Posted on 05/08/2002 5:53:36 AM PDT by yankeedame
Sunday, May 05, 2002
Clinton offers to help city
Racial peace would be visit's aim
By Rosemary Goudreau rgoudreau@enquirer.com
and Tim Bonfield tbonfield@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEW YORK — Former president Bill Clinton said Saturday that he would like to come to Cincinnati to help mediate a solution to the city's racial divisions.
The former president was speaking at an AIDS conference at Columbia University. After the event he shook hands with some of the journalists and researchers in the audience.
In greeting an Enquirer editor, he asked how things were going with Cincinnati's racial situation.
Mr. Clinton said he had planned to offer his help, but then learned of the mediated settlements last month that ended a Department of Jus tice police investigation and a racial-profiling lawsuit against the city.
“I thought it had all been settled,” Mr. Clinton said.
When told the city remains troubled despite the settlement, Mr. Clinton said, “If you think it would help, I would be glad to come.”
Mr. Clinton, an Arkansas native and Yale Law School graduate, said he was con cerned about Cincinnati, noting its location on the border between the North and the South. “We can't have this,” he said of the unrest.
The Justice investigation and multi-party mediation followed Cincinnati's unrest of April 2001, when the city was paralyzed by riots and protest after the police shooting of an unarmed 19-year-old African-American man who was fleeing an officer.
In New York Saturday, the former president made the offer to help Cincinnati a couple of times, expressing a desire to help put systems in place to help move the city forward.
However, he said: “I would like to come but I can't invite myself. Maybe I should call the mayor's office.”
Mayor Luken was vacationing in San Francisco Saturday and could not be reached for comment.
A possible visit by Mr. Clinton could yield some progress in the stalemate that exists between boycotters and city leaders, some involved in the situation said.
“His ability to connect with people and move people is truly amazing. And, sure some people are going to complain and moan about various problems that he had as president. But the fact of the matter is he has a very high degree of experience in helping to resolve very, very difficult situations, ” said Tim Burke, who co-chairs the Hamilton County Demo cratic Party.
“I think he has a level of respect in the minority community — particularly in the African-American community — that could make him very helpful in any kind of a situation like the situation here,” Mr. Burke said. “But ... in the end it's the people in the government of the city of Cincinnati that have to resolve things.”
As president, Mr. Clinton brokered peace agreements between factions in both Northern Ireland and in the Middle East.
“A former president coming (to Cincinnati) could possibly be a good thing,” said the Rev. Damon Lynch III, leader of Cincinnati's Black United Front.
The Rev. Mr. Lynch said Mr. Clinton's presidential legacy focused on volunteerism and racial harmony and that a trip to the city would fit into that.
“I would encourage him to meet with members of the community and members of the boycott groups,” the Rev. Mr. Lynch said. “If former President Clinton is amenable to coming here, I think it's something that should be explored. There are still some substantive issues out there that need to be addressed.”
Republican City Councilman Chris Monzel said Sat urday that he wasn't opposed to a visit by the former Democratic president.
“I don't know that bringing in a third party is going to be helpful,” he said. “The city is moving forward. We're doing good things. We're trying to improve. Sitting down and negotiating the boycott, I don't see that being a helpful thing to do. I've said from day one that we shouldn't be negotiating with the boycotters.”
Mr. Clinton, a Democrat, won the City of Cincinnati vote overwhelmingly in both the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections.
His previous visits have included a major fund-raiser for the Democratic National Committee hosted by local attorney Stan Chesley.
Other national figures who have come to Cincinnati in response to the racial unrest include New York's Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III and NAACP President Kweisi Mfume.
Others have pointedly stayed away, observing or promoting the boycott of the city: Bill Cosby, comic Whoopi Goldberg, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis and most recently, singer Wyclef Jean.
Mr. Andrew Johnson, a Republican, lost the city of Cinncinnati vote overwhelmingly in 1865, and was subsequently impeached by Congress .
What goes around comes around.
As our 'first black president' Bill Clinton did more to racially divide this country since the Civil War!
And we all know how successful those are...
It's a pattern simple enough for even the most blindly parochial left wing reporter to see: it's called a circle. A pretty VICIOUS circle at that.
One of the local radio hosts nailed it perfectly on Sunday when he stated that by the time the Toon is done, we will have tanks rolling through Over the Rhine and homicide bombers on Fountain Square. Please God, get me a job outside of this city.
Throw Clinton in this group and you have the prescription for racial unrest, not the cure.
Somehow I don't think that bombing an aspirin factory in Sudan is going to cut it this time.
God Save America (Please)
Oh, another thing you might try, women. Denise may be busy but I know there are a couple of really slutty honeys over in Covington that would really appeal to him. He does like black women too, you'll remember. Willie's step father has surfaced in recent months after 8 years of being hidden by the media. Maybe Willie's black son, Danny Williams, will come back from Australia to help Willie subjugate Cincinnati.
And it is the height on unselfishness for me to say that, since every day that the Toon is somewhere else is a day he's not here in NY!
I would want him out of town if I lived near him. Why can't he go back to Arkansas as punishment for them foisting him upon our country?
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