Protesters then marched on the police headquarters to express their determination to see justice done. Roach is charged with negligent homicide and obstructing official business, the least-serious charges that could have been filed against him. The cop, who has been assigned to desk duty, has plead not guilty.

"It's very hard for me to call for peace because there is no peace inside of me," Angela Leisure, mother of Timothy Thomas, told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "I don't want anyone to be in the same situation as me. This [indictment] says, 'That's OK, well, you did this. We're going to give you a time-out. It's not severe.'"

The next day 150 people participated in what became a a four-hour protest through the downtown streets and at city hall. "No justice, no peace; no racist police!" young people chanted during the roving protest.

The indictment is "a slap in the face to the Black community," said Allison Cox, a 25-year-old photography student. "It needs to be appealed and we have to be consistent...we have to be out here every day protesting."

"This problem is bigger than Officer Roach or Cincinnati," said Dion McClendon. "It's the whole state of Ohio and country. We have no right to self-defense against the cops. And the court system backs the cops."

Tyrone Stevenson agreed. "They don't treat us fair," he said. "The Tuesday after Timothy Thomas was killed, I was arrested for walking across a street," in the Black working-class community of Over-the-Rhine. "I wasn't throwing bricks or breaking windows, but they arrested me and made me sit in a van for five hours before they ever went to the station. I'm innocent. I go to trial on May 16 on a misdemeanor charge. Officer Roach got charged with a misdemeanor for killing someone."

Kimberly Jordan, a student at the University of Cincinnati, was helping to lead chants. "We need real change, and it's got to start with Officer Roach. I think Mike Allen should act like a prosecutor and not like officer Roach's defense attorney. How can he say the killing was unintentional when he shot him in the chest?"

When asked about future plans, Rev. Damon Lynch III, one of the organizers of the actions, said, "We plan to disrupt the city. There will be no business as usual."

An earlier demonstration on May 4 in front of the Hamilton County Justice Center and jailhouse demanded "Amnesty now!" for those still locked up during the rebellion against the police killing of Thomas. As the action proceeded around the jail, several of those who remain incarcerated responded from windows with clinched fists and chants.

"Amnesty for all those arrested during the rebellion," remarked Derrick Blassingame, a 14-year-old student at Frederick Douglas Jr. High School. Blassingame, president of the Black Youth Coalition Against Civil Injustice, was one of the more than 60 people at the Friday afternoon picket for the third consecutive week. Members of various youth groups and the Cincinnati Black United Front have participated in the actions.

Blassingame emphasized the days of protests and the mass outrage from the April 9 city council meeting following the death of Thomas--the fourth Black person killed by police since November--was not rioting but a "rebellion with a cause" and a demand for justice.

Demonstrators marched through downtown waving signs reading, "Stop police brutality!" and "Amnesty now!"

Osborne Hart is a meat packer and member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 876. He is also the Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of Detroit.
 
 
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Stand up to cop brutality
Protest in New Jersey condemns police killing
Conviction won in 1963 racist bombing
Penn State students respond to racist threats  
 
 
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