Unrest Lingers in Cincinnati

From his church in the community of Over-the-Rhine, the Rev. Damon Lynch walks along the same streets that last spring were filled with rioters after the police shooting of an unarmed black man.

As he talks with the young adults there, he still hears unrest.

Jobs, job training and the perception of equal opportunity are important, Lynch said. Cincinnati must show it is making progress--not just studying the problems.

“We want something that is sustainable, that can rebuild people’s lives,” he said.

As the trial of the white officer charged with negligent homicide in the shooting death of 19-year-old Timothy Thomas heads to closing arguments today, some residents question whether the promises city officials made to reduce tension will bring change.

“There needs to be some progress, especially the schools,” said Lynette Wright, 34, a nurse’s assistant. “They need to get back and focus on Cincinnati, what’s good for Cincinnati.”

Officer Stephen Roach, 27, faces as much as nine months in jail if convicted of misdemeanor charges of negligent homicide and obstructing official business.

After the April riots, Mayor Charles Luken appointed a commission led by Lynch and business executives to find ways to improve opportunities for blacks, who make up 43% of the city’s 331,000 residents.

Luken says the privately funded commission, Cincinnati Community Action Now, has already had an impact.

It is working with black leaders on a plan for police to reach youths and reduce violence, and it is developing an early childhood reading program. It helped get a measure on the November ballot that would remove the police chief’s and fire chief’s jobs from the civil service and allow Cincinnati to hire chiefs from elsewhere--a key demand of blacks who criticize a promote-from-within tradition.

The riots underscored Over-the-Rhine’s poverty, vacant buildings and substandard housing.

Thomas was the 15th black male to die at the hands of Cincinnati police since 1995.

The police union president has noted that 10 of those men had fired or pointed guns at police officers, and that two drove at officers or dragged them from cars. But Thomas, who was wanted on misdemeanor warrants primarily for traffic offenses, was unarmed.