Community leaders in Cincinnati met Monday, August 10, at New Prospect Baptist Church to discuss concerns about transparency about the city’s handling of the downtown fight that has garnered national attention.
Rev. Damon Lynch III showed videos of violent White on White attaks on the Banks downtown, including a woman thrown to the ground and beaten, and said those videos did not go viral and no one was charged in those recent incidents. “They weren’t racial enough,” Pastor Lynch said, adding that the Black people in those videos were pulling the White people off of each other and trying to restore peace. And then Pastor Lynch showed the segment of the video of the violent fight that occured around 3 a.m. on Saturday, July 26, on 4th & Elm Streets downtown. A group of White men could be seen squaring off and seemingly encouraging a group of Black men to fight. One White man and one Black man seemed to lunge at each other. One man, who appeared to be Black, moved between the two to keep the parties apart and then the White man slapped the Black man. A violent brawl immediately followed. Local leaders spoke about the videos, the brawl and law enforcement’s response in the weeks that have followed. So far, five Black men and two Black women have been charged and arrested, and could be facing more than 29 years of imprisonment. None of the White men have been charged.
Ohio State Representative Cecil Thomas began by questioning why Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge and other officials have not announced any charges for a man involved in the fight who appeared to slap another man toward the beginning of the altercation…