Friday, September 06, 2002

Lemmie refuses to delay Twitty discipline hearings
It is nice to see a good summary article from City Council. I wish there was a summary article after every Council meeting.

Lemmie’s refusal will presumably end after this afternoon’s news.
Ohio to be short two congressmen this fall
Ohio will be greatly under represented this fall in the creation of the Homeland Security Department and with the likely Iraq War Resolution that will most likely happen after the November Election. Now, I am sure conservatives are looking to say that it everyone else’s fault, but it is clearly one person's fault. That person is Governor Bob Taft. Taft refused to hold special elections, and a foolish judge agreed.
BRONSON: Abstinence works
This is the Peter Bronson I grown to loath. I was starting to feel really troubled having to agree with many of his column on the boycott and related issues. I am feeling much more at home see him be the fundamentalist prude out to indoctrinate everyone's kids with his brand of religion. I wish Peter and his conservative brethren applied their love for abstinence from sex to that of guns. Why not fight to keep guns out the hands kids, as well as keeping their "pee-pee" and "woohoo?" I would instead use the conservative's dogma back against them. Sex doesn't kill, people do!
Evendale hears new protest
This little village has no reason to be going through this nonsense. It would appear that the "protestors" are lacking in something constructive to do, and need to show their inner-city friends that they are just as much with the "movement," despite their generally higher level of success. The TV highlights of the meeting are almost like watching the clown posse of City Access Cable fame.

Thursday, September 05, 2002

Vice Mayor Calls For City Official's Resignation In Wake Of Twitty Indictment
Who is Alicia Reese trying to fool? Fagel may be a jerk, he may be snobbish bore, but why blame this man and undercut the process with baseless implications? Well, that answer is simple: she wants votes! She wants to gain votes in the black community. She has a bit of a PR problem in the black community. Calling for someone else to resign takes big balls in her case. There is more reason for her to resign for the allegations made against her, than there is for this man. The Vice Mayor looks like a cheap politician. That just might be all she is, and ever will be.
My Response to the Comments from Greg Flannery of CityBeat
I will start off by giving an apology to Doug Trapp. As Greg stated, Doug originally used the term "riot" in place of "uprising" and "rebellion", but Greg changed them. Greg then should at least be in my Media Dog House; the Hall of Shame was a bit harsh. I really do not think Greg's reasoning as to why he felt those words were better than "riot" holds up. If the intention was to illustrate the motivations of specific members of Stonewall, then I believe the way those words were used fails at that intention. The words were used in a manner that indicated a fact to the reader, not as the motivator of the people referenced. Here is the paragraph in question from the original article:

More so than the other new board members, Ford, McCleese and Bruins were energized by the social movement that followed the April 2001 uprising in Over-the-Rhine. From the rebellion emerged two new groups -- the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati and Citizens Concerned for Justice -- that joined the Black United Front in a boycott of downtown businesses.

What I found to be the problem is that the article declares that the "events" as Greg called them in his email, were not what motivated them, it was the aftermath of the events. Those events cannot honestly be called an uprising or rebellion. They were riots. I stated in my article that calling them a civil disturbance or unrest was not ideal, but they are politically positive terms for the black activist community that became generally acceptable by most of the media. They became reasonable. They were still not accurate, but they were within reason. By changing these words you spun the story to support the propaganda of boycotters.

As to Greg’s overall comments on the April 2001 riots I can only read it as revisionism. They only day with nonviolent protests was the Saturday after the Funeral of Timothy Thomas. Those were not technically illegal protests, but they were nonviolent. On the nights of rioting there was no nonviolent protests on the streets, at least none to speak of. Claiming that the riots were justified is not only wrong, it is sad. There is no justification to run around town breaking windows, throwing bricks and bottles at white motorists, looting stores, and shooting at police.

Luken's term “terrorist” was correctly used for hate groups like the "Black Fist" and the "New Black Panther Party." Those types of groups, whose members are wrapped up in with the boycott groups, are a few steps from becoming a "PLO" or "Islamic Jihad" type group. At this point the CBUF and the CJC have even been tainted by allegations of the use of threats and intimidation as stated by former Judge Nathaniel Jones. The boycott is extortion, so “terrorist” really is not a bad comparison. I can see where the timing of when Luken used it as a problem, since it was not to long after the 9/11 attacks.

What I find terrible about the entire situation, not so much of an issue with CityBeat, is that several of the boycott demands are things that I would agree with. What I cannot agree with is the means the boycotters seek to gain those demands. Instead of organizing a political campaign, they are trying to force a brand of progressive-populism on the populace with a neo-Leninist style to it. As a liberal I can find it difficult to draw a line with groups that under different circumstance I might find common causes. Instead I am pushed away and blamed for history based on the color of my skin. That is sad.

Boycott supporters vow to intensify efforts
This is yet another advertisement for the racist/bigoted boycott groups. I hope that the Black United Front boycotts all corporations in Cincinnati. I don’t know where they would then eat or buy food, clothes, medicine, or shelter. Will this boycott include not eating at Damon Lynch's restaurant? Why does the Post give these bigots a platform? Why does most of the media either cheer them on, or sit on their hands? Ask some questions Cincinnati media!. No one in any of the boycott groups would ever answer questions from someone like me. I don't care about ratings or votes. I am not afraid of being called a racist. I have already been called that, so I can look their bigotry and their racism in the eye and laugh and feel pity. I really don't know what they will do when their attention whoring no longer attracts the Johns (TV and Newspapers)? It will be a big shock. They will have to stage bigger and more outlandish incidents. This is where they will not be able to hold back the violence that bubbles in many of their supporters. That will not be pleasant to watch, but I will be watching from the comfort of my middle class chair, which they will not be able to knock me off. Their goal of revenge and separatism will not succeed. I wish they would instead get on board the mainstream, or cut out a niche that can fit into the melting pot.