------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the June 14, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- 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." - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. 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