Protest Reports

On October 7 members and supporters of the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) held a rally outside Bricker Hall at the Ohio State University, calling on the administration to terminate its contract with the Wendy’s Corporation. The fast food chain has lucrative contracts with universities across the country. Wendy’s operates a restaurant in the Wexner Medical Center at OSU.

Two years ago OSU administrators signed an agreement with the SFA, promising to end its contract with Wendy’s if the fast food chain did not make a verifiable commitment to fair labor practices in its Florida tomato supply chain. This would have meant joining the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program, which includes a commitment to source its produce only from farms that provide fair pay and safe working conditions to their workers. The program also includes a zero-tolerance policy for slave labor and sexual harassment.

On October 6 followers of evangelist Franklin Graham gathered by the thousands at the Statehouse for a prayer rally. Supporters who arrived on the south side of the Capitol were greeted by counterdemonstrators holding a rainbow banner with the message “Stop the Hate!”

 “We’re here to say that we are human beings,” said Shannon Glatz. “We deserve love, we deserve equal rights, and their hate is not going to be tolerated.”

Graham’s rhetoric at the prayer rally was non-partisan on the surface. But he opposes gay marriage and warned Christians to keep LGBT people away from their children and churches. He also supports Donald Trump’s proposal to end Muslim immigration. Trump supporters were conspicuous in the crowd.

The political atmosphere in Columbus has been tense in the week since protesters shut down a City Council meeting. Activists seeking justice in the police killings of Ty’re King and Henry Green have been waiting to see how City Council would respond.

On Monday members of the People’s Justice Project gathered on the south steps of City Hall with all members of City Council and some of Mayor Ginther’s staff.

“We’re here because we’re tired of being told to wait and to just be quiet,” said Tammy Alsaada, an organizer with the People’s Justice Project. “We’re tired of young people in our communities being killed at the hands of police. We are committed to continuing to demand justice.

“Members of our coalition met with local officials two years ago, after the death of Tamir Rice, because we were afraid the same thing could happen here in Columbus,” Alsaada said. “Our calls were ignored.”

On Thursday, September 30, a group of Black Lives Matter activitsts took a knee for Ty're at North Broadway and High Street in Clintonville, then silently marched up North Broadway to Mayor AndrewGinther's home. The group of around 40 people peacefully protested the recent poice shooting of Ty're King and other Columbus police shootings. The community has noticed that since the shutdown of Monday's Columbus City Council meeting, the Mayor has been silent on the issue. 

On Thursday about 50 demonstrators, most wearing black, marched in a silent mock funeral procession from the Columbus Mennonite Church to the home of Mayor Andrew Ginther in the predominately white neighborhood of Clintonville.

“Mayor Ginther’s inaction speaks louder than words,” said Tynan Krakoff, an organizer with Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ). “Ginther needs to wake up to the racism thriving in Columbus. We are here to demand justice for Ty’re King and Henry Green. We are calling on city officials to invest in communities of color and for the mayor to break his silence and complicity in upholding racism.” SURJ is a national organization of white people organizing to fight against racial injustice.

“As white people, we know that we are treated differently than our neighbors of color, particularly under police programs such as the Summer Safety Initiative,” Krakoff said. “We need to shift our city’s budget away from policing and instead invest in black communities.”

When Columbus residents come to City Hall to voice their concerns, City Council members always thank them for their advocacy, often in tones that stop just short of being patronizing. The City Council meeting on September 26 was no exception. 

“We’re grateful that you’re taking time out of your day to be with us this evening,” City Council President Zach Klein told 150 audience members who came to protest the police killings of Tyre King and Henry Green. “It’s really important with all issues facing the City of Columbus that we have an engaged citizenry,” he said. “I’m grateful for the activism, the determination, the passion, and the resolve for justice, accountability, and transparency.”

The crowd was not interested in Klein’s gratitude. After sitting through two of Council’s agenda items, a woman stood up and shouted, “Will you amend the Columbus city budget to remove the Summer Safety Initiative and replace it with neighborhood programs?”

“I thank you for your advocacy,” Klein responded. “But I respectfully ask that you follow the rules of Council —”

“Yes or no, sir?” the woman shouted. “Your rules are killing us!”

On Thursday evening family, friends, and neighbors of 13-year-old Ty’re King gathered in a field on South 18th Avenue in the Near East Side, close to where King was killed by Columbus police Wednesday evening. Over 200 joined the vigil, including the Columbus Day Stars, King’s middle school football team.

Police say that King was fleeing officers who were investigating an armed robbery, and pulled out what appeared to be a handgun. He was shot multiple times by officer Bryan Mason, a nine-year veteran of the Columbus Police Department. A toy pellet gun was recovered at the scene.

“Ty’re King was a 13-year-old boy,” said Amber Evans of the People’s Justice Project. “For black children, playing with toy guns is considered being armed in the eyes of police. But it’s not the same for white children.”

Lao Tzu said that silence is a source of great strength. This principle was evident on September 12, when about 400 people of faith marched in silence from the First Congregational Church in downtown Columbus to the Ohio Statehouse.

It was a revival, on a much larger scale, of the Moral Monday rallies held at the Statehouse before the November election two years ago. Started by Rev. William Barber in North Carolina, the Moral Monday movement reclaims the moral narrative from the religious right, which in recent years has defined morality almost exclusively in terms of restricting reproductive rights and condemning LGBTQ people.

Rev. Susan Smith modeled the silent march on an event from the height of the civil rights movement. “An attorney’s house was bombed,” she said. “They marched from the University of Tennessee to city hall. All you could hear was the shuffling of people’s feet on the pavement. When you’re marching and you’re silent, people don’t know what to do, except listen. The power comes in the very silence.”

Members of the Ohio Community Rights Network gathered outside the Ohio Statehouse on September 12 to demand the right to ban fracking wastewater injection wells and shale natural gas pipelines in their local communities. They compared the impact of the proposed Nexus Pipeline on Ohio communities to the threat posed by the Dakota Access Pipeline to the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.

Actors impersonating Ohio Governor John Kasich, Secretary of State John Husted, and the oil and gas industry performed a street theater piece that was both entertaining and deadly serious.

Over Labor Day weekend a group of Columbus residents took action against the systemic racism that drives police brutality by restricting the lifeblood of the system: corporate profits. They held an economic blackout (or boycott) of all large corporate enterprises, including chain stores and banks.

About 100 protesters kicked off the blackout by marching from Franklin Park to the King Arts Complex, where organizer Karla Carey explained the blackout strategy. “This weekend we’re asking that if you have to spend money, that you reinvest it in the black community, to keep the black community thriving.”

African Americans only spend about 3 to 5 percent of their dollars in black-owned businesses, Carey said. “Economically, we need to have our voices heard. This makes a difference to the big chains and corporations.”

The discussion then turned to police brutality.  “Ron O’Brien has held the office of County Prosecutor for 18 years,” Carey said. “Not one Columbus police officer has been indicted in a police-related shooting. If you’re OK with that, then don’t vote in November. But if you’re not, vote for Zach Klein.