Cincinnati people's uprising highlights national oppression

On April 7, 2001 Cincinnati police shot to death an unarmed 
Black man, Timothy Thomas. Thomas was 19 years young, and 
the kops used the fact that he had more than a dozen 
outstanding warrants for minor charges like traffic offenses 
as an excuse to gun him down. 

The cops cornered Thomas in an 
alley, and shot him to death while he ran away from them, 
unarmed. When news of Thomas's murder spread through the 
city, the people rose up to voice their protest against yet 
another murder of an innocent Black man by white cops.(1) 

The masses rallied and protested in the streets for five 
days after Thomas's murder before a city-wide curfew was 
imposed by the mayor to squelch the strength of the people's 
numbers in the streets. During the protests property was 
destroyed, and the people fought back against the oppressive 
tactics of the police, like the indiscriminate use of 
teargas and force against the protesters. The curfew imposed 
on April 12 last several days, and the mayor declared the 
curfew "successful" in bringing calm to the city. 

What really needs addressing is why the Black people of the 
United $tates cannot walk about the streets on a daily basis 
without an occupation army harassing them. Why can police 
kill Black people with impunity -- Thomas was the fourth 
Black man killed by Cincinnati police in five months -- but 
when people pack the streets in protest they are met with 
the repressive force of the state? Why is calm in the face 
of injustice "success"? Would there have been a need to 
restore order if Black people in Cincinnati had control of 
their own police? Who was violent first, pigs or protestors? 
Almost 840 people were arrested during the course of the 
uprising in Cincinnati.(2)

Calls for amnesty for all those 
arrested have fallen on deaf ears. On April 20, 2001 the 
prosecutor announced that more than 62 people have been 
indicted, and more indictments may be handed down by the 
grand jury. The felony charges include aggravated rioting, 
breaking and entering, and arson. 61 charged are Black, one 
is white.(2) On April 18, five people filed a federal 
lawsuit against the police, stating that they had been 
attacked by the pigs without warning or provocation.(3) 

MIM's position is that people with badges are not allowed to 
do whatever they want just because there are white 
chauvinist lawyers, police chiefs and judges who will figure 
out how to justify their actions after the fact. The masses' 
right to speak out and organize against pig violence comes 
before disingenuous talk about "restoring order." MIM 
wholeheartedly supports the protesters' demands for an 
overhaul of the police system in Cincinnati and for amnesty 
in the face of the criminal charges.(4) We believe that the 
best solution to police brutality is to replace the existing 
government which robs internal semi-colonies like the Black 
nation of power over their own communities with one that 
realizes their right to self-determination.

Notes: 1. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 22 April 2001, p. A1. 2. 
San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 April 2001, p. A14. 3. AP Story, 
"Lawsuit Filed Against Cincinnati Cops", 20 April 2001. 4. 
Channel 5 News, WLWT Cincinnati, 25 April 2001.