CINCINNATI MARCH FOR JUSTICE
Black-white solidarity keeps police at bay
By Gery
Armsby
Cincinnati
Defying two cloudbursts and weeks of police attempts at
intimidation, 2,500 people from this tense city and all
around the United States rallied and marched for justice and
against racism on June 2.
The event was an encouraging display of multinational
unity against racism, bringing out large contingents from
both Cincinnati's African American community and anti-racist
whites. It was also a step forward that the
anti-globalization movement gave priority to building
solidarity with the Black community against racism.
The demonstration was the latest in a series of actions
stemming from the police killing of Black youth Timothy
Thomas in early April. First, protests on April 9 and 10 and
then a rebellion of African American communities followed
that 15th fatal police shooting of a Black man since
1995.
Cincinnati officials declared a curfew and arrested more
than 700 African Americans during the rebellion. Some 62 are
facing felony charges and 50 are still in jail. Protests at
the jailhouse have continued weekly, with demands for
amnesty. Other actions, including a boycott of the "Taste of
Cincinnati" food festival initiated by the Cincinnati Black
United Front, were called to protest the city's history of
racism and demand it stop.
In a separate June 2 direct action after the larger march,
some 60 to 80 mostly young activists met in Eden Park under
heavy police surveillance. They marched into the more
affluent Mount Adams community, where 12 were arrested.
At the time of the rebellion in April, police had allowed
Mount Adams residents to violate a citywide curfew that was
being brutally enforced in Black neighborhoods like
Over-the-Rhine and the West End.
Timothy Thomas's mother speaks
Among the speakers at the rally was Angela Leisure,
Thomas's mother. Leisure said, "This is a racial issue in a
sense, meaning
all races have to stand together. It's not a Black against
white thing. It's not Black against anything else. This is
the human race against injustice."
Derrick Blassingame, 14, sang from the rally stage: "They
call us violent. They call us illegal protesters--just
because we say what the people want." Later, marchers
repeated this song, which was also heard frequently during
the April uprising.
Robert Williams of the African American Cultural
Commission said, "Timothy Thomas had a right to run [from the
police]. If you are a citizen of the city of Cincinnati and
the police continually pull you over and harass you and
physically assault you, you have a right to run. But they
don't have the right to take your life." Thomas had been
pulled over more than a dozen times in the last four
years.
Jayson Robertson, a student activist, said, "Cincinnati is
the stage. Now is the time to stand up. We want to
revolutionize the system. I am a revolutionary--one for
complete change. Are you a revolutionary?" he asked the
crowd. They roared their affirmative response.
The Rev. Damon Lynch Jr., a well-known civil-rights figure
in Cincinnati, told the crowd: "They want people to think
Cincinnati is just a Reds or Bengals town," referring to the
local professional sports teams. "But people who live here
know it's also a town with deep racism, and at Christmastime
it's a Klan town. ... We want to make Cincinnati a town of
justice."
The rally was co-chaired by Jackie Shropshire of the CBUF
and Dan LaBotz of the Coalition for a Humane Economy.
The Bucket Boys, a local drum corps, led the front of the
march. Behind them a large banner read, "March for Justice,
Cincinnati, June 2, 2001." Along with dozens of "No justice,
no peace" signs was a banner reading "CRY for justice"
carried by a group of high-school students--Cincinnati
Radical Youth.
No justice, no peace,
no racist police
As the marchers left Fountain Square downtown, their first
sight at Vine Street was a line of cops on foot and
horseback. Some held rifles on their hips. Police helicopters
whirred overhead. Aside from this show of force, however, the
police did not move against the main march.
The most popular chants were: "No justice, no peace--no
racist police." Also "Cincinnati, shut it down." And "Justice
for Timothy, jail killer cops, power to the people."
Several marchers laid a wreath of flowers on the spot
where Timothy Thomas had been gunned down as community
residents looked on.
A contingent from the International Action Center
participated in the march. It was comprised of 80 people from
10 different cities. Their banners read "To rebel against
racism is justified, drop all charges now" and "Free Mumia
and all political prisoners," referring to the imprisoned
Black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Imani Henry, an IAC organizer who spent several days in
Cincinnati before the march, observed that "I was impressed
to learn that many anti-globalization activists from this
city cancelled plans to travel to [anti-capitalist protests
in] Quebec last April in order to stay and show solidarity
with the Black community that was under attack.
"Instead, they took on the task of making the connection
between globalization and the living struggle against racism
that is raging right here and all over the U.S. It was the
right thing to do," he said.
The demand for amnesty for the Black youth arrested during
the rebellion, while not an official slogan of the March for
Justice, was raised throughout the march by the IAC and
Workers World Party, as well as by Anti-Racist Action,
Cincinnati Radical Action Group and others.
Free the prisoners
Following the arrest of 12 people at the direct action in
Mount Adams, members of CRAG and other prisoner supporters
camped outside the County Justice Center. They were
supporting not only the "Cincinnati 12" but also the 50 Black
youth held in jail ever since the April rebellion.
The group set up a small encampment of tents and
tarpaulins in front of the jail where they ate, slept, sang
and chanted.
Prisoners could look down through long, narrow windows in
their cells and see supporters in the plaza below. They used
toilet paper to signal messages, which the protesters wrote
down to deliver to the prisoners' loved ones.
Through these notes, protesters learned that one of the
youths had been choked and injured by jail guards or cops.
They summoned medical personnel and sent them into the
jail.
While police forced the encampment to dismantle on June 4
until permits were obtained, community activist Susan Knight
told Workers World the group would maintain a round-the-clock
vigil until all prisoners are released. By 6 p.m. June 5, all
12 arrested in Mount Adams had been released and the vigil
had grown in support of those in jail since mid-April.
A most important struggle
In a statement evaluating the March for Justice, Monica
Moorehead, speaking for the national committee of Workers
World Party, said, "We consider this march a significant
victory for the progressive movement. Our party has always
given priority to the struggle against racism. In this case,
we postponed a national conference we had set for June 2 so
as to support this march and help make it as strong as
possible.
"At the march
we distributed 1,000 copies of our newspaper, which raised
the demand for amnesty and the revolutionary slogan that to
rebel against racism is justified. We recognize also that
simply by mobilizing a significant number of white people to
stand in solidarity with the Black community in Cincinnati,
the organizers in Cincinnati have advanced the struggle
against racism in the United States."
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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