5 Years Down

For one week, downtown Cincinnati was enveloped with the Civil Unrest of 2001 ignited with the shooting death of Timothy Thomas by the hands of a Cincinnati police officer. This week marks the fifth anniversary of this event which placed Cincinnati in the national news, spurring the boycott of the Cincinnati by a number of prominent African-American performers and entertainers, to include Bill Cosby. African-Americans, along with other concerned residents of Cincinnati, were tired of the confines of institutional racism (the Man), and ventilated their frustration in the form of this unrest.

On this and every anniversary, a number of people continue to complain that we have not learned from the Civil Unrest of 2001. I dis agree. Cincinnati has elected a mayor that seems to be opening dialogue between racial, economic and geographic lines. Cincinnati has also started a number of unconventional attractions that, in theory, should attract more people to the downtown area to include Markets on Main, increasing the operation hours of Findley Market and the first Downtown Hop Around, which is tomorrow night.

It would be easy for us to blame the Cincinnati Police Department for the racial profiling, or the Cincinnati Public Schools for turning their backs on the students who are most in need, but that will not change anything nor help those in most need of a hand out.

To those who believe that Cincinnati has not progressed in the past five years:

If you are complaining that there aren't any lending institutions that will lend to you, find out why and take steps to correct the problem. I have applied for 3 different credit cards in the past 4 years and have been turned down for each one. After the final rejection letter, I decided to obtain my free annual credit report and find out why they were denying me. After initiating a savings plan, which started on Jan 17, 2006, I now have the most money I have ever possessed in my life. That's not saying too much right now, but it's easier to save money when you have a goal.

If you want your child to go to Yale, Tuskeegee or the Virginia Military Institute, don't leave their education in the hands of the Cincinnati Public Schools District (CPS). Even though, I think that CPS is trying their best to educate the children of Cincinnati, their techniques are far from the best. A child's education ultimately falls under the responsibility of the parents/guardian. It is the parent/guardian's obligation to educate their children, it is only CPS's job to do so.

If you do not want to get arrested, don't break the law. It is annoying for me not to simply drive through that traffic light that has just turned red when I am in a hurry. But if I do not want to give a police officer any reason at all to hold me for more than a second, I will wait for the light to go green.

Let's stop complaining about the way that the Man is holding us back. This is a fact that has been well established.

How are we going to change your life so that the Man's hands are less likely to keep us shackled?