Cincinnati-- what the press hasn't told you

[Prader Willi]

The press is reporting that the Cincinnati police have shot and killed 15 black men since 1995. What the press leaves out is that in 10 of these cases the black men had guns and were shooting or were preparing to shoot at the police (in one case a police woman took three slugs from a .357 magnum before she shot and killed the black man). In one case the black man was trying to hit a policeman with a brick. In another case, after a robbing bank, the black man was swinging a 2X4 embedded with nails baseball bat style at the head of a a policeman. Two of the cases involved automobiles. In one of these cases, the policeman shot and killed the black man as he (the policeman) was being drug(spelling?) to his death as the black man was trying was trying to get away.

[bob]

CNN did not leave any facts out. They have some more for you. Some of your facts can be clarified.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/04/13/cincinnati.violence.05/index.html?s=2

"//In the shooting of the 12-year-old, a police officer was killed when the car driven by the suspect dragged him. The officer was able to shoot the boy before he was killed. -CNN //"

[Prader Willi]

Thanks Bob, but you can see that even in the CNN article that the justifications for the shootings are only mentioned briefly. I have yet to see an article that emphasizes that almost all of the shootings were investigated and were found to be justified- and that Black officers were inolved in most of incidents. The emphasis is always that there is an obvious problem with the Cincinnati police- racism, poor training, etc. The local news shows here in Columbus were especially bad. The slant of the news was that because only Black men were shot, that this proves racism in the police force and that the resulting riots were justified. This was done by having 'man in the street' interviews-- asking black men how they felt about the rioting and looting-- the interviews usually said that while they did not condone the lawbreaking, they understood the anger and rage-- and thus the resulting lawbreaking.

[bob]

The main story is why a riot.
Why shoot a traffic offender (Thomas)
Why would Aschroft send investagators there-hope not to just say we are very sorry.

[Prader Willi]

Shooting Thomas was not good, but reporting the other 15 shootings in a (no doubt) purposefully incomplete manner to give the appearance that the Cincinnati policemen have a pattern and predilection for shooting unarmed blackmen is also not good-- it just adds fuel to racial tensions and no doubt increases the liklihood of the rioting and looting.

If 15 blackmen have been shot since 1995 and all but 2 of the shootings have been done in self-defense-- why are we to assume that the Cincinnati police have a problem with racism? Maybe there is a problem elsewhere-- for instance in the neighborhoods these men grew up in.

[bob]

A riot may just prove the police were correct.

[Prader Willi]

For instance, this is what the Columbus (Oh) Dispatch printed today:

"A somber Charlie Luken, mayor of Cincinnati, stood before the mostly black crowd and told citizens that economic parity, social justice and the end of racism are far from reality. But he asked that the day become "a catalyst'' for a new Cincinnati.

"I pledge to you that our city will be better someday. I don't always know how or when. Pray for peace,'' Luken said. "Pray for justice.''

Residents in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood north of downtown believe both of those virtues were in short supply long before Thomas died April 7, becoming the 15th black man killed by police since 1995 -- and the fourth since November. "

http://www.dispatch.com/news/news01/apr01/661731.html

See what I mean?