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People not only believe this sort of thing but get paid to write it: “In a town where racial tensions can’t get much higher, maybe things can begin to smooth out with a handshake and a smile,” declared The Cincinnati Enquirer.
The purpose of Unity Day, organizers said, was for people to “share ideas, a handshake or a smile with someone who doesn’t look like them.” Can you smell a festival coming on? Maybe “Unityoberfest” or “Jammin’ On Justice”?
While people were getting excited about the chance to shake hands with a real live minority, six young people who protested racial injustice and police brutality were on trial in the Hamilton County Courthouse.
Charged with audacity
About 80 people gathered June 2 in Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park. Their mission was to draw attention to the disparity between the way Cincinnati Police treat people in Mount Adams and the way they treat people in inner-city neighborhoods. The specific issue was a citywide curfew in April, during which more than 600 were arrested, most of them African Americans. In Mount Adams, the curfew was flouted, bars stayed open and police pretended not to notice — because most of Mount Adams is white.
An extraordinary trial began July 12 for six of the nine protesters arrested in Mount Adams. All face misdemeanor charges, most for disorderly conduct or resisting arrest.
The protesters have mounted a vigorous defense, and the city seems determined to get a conviction.
Testimony continued July 12 until 9:30 p.m., resumed the next day — and isn’t over yet. Because of scheduling problems, Judge Cheryl Grant has continued the trial in progress until Sept. 19.
David Mitchell, on trial for disorderly conduct, allegedly refused to get out of the street after police repeatedly ordered him to. A reporter for Streetvibes, Mitchell is also charged with resisting arrest. In jail, Mitchell allegedly failed to cooperate with guards, leading to use of a stun gun on him and a charge of obstructing official business.
Carwyl James, charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, allegedly refused to get out of the street when ordered and struggled while being handcuffed.
Catherine Austin and Natalie Nguyen are charged with resisting arrest for allegedly holding on to Mitchell while he was being arrested. Molly Lyons also faces a charge of resisting arrest for allegedly interfering with Mitchell’s arrest.
Jay Marx is charged with audacity: He dared question a cop. The official charge is disorderly conduct — “challenging police under circumstances in which such conduct was likely to provoke a violent response.” Police also say Marx refused to move out of the street, then struggled with officers, leading to a charge of resisting arrest.
Attorney Kenneth Lawson represents the protesters.
Who guards us from the guards?
Austin, from Chicago, says violations of civil rights in the Windy City draw such notables as Rev. Jesse Jackson to march through the streets demanding justice. In fact, Chicago was the site of a rally against police brutality June 2, the same day as protests in Mount Adams.
“They were having a march in Chicago at the same time, but I felt it was more important to come to Cincinnati,” Austin says.
Austin knows some people in Mount Adams still aren’t sure why protesters showed up that day. She laughs about a woman who praised police for protecting her art gallery from protesters who, she feared, might have otherwise destroyed it.
But the fact is the protesters didn’t break anything. They didn’t hurt anybody. They didn’t come to smash windows or tear up the streets. The only violence in Mount Adams was by police officers macing protesters and slamming them to the ground.
The gallery owner’s comments only drive home the point protesters were trying to make. In Mount Adams, police were on hand to protect residents and their property. By contrast, in April in Over-the-Rhine, a man says police shot him with non-lethal ammunition as he picked up his grandchildren at a birthday party, then shot him again as he tried to crawl away. William Edwards, a black business owner, says police broke a beer bottle on his front porch, then maced him.
At trial, Assistant Police Chief Richard Janke testified that police were trying to stop protesters from marching through the streets of Mount Adams. The goal was to prevent property damage, assault or the interruption of business, Janke said.
But protesters say police went far beyond that agenda; they accuse police of combatting a nonviolent protest. Marx, who lives in Washington, D.C., says his only offense was questioning officers on their behavior. In response, an officer grabbed Marx by his collar and, as he stood with his hands behind his back, sprayed Mace in his face.
Janke said he didn’t recognize Marx in the courtroom, but he recognized the others.
Mitchell is the protester Janke probably wishes he could forget. Prior to the march, while the crowd was still gathering at Seasongood Pavilion, Mitchell had argued with Janke, upset about what he says were incidents of police brutality in the city.
A CityBeat reporter heard Janke’s comments in Mount Adams.
