We Are Not Finished Yet
CINCINNATI — In the days following the murder of George Floyd, America erupted in a righteous rage as protestors took to the streets demanding an end to systemic racism in policing, an end to police brutality and extrajudicial killings, an end to over-policing and the criminalization of Black neighborhoods, an end to qualified immunity and many more demands long overdue and unmet. As the protests persist, from days to weeks and what will soon be months, the movement for justice and equality is shifting into a new phase.
“In the beginning, people got out and they were impulsive, because they were pissed off,” said Aprina Johnson, a local activist and member of Cincinnati for Racial Justice (CRJ). “People weren’t ready to organize and speak to leadership, but now people are becoming more and more peaceful and organizing, and that’s beautiful. Things are changing.”
The Cincinnati March for Racial Justice in Washington Park on Sunday offered a sharp contrast to the near-constant news clips of violent clashes between police and protesters. Before marching through the streets in Over-the-Rhine, protesters sat on the lawn in spray painted circles separated by six feet as they listened to music interspersed with speakers from CRJ and spoken word poets while vendors sold Black Lives Matter t-shirts to raise money for the cause and artists drew chalk murals on the sidewalks. The event, more reminiscent of a summer music festival than a protest, focused participants on channeling anger into action.
“We are not finished yet,” the Rev. Nelson Pierce, pastor of Beloved Community Church, announced from the stage. “We’ve got to reject the false dichotomies that are presented to us. We’ve got to reject the notion that we can’t call for police accountability, that we can’t call for defunding the police, while saying at the same time that we want crime in our neighborhoods to stop. We can do both at the same time. We have known for decades that the number one way to drive down crime in our communities is to invest in our communities.”
Pierce joined many other activists, both in the community and across the nation, calling to defund the police and re-invest those resources into the communities that have been historically targeted by over-policing, redlining, and housing discrimination.
“Once we address poverty in these neighborhoods, there will be less of a need for police,” said Mona Jenkins, a local activist. “We need to address the root cause of crime in our communities.”
One reason protestors are calling to defund the police is that the police are not properly trained to handle all the different situations they are currently asked to handle and that can lead to an escalation of conflict. According to the Brookings Institute, 9 out of 10 calls for service are for nonviolent encounters. Activists argue that social workers would be better equipped to handle nonviolent situations such as mental health, addiction, and homelessness.
“Every time the police go out to handle a situation they’re not trained to handle, it doesn’t go the way it’s supposed to and someone ends up losing their life and that’s not necessary,” said Jelain Smith, a local activist and member of CRJ.
The Cincinnati March for Racial Justice, like so many other protests across the country, had thousands of protestors of every demographic. Aprina Johnson, a local activist and member of CRJ, said the major difference between these protests and the protests in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri has been the diversity of the protesters. When she was protesting in 2014, the protesters were predominately from the Black community, but now she’s seeing more and more people of all ethnicities joining the Movement for Black Lives.
“People are beginning to see how bad this really is,” Johnson said “There are so many different issues: housing, education, food access, and so on. People need to be aware of the disparities and injustices happening in those areas.”
Other activists attributed the strength and diversity of these protests to social media and a growing awareness of the problems due to the ease of recording police brutality and excessive force on cell phones. Others attributed it to increased awareness and a push for social justice among Millennials and iGen.
“This younger generation is educated, they’re motivated, they do their research, and they’re angry at the injustice they see taking place,” Belle said. “That’s part of the reason the response has been so stark this time. That’s why these protests feel different.”
Jenkins agreed, “Young people are starting to plug-in and listen and realizing their power and wanting to use their power to make changes.”
Jenkins added that the key to building momentum behind the movement is educating people on the complexity and history of the issues facing the Black community, and stressed the importance of coming together to find solutions.
“The community has come to understand that this is a systematic issue, and we do have the power to make this problem go away,” Smith said. “People are finally starting to hear the message.”
As the protests have become more peaceful, media attention has faded, but despite the lack of attention from news organizations, the movement continues to grow.
“We’re getting people mobilized, but this is only the start,” Belle said. “We have to keep the conversation going. We need to get as many people as we can behind us.”
“This is a jump start,” Jenkins said. “Sometimes we go through ups and downs, but we have momentum and I hope we continue this and help more people realize this is life and death for Black folks.”
Despite the many challenges activists face, they are committed to the cause and will carry on advocating for change.
“We have to continue this fight on a daily basis,” Jenkins said. “We need to recognize the injustices that are happening and strategize around how to end them. It’s happening in education. It’s happening in housing. It’s happening in health care and in police brutality. We have to collectively address those issues and ensure they don’t continue.”
Her words echoed those of Rev. Pierce’s speech.
“We can’t do this by ourselves,” Pierce said. “We have to do this together. The people we are up against, the people who want the system to stay the same way, the people who are prospering because the system is the way it is, they are not smarter than us.There are not more of them than there are of us. They aren’t better than us. The only reason they win is because they work together. It’s time to say, ‘We are going to do this together.’ We can do this together, because it’s sill true: the people united will never be defeated.”
Belle summarized the sentiment of determination among activists , “Change comes slow, and change does not come easy, and this is not over.”
