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Police Attacks: Cincinnati, Ohio and New York City

By VVAW

In the continuing attempt by police around the country to repress the people, Cincinnati, Ohio police attacked and arrested seven people (including four members of VVAW/WSO) who were part of a picket-line at the Cincinnati Federal Courthouse on Sept 17th. The pickets and leaf letters were there for the James Hardy Defense committee, a coalition of groups in Cincinnati built to support a Black community activist on trial for an outrageous charge of "intimidating a police officer" (based on a letter supposedly written by James Hardy to the Cincinnati police chief).

A week earlier, the Defense committee had brought 50 militant demonstrators to a meeting of the city council and forced it to listen to their demands. The picket line was intentionally a small follow-up action, building toward a large demonstration at the beginning of the trial. As the picket line moved around the courthouse, a VVAW/WSO member was stopped by police and asked for her ID; she refused and got back in line. A little later two uniformed policemen approached the one Black member of the picket, Terry Jones, who was leafleting; they asked him for his ID, and he gave them the necessary information (though he did not have the specific ID they wanted). A woman from the picket line went up to Terry and took part of this leaflets; before they could rejoin the line, the police grabbed Terry, saying: "You look like someone who's wanted -- you're under arrest for refusing to identify yourself." When the woman interrupted, she was pushed and knocked to the ground.

Another member of the picket got involved, and, by this time, there were 20 uniformed police as well as 12 plain-clothes men on the scene-- "It was like they were crawling out of the sewers," according to one participant. Since only two uniformed police were evident during the picket, the others were clearly lurking nearby, waiting to spring their ambush even before the first sign of resistance. Police were not grabbing and beating demonstrators; other protesters used their bodies to prevent more beatings of the people who were fighting back. In all, there were seven people arrested: Teddy Jones; four members of VVAW/WSO -- Bob Moore, Laurie O'Gara, David Sell, and Beth Zastrow; and two women working with the Peoples' Health Movement (a group working for better health care in Cincinnati), Nan Hauck and Debby Sweet. They were charged, variously, with assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct. Jury trial begins on October 30.

This attack is another in a series of attacks on VVAW/WSO chapters and members; the assault by police in Shea Stadium against members of the New York City chapter is another example. In this case, still awaiting trial, 6 members were originally arrested; charges have been dropped on all except Danny Friedman whose resistance to the police attack landed one policeman in the hospital. Both there and in Cincinnati, police isolate small groups of people, then provoke an incident to use as justification for their attack.

The reasons behind these attacks are clear. In Cincinnati, a basic cause is racism: the case around James Hardy is racist (he is on trial primarily for being Black), and the incident used to provoke resistance was blatantly racist. But racism does not fall from the skies; what authorities in Cincinnati and around the country see is the growing unity between people struggling together. Unity is something that the US power structure cannot stand. Racism is an age-old device to try to prevent that solidarity from growing, and if no one had come to the support of the Black leaf letter, the police would have accomplished their racist, splitting goals.

Repression is another reason: silence dissent -- paint demonstrators as an isolated bunch of crazies -- divert peoples' attention from the real issues. Time, energy, and money will now be directed toward the battle in the courts. People are forced to focus on working within the system which they know is rotten. Part of the repression is intimidation. The message the police are broadcasting is that militant protest brings reprisals. People in Cincinnati, however, didn't get the message: two weeks later there was a militant demonstration sponsored by VVAW/WSO at the Cincinnati VA Hospital. The threat of physical brutality, fines, and jail still remains; legal fees are high, and people need help. Contributions can be sent to VVAW/WSO, P.O. Box 19302, Cincinnati, Ohio 45219.

The final reason for the series of police attacks is simple fear. The people who run this country are scared -- and with good reason. Imperialism. Whether being defeated in Vietnam or appearing in the form of racism in Cincinnati, or police brutality in New York is on the road to collapse. The imperialists and their tools, such as the local police, will do all they can to stop the growing movement of the people. They are, however, fighting a losing battle as shown by continued demonstrations and other militant actions going on around the country -- for, the people united will never be defeated.