What? We’re going to pray our way to racial healing? We’re going to speechify a path to fairness? We’re going to walk among historic exhibits in search of justice that still eludes us today?
I don’t think so. It’s going to take more than prayers from the Rev. Billy Graham to bring Cincinnati together. Attorney General John Ashcroft will have to do more than ink his name on a document. And making Cincinnati the epicenter of symbolism for the scourge of slavery by itself won’t bring the races together.
Look. It’s pretty obvious that some fairly tall forces in Cincinnati have orchestrated a trilogy of summer events to try to suck steam out of the boycott that’s put an $11 million hurt on the downtown economy.
Check it out. The collaborative agreement wasn’t just signed by plaintiffs and defendants in a quiet room. Ashcroft himself flew in to sign his name under a bath of media lights. The groundbreaking for the national Underground Railroad Freedom Center wasn’t the usual shovel shuffle. Instead a bridge was covered with a blanket of choir voices while multi-colored hands laced in unity as America’s first lady looked on.
This week thousands of Christians from urban and suburban congregations will jam Paul Brown Stadium to hear Graham extol the message of racial harmony.
Yes, each of these events had a life of its own before Timothy Thomas was killed by Stephen Roach. But their rollout has the feel of a pack of politicians in the media room after a presidential debate.
We’re hearing common phrases such as, “We’re finally coming together” and “No, our problems aren’t all solved, but we’re getting on the right track.” I mean, somebody had to have written some common talking points.
But it would be a huge mistake to think that these three events in quick succession signal a true bridge over Cincinnati’s troubled waters. Short of a miracle on a football field this week, the pesky activists from three boycott groups will likely pick off future entertainers and conventioneers, making Cincinnati’s corporate oligarchy sputter in frustration.
Now if you really want racial trust, act; don’t talk. If you want harmony, do things; don’t sing songs. If you want all the hands joined, take on today’s realities; don’t just build displays noting the horrors of the past.
Clearly the collaborative agreement to end racial profiling was a breakthrough of potential cooperation between the police and citizens. Putting a Smithsonian-level slavery museum on Cincinnati’s riverfront is a national coup. How could it hurt to have 200,000 Cincinnati Christians praying for racial understanding?
But only when the forces that run Cincinnati commit to concrete, uncomfortable steps will Cincinnatians, urban and suburban, find lasting harmony.
Ashcroft could indict police officers Stephen Roach, Patrick Caton and Robert Jorg. That would be action and not just talk. Mayor Charlie Luken and the nine city council members could clamor publicly for those federal indictments. That action would go a long way to gaining faith from the African-American community.
City council and the mayor could settle damage claims with families whose loved ones died at the hands of police. The lawyers for the plaintiffs in the collaborative agreement could be paid for their work. Those are actions that would have meaning.
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center could plan shuttles from their museum on the river 12 blocks north to Over-the-Rhine so visitors could struggle with how the story of the past has lingering economic effects in the present.
Graham could skip a few hours of mass praying and bring to the discussion table Luken, corporate bosses, county politicians and boycott leaders to complete compromises that would seal a lasting unity.
For too long, too many people have naively believed that social ills are cured by hope and prayer. If that were true, the white people of Evendale and Pierce Township, who nearly all go to church on Sundays, wouldn’t hire two controversial cops in their communities while ignoring the deep feelings of their black neighbors.
What the people from Pierce Township and Evendale should do is bag the long drive to the football stadium and head instead to their local government headquarters and demand their elected leaders dismiss Jorg and Roach. That would be action.
Graham, instead of preaching to his minions about the evils of racial division under the baking sun, should direct the entire crowd to call, write or e-mail Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen and demand that officer Jorg be re-charged for choking Roger Owensby Jr. to death.
Graham got to town just in time to read that a cop lied on the stand to protect Jorg. Graham should say from the pulpit, “How could you not re-charge?” That would be action.
He should tell the Christians from Evendale and Pierce Township sitting in front of him in that football stadium to go home and stand with their long-time neighbors, not with a controversial cop they just met.
Sadly, it’s always been this way: People distract themselves with prayer. They love the sound of those Sunday words that have little effect on their weekly actions.
That’s why, when the summer sun sets, it’s more likely that the beat will go on. That those people who do have their minds on freedom will continue to ask for and receive support. That some convention groups and entertainers will continue to withhold money from the downtown economy, that the teeth of the boycott will hold and that eventually the day will come when the only solution will be a series of talks with the right people to find a compromise leading to true unity.
But in the meantime, some things won’t change. Politicians will seek the safety of popular opinion. Museum directors will look only backwards and miss the links with today.
And churches? Oh, those churches, which once prayed while men sold other men as slaves; which once prayed while men put thousands of families on desolate reservations; which even lately prayed while some of their priests rubbed the genitals of young boys. They’ll keep praying and not doing.
Damn, change comes slowly.
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2002.