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Social Justice Task
Force Accomplishments
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 Below are some of the activities of the Racial Justice
Task Force. As you can see, this group has accomplished a lot in a short
time. If you want to get involved in Racial Justice, join this group of dedicated
people.
WHG Carter Reconciliation Weekend and Fund
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Following the Rev. WHG Carter Reconciliation weekend in January,
we have explored use of the WHG Carter Fund and provided three grants: For a West
Cincinnati Presbyterian Church summer intern for their "Learning is Fun, Fun is
Learning" program.
Partial
support for a young Woodward scholar to attend an Historically Black Colleges tour; and,
Paid for half a water bill to avoid a cut-off for a young mother struggling to recover
from near-loss of her home due to circumstances beyond her control. |
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Sister Church
Partnership
In May 2001, the
Task Force had our first Partnership Meeting, also with West Cincinnati Presbyterian
Church, largely as a result of Sharon's pulpit exchange with Rev. Richard McNeill. We are
just beginning to get to know one another and need to establish friendships and trust
before launching into joint tasks and projects. Cecilia Kloecker is chairing the
Partnership sub-committee of the Racial Justice Task Force. The second meeting of the
developing partnership with West Cincinnati Presbyterian Church will be June 18 @ 7 pm
here at First. All are welcome to come and participate.
March for Justice Rally/March
We applaud Sharon
Dittmar's participation in the Concerned Clergy group and appreciate her courage and
forthright approach to seeking solutions. Over a dozen First Church members participated
in the March for Justice rally and/or March on June 2, 2001.
Teach-ins
Racial Justice Task Force sponsors Four Teach-Ins on Racial Justice
Four Teach-Ins exploring "Racial Inequity in the Criminal Justice System",
"Young & Black", "Use of Force" and the proposed Cincinnati
Charter Amendment to change the method of selection of Police & Fire Chiefs were
presented between September 19-October 9, 2001. First Church was joined by members of St.
John's Unitarian and Mt. Auburn Presbyterian to sponsor the series, with endorsements by
Applied Information Resources, Inc.; Center for Peace Education, Citizens for Civic
Renewal, National Conference for Community and Justice, League of Women Voters of
Cincinnati, United Way, Urban League and Woman's City Club.
Attendance ranged from over 90 at the first two forums to 26 for the final forum on the
Charter amendment. Speakers included prominent Cincinnatians who were experts in
their field, including Mike Allen, County Prosecutor, First Church member Al Gerhardstein,
civil rights attorney, Judge John Burlew; seven enthusiastic and articulate
African-American students from Hughes Center, Aiken High School and St. Ursula Academy;
police trainer Lt. Howard Rauhtz and Sentinels President Scotty Johnson; and NAACP
President Norma Holt-Davis, Fraternal Order of Police President Keith Fangman, Scotty
Johnson and former City Manager Jerry Newfarmer.
What did we learn? Over 50% of jailed prisoners in Ohio are African-Americans, although
they comprise just 11.5 percent of the population. We learned the Prosecutor feels that
because he deals only with cases presented to him, his office does not make arrests, that
he has no impact on who is charged with crimes. Mr. Allen does not see evidence of racism
or racist actions by his staff, therefore there is no need for diversity training. Mr.
Allen was open and responsive to questions although outnumbered by the others on the panel
and he faced a pretty skeptical audience.
The Young and Black forum was attended by 93 citizens, plus the panel of youth and a
skillful Ms. Gloria Turnbow, Youth Coordinator from the NAACP. Ms. Turnbow asked a series
of questions responded to by most of the youth, who were clear and articulate about the
problems they face every day. Some offered suggestions for improved police-community
relations and one young woman plans to run for City Council. The audience would have
liked to hear more, as clearly we are not often exposed to what the community's young
adults think, and their input is invaluable in finding solutions in race relations. We
also learned of the high respect the students have for their teacher, First Churcher
Glenetta Blair.
A smaller audience of 47 attended the "Use of Force: Are Cincinnati's Policies,
Training and Procedures Optimum?" We learned about why and how police pursue
suspected criminals, and how untrained citizens can get hurt trying to deal with someone
with a weapon. Most important, perhaps, was hearing and receiving materials about the
recent US Justice Department Investigation of the Cincinnati Police Department (CPD),
which largely exonerates and puts some perspective on the number and results of Cincinnati
police use of force, including the recent shootings. Lt. Rauhtz' handout showed:
- Weapons used in 2.1% of arrests nationally, 1.4% of CPD
arrests
- Fatal police shootings in 52 largest US jurisdictions
ranks Cincinnati 46 of 52, .295 fatalities per 10,000 arrests. The national median in
.60/10,000
- Cincinnati ranks 31st in fatal shootings per 1000
officers: 1.18 versus 1.45 in Cleveland, 2.37 in New Orleans, 3.27 in San Diego, 3.37 in
Prince George's County.
Scotty Johnson, President of the Cincinnati Sentinels
appeared in full agreement with Lt. Rauhtz's presentation. This forum, as the previous
two, had a high level of audience questions and interaction. It was videotaped by students
from CAC as a project. Two youth from the previous week's panel also attended this forum.
"The Charter Amendment: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down" had very good speakers
addressing the proposed amendment to change the method of selection of the Police and Fire
Chiefs, and declassifying of 85 other top City officials from the civil service system.
Former City Manager Jerry Farmer presented a brief history of the state civil service
system (used by Cincinnati), union bargaining units and past attempts to amend the civil
service protection of police and fire chiefs. Norma Holt-Davis, NAACP President, presented
the position of her organization in favor of Issue 5, and FOP President Keith Fangman
opposed her views on behalf of the uniformed officers and the American Federation of State
& Municipal Employees (AFSME). Scotty Johnson (Sentinels) joined Ms. Davis in favoring
the charter change which would allow a national search for Police and Fire Chiefs and
assistant chiefs. While the audience was small, and largely unfamiliar with Westwood and
the location of the Westwood First Presbyterian Church, those present were genuinely
concerned and many undecided about how they will vote in the November 6, 2001 election.
The objectives of the Teach-In series was to learn, to teach ourselves, how to work for
and improve police-community and general race relations in our City. The committee was
pleased at the high level of interest in the forums, and made an effort to hold each
session in a different church in different neighborhoods. The audience was largely white,
but attracted many who are not members of the sponsoring churches. We selected a topic we
thought would be of particular interest on the Western side of Cincinnati where we have
less church membership and fewer minority residents, perhaps the forum where we attempted
to educate more than ourselves. This was the only forum with a disappointing number in the
audience. The series had good advance publicity with weekly press releases, at least one
of which was printed in full in the Cincinnati Herald. There was good press coverage of
the first forum, and a brief quote from the last one in the Cincinnati Enquirer. We had
hoped that the forums would be taped by a professional who volunteered her time, but
the videographer was unable to complete the task after her car was torched early in the
series.
Despite the horrific national news in September, the series was successful and a similar
effort may be worthwhile again in the future. The turnout indicates there are many in
Cincinnati who are truly concerned about race and community relations, and they are
looking for information and direction about how they can become involved in addressing our
region's problem with race relations. |
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