“We’re just here to ensure that all you law-abiding citizens don’t do anything illegal,” Janke said. “Because if you were to do something illegal, then we just want to be clear that we are prepared to whack you and take you out if necessary.”
At trial, a video showed Mitchell asking onlookers how many had heard Janke say he was going to whack them. Everyone standing around raised his hand. But during cross-examination, Janke hedged.
“I don’t think I specifically said that to him,” Janke testified.
Janke said he used the word “whacked,” but only to refer to bean-bag missiles officers could use if violence or vandalism occurred.
Missed sushi and other tales of woe
Janke says a flier obtained June 2 by police intelligence raised “significant concern about vandalism, criminal damaging and threats to people and property.”
Carlton Lewis, restaurant manager at Mt. Adams Bar and Grill, had seen a few of the protesters having dinner in his restaurant before hitting the streets. Customers rose to look out the windows or stand on the street and gawk at the protesters, Lewis testified. He said cars couldn’t get through the crowd.
The protesters scared some people away forever, according to Lewis. In fact, some people were so rattled that they still ask about it on a daily basis, he said.
“This type of thing does not happen in Mount Adams,” Lewis testified.
Why did it happen that day?
“I’m still up in the air about it,” he said.
But maybe Lewis should have known why the protesters were so close to his establishment. Mt. Adams Bar and Grill was one of the businesses featured on a TV news report about businesses open during the curfew.
Lewis testified the restaurant stopped serving at 8 p.m., and the people who lingered were neighborhood residents.
The owner of another Mount Adams business testified the protest in Mount Adams on June 2 was so disruptive that some people were denied the right to eat raw fish. Bret Michaud, owner of the Teak Thai Cuisine Bar, whose menu includes sushi, said some people with reservations couldn’t get through Mount Adams due to the protest. Instead of the usual 225 to 300 customers on a Saturday night, Teak Thai had 175.
Michaud testified he didn’t go down the hill to ask what was going on, because he didn’t want to be involved in any trouble. Lawson asked if he wanted to help the police and if he viewed the police as his friends.
“Who would not want to help the police?” Michaud said.
People in Mount Adams must understand that people in poor neighborhoods don’t see police as friends, Austin says. The protesters didn’t go to Mount Adams simply because they are “anarchist children,” but because they had a message to deliver, she says.
Mace her lest she suffocate
Few people got to hear the message, because police blocked the protesters before they could get very far.
Janke testified he told specific protesters to get out of the street. The protesters complied, Austin said.
“Within about 20 seconds of when they said if you don’t get on the sidewalk, we’re going to arrest you, everybody got on the sidewalk,” she said.
Janke says he ordered protesters out of the street so traffic could flow. But a videotape showed parked police cars blocking the streets — not protesters. Janke testified the officers had no other place to park.
A tape showed a CityBeat photographer in the street. Lawson asked Janke if the photographer had been arrested. He had not.
In the end, most of the protesters got on the sidewalk, but then they just stood there. That’s bad, too, according to Janke.
“Most of the people that got on the sidewalk stood on the sidewalk and blocked the narrow sidewalk,” he said.
Janke testified he told officers to get ahead of the protesters and block them from walking through the streets of Mount Adams.
“People are free to walk on the sidewalks in Mount Adams,” he said.
But standing next to the sidewalk in the curb is illegal. Mitchell and James, arms linked, were arrested for doing so.
“Those two subjects insisted on staying on the streets,” Janke said.
As police went to grab the men, they moved onto the sidewalk, where three other protesters allegedly grabbed them in an attempt to hold them back from being arrested. This caused people to fall down, Janke testified, causing concern people on the bottom would be suffocated or injured. In response, officers pulled a few of them out and maced some of them.
Lawson showed a video of an officer holding a can of Mace to the face of a protester who was on the ground. He asked Janke why the woman was being maced. Janke, noticeably upset, testified he could not tell from the tape if the woman was actually sprayed twice, as the tape shows.
Janke then began questioning Lawson, drawing a rebuke from the judge.
“You must only respond to questions, and you cannot give gratuitous testimony,” Grant said.
Janke wasn’t the only one who came under fire from Grant. She warned Lawson about courtroom sound effects — interjections of sounds such as “Oh” when a witness was testifying. Several times Grant admonished defendants and members of the audience not to giggle. ©
This article appears in Jul 18-24, 2001.