By Sean Marquis
Cincinnati, Ohio, July 16-- At a Saturday morning press conference, the Coalition for Justice and Equality (a coalition of Cincinnati-based community groups) announced a call for an economic boycott against the city of Cincinnati. The boycott was called in response to the city's failure to enact community- proposed solutions to the continuing underlying problems that sparked April's rebellion. In a prepared statement, Rev. James W. Jones spoke for the Coalition. He said that since April's unrest the city has made and broken promises and that, "no meaningful effort has been made to meet the needs and demands of the poor and African American communities in Cincinnati."
He said the Coalition was therefore invoking, "an international boycott" and called for, "international economic sanctions against the Greater Cincinnati area." Rev. Jones also read off a list of community-proposed solutions that the city has so far ignored, among those: a citizen's review panel (for the police department) with direct subpoena power, firing of the Police Chief and the City Manager, changes to the City Charter in relation to the hiring and firing of the Police Chief and police officers and that neighborhood development be integrated into the City Charter.
Addressing those that say community leaders are being too impatient, Rev. Jones had this to say, "perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the full weight of oppression, racism, or segregation on their shoulders to demand that we wait…." "But," he continued, "when you see the vast majority of African Americans, Hispanics and poor whites smothered in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society, when you are forever fighting an economic war just to keep your head above the waters of a degenerating sense of nobody-ness and social deprivation… then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait."
Rev. James stated flatly, "we are tired of Cincinnati Apartheid." The Coalition is made up of various local and national groups including: Inter-Denominational Ministerial Alliance, Cincinnati Radical Action Group, United Farm Workers, March for Justice Steering Committee, African American Cultural Commission and many others. At a separate press conference, the Cincinnati Black United Front (CBUF) also called for economic sanctions against the city and presented a list of demands.
Juleana Frierson, CBUF Chief of Staff, spoke in front of the New Prospect Baptist Church. She said, "the city of Cincinnati has demonstrated an arrogant, non-caring and racist attitude," and that, "city leadership does not understand or accept the legitimate problems underlying April's unrest and therefore they are not serious about change."
Frierson said, "the attempted to pacify our community with the promise of 3,000 youth summer jobs, then reneged on that promise, the city gave millions of dollars to downtown businesses and withheld developmental community funds. It is obvious the city is determined to go back to business as usual as stated by the mayor, that is unacceptable."
While calling for international economic sanctions and a local selective buying campaign, the CBUF presented demands similar to the Coalition for Justice and Equality including City Charter amendments, neighborhood development funding, elimination of racial profiling and a demand for amnesty for all those arrested and jailed during April's rebellion.
A corporate media reporter was disturbed by the call for amnesty (including those who committed violent acts against other people). The reporter asked repeatedly, "don't people need to be held accountable for their actions?" A community activist responded, "what we need in this community is healing. The people in jail need to get out, sit down with the people they hurt, talk, and with mediation reach an understanding and personal solutions. Putting people in jail does not help the community to heal, it simply splinters it further apart." William Kirkland, a community activist and organizer, pointed to many problems in the city and specifically, "police and prosecutorial misconduct." Kirkland said that while pressuring the city to take action, the people needed to take care of themselves as well. He said, "we are here to re-negotiate our relationship as a family, we all stand and fight together, or we fall."
Nancy Bothny represented Amnesty International at the press conference. She said that although Amnesty cannot endorse a boycott, they were in support of community efforts to end discrimination and police abuse. Bothny said that Amnesty was in town for an official inquiry into police abuse, the prosecutor's office and the jail system in Cincinnati. According to Bothny, Amnesty is looking at Cincinnati in the light of human rights violations. She said, "these are not just civil rights violations, but human rights violations. It is a problem for the city of Cincinnati, for the State of Ohio, for the United States and internationally." Amnesty International says that because the US is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the US government can be held accountable in international settings for the actions of the city of Cincinnati.
For continuing information on Cincinnati and the boycott: www.cincyboycott.org
This article will also appear in this week's print version of the Asheville Global Report. For the on line version, check www.agrnews.org
