpaid) civil servant was just trying to do his job. Ms Higher-Than-Thou-McKinney has abused her position in this matter. And by the way, the job of the Capitol Police is to preserve the security of the Capitol, not to cater to Congressmembers.
    I may be mistaken, but I believe that civil charges cannot be filed against a law enforcement member for doing their job. It’s some kind of immunity.
    One last question, would we even be having this discussion if it were John McCain or any other well known MALE (forget the race card even) Congressmember?

  30. Anyone who assaults anyone deserves to be criminally prosecuted.
    Don’t poke me with your Blackberry, but that would include just about everyone on the planet.

  31. [i]”Perhaps the fact that one-third of young black men have police records is not a problem. Maybe the fact that 70 percent of black children are born outside the bonds of marriage is no big deal, and a 72 percent unemployment rate among black male high school drop-outs in their 20s does not signal a crisis. Maybe the serious decline in the marriage rate among black adults does not suggest the demise of a community.
    No, indeed. The biggest problem facing black America involves a white cop who wouldn’t give a black woman her props.” – Cynthia Tucker, Atlanta Journal Constitution
    [/i]
    Somewhere in France, someone is rioting about this.

  32. Two new rules for this thread:
    1) NO MORE ANONYMOUS POSTING. If you’re not using a handle, pick one and stick with it. Anonymous posters in this thread will find their posts deleted.
    2) NO MORE TIT-FOR-TAT POSTING WITH BIBLE VERSES. If you have a case to make, make it, but no more of this “I know you are but what am I?” stuff.

  33. This reminds me of two jokes, one I even heard just tonight.
    We had a fire chief giving a lecture about firefighter history and the need for a greater emphasis on safety in the future at my school tonight.
    He told a story about the day he received a delivery for the then fire chief at his fire house. The delivery was a pair of plush leather seats for his office. He grabbed the phone and called upstairs, saying “the chairs for that fat-butt chief are here.” The voice on the other end was that of the chief.
    “Do you know who I am?! This is [the fire chief]!”
    “Oh. Do you know who I am?”
    “No!”
    “Good, fat-butt!”
    I forget the origin of the other joke.
    Jesus had just finished his lesson about he who is without sin casting the first stone when a rock flew over his head and struck the woman.
    “MOM!”

  34. *laughs*
    I’m going to have to steal the “mom!” joke….
    Ya know, maybe this Congress-creap wanted to be better known, so she’s misbehaving? It’s a pretty common mental quirk– “negative attention” or something?
    (Yes, I consider those who make accusations that can ruin the career chances of someone else, for no good reason, to be creaps.)

  35. I gotta say, if I were the cop, after getting slugged? I’d have dropped her to the floor, cuffed her, and hauled her off to jail straight-away. You don’t assault a police officer. No matter who you are.
    Unless you’re Zha Zha Gabor.

  37. McKinney is right on two counts: this is a racial thing and the cop was wrong; he is guilty of enforcing the law while white.

  38. Which one is without sin? Let him cast a stone at her.
    So can we assume you and McKinney are sinless since you are throwing stones at the cop?

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