Posted on 06/30/2002 10:03:17 AM PDT by yankeedame
Sunday, June 30, 2002
Plane tows boycott banner
At an event aimed to promote unity among blacks and whites, Cincinnati's continued racial division was evident Saturday at the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Billy Graham Mission.
As the Rev. Mr. Graham called on the crowd to join him in prayer, a plane out of Lunken Airport flew over the stadium 10 times pulling a banner that read: “Boycott Cincinnati. www.cincyboycott.org”
“My sense is it did not create any form of distraction,” said Rick Segal, a mission spokesman.
However, Victoria Parks, an African-American woman from College Hill who attended the mission on Saturday, did notice: “I think it is appropriate. I will not be spending any money downtown. Any thinking Christian won't either.”
But she praised the diversity of Saturday night's crowd, and said the mission is what Cincinnati needs. “Nothing is going to change in this city until hearts change,” she said.
The plane's flight along the riverfront began during the Christian pop group DC Talk's performance and lasted about 30 minutes. Some in the crowd pointed at it, but the fly-over did not stir the crowd.
Some groups have called for entertainers and convention planners to boycott Cincinnati until the city deals with its racial problems. The boycott came after three days of race riots in April 2001.
Lunken Airport Manager Dan Dickten said the pilot was not in violation of no-fly zones.
“The airport and City of Cincinnati had nothing to do with the banner being towed,” he said. “We have private tenants and businesses here at the field that pay us rent. They have a right to use the airport for aviation purposes. We had no knowledge this banner was going to be flown, and we have no control over such things as that.”
The municipal airport had received several complaints about the banner.
What this is, is "extortion", or more correctly "protection", at least that is what the Feds called it when Al Capone did it. ("Real nice business you got here, palie...same if anything should happen to it.")
The hypocrites that put the banner in the air are only interested in seeing what kind of protection money they can shake out of the city. They don't care about racial harmony, or they would be down there with the honest hearts moving towards Christ. It's all about the Benjamins. Al Capone was an amateur compared to these guys. I hope we have the balls to go after them the same way the Feds got Al. If he had only had the sense to be black, Al would never have been sent to prison, because then, he could have just had a smarmy lawyer play the race card...Chicago would still belong to him if he was black.
No, actually, what this is, is a third party boycott called for by a corporation, an apparant felony violation of the felony provisions of the Sherman Anti-trust Act. Though labour unions are exempted, other corporations are not, though I'll admit not knowing as to whether this group is so constituted in Ohio or any other state, nor if they hold 501c3 status.
But it's not only a felony to commit such an illegal act, but to solicit one as well. Let's see if the Ohio prosecutors and Attorney General know the law, and enforce it.
-archy-/-
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The "leadership" in Cincy that emerged from last year's riots are so divided they can't even all agree on the boycott.
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