Where was Charlie Luken’s teleprompter when he needed it?
The mayor of Cincinnati was on Fountain Square, participating in Unity Day, when he utterly missed his cue. After giving a speech calling for everyone to get along, he left the stage and started working the crowd. This might have seemed good politics — until mayoral candidate Courtis Fuller rose to speak.
Fuller, like Luken a former TV news anchor, opened his remarks by thanking the mayor for participating in Unity Day. All of a sudden Luken’s absence from the stage looked petulant, graceless — as though he couldn’t bear to share the stage with his political opponent.
Some unity.
The theme of Unity Day, observed July 16, was “Changing Hearts and Minds.” No one seemed to see irony in the phrase, which harkened back to the Pentagon’s description of its Vietnam War strategy as “winning hearts and minds.”
Luken was playing cheerleader-in-chief.
He urged people to reject the boycott of Cincinnati called by the Black United Front, ministers’ groups and others.
“Rather than that, be positive about your city,” Luken said. “Stand up for your city.”
But he couldn’t avoid the temptation to chide the people who boo when he’s introduced.
“We come today in the spirit of unity, brotherhood and justice,” Luken said. “It may be difficult for you to hear over some of the voices here. But we are a city in which all voices are heard.”
Fuller, running as the Charter Committee’s candidate, gave a stump speech peppered with quotations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Maya Angelou.
“I stand here convinced that the winds of change are blowing in a new direction for our city,” Fuller said. “Just coming together is not enough. Talk is not enough. Our actions must speak louder than words — actions that promote swift, fundamental change in our city.”
Melanie Bates, candidate for the Cincinnati Board of Education, sized up Fuller’s speech and pronounced it a flop. Bates, like Luken, is a Democrat.
“Fuller missed his opportunity,” Bates said. “With all the media here, he should have talked about his platform.”
But veteran Democratic campaign organizer David Little saw it differently. Fuller roused the crowd, he said.
“It was a good speech,” Little said. “This wasn’t a policy event.”
What exactly was Unity Day? It was an occasion for the Girl Scouts to recruit volunteers. A chance for people to wear black and white ribbons. An opportunity for Gospel singers to belt out one for the Lord.
Luken tried a slogan on the crowd, calling for “Police for Citizens, and Citizens for Police.” But if that’s the meaning of Unity Day, said independent city council candidate Ken Anderson, Luken can have it. Calls for unity in Cincinnati are premature because the city hasn’t yet addressed the issue of police violence, he said.
“They want to gloss it over and have a little feel-good session,” Anderson said. “No! If a dog craps in the corner, you don’t cover it up with straw. You clean it up. We need to clean up city government.”
Hearing this statement, Billy Wethington — replete in a “Changing Hearts and Minds” T-shirt and a black-and-white ribbon — expressed dismay.
“If the people in the inner city teach their children to obey the authorities, there would be no problem,” Wethington said. “If you obey the authorities, they don’t bother you.”
On this issue, of course, Cincinnati has nothing approaching unity. Protest signs on the square denounced the three Cincinnati Police officers indicted in the deaths of African Americans since November. Wethington, who is white, fairly bristles.
“I see people with signs saying, ‘No Justice, No Peace,’ ” he said. “That’s the wrong message to give children. The police are just doing their job.”
If that’s the perspective of the people organizing Unity Day, much changing of hearts and minds remains to be done. A sign aimed at Luken said, “It’s Not Over, Mr. Charlie.”
Left unsaid is the nature of the conflict underway and whether any more will die before it ends.
This article appears in Jul 18-24, 2001.
