...thanks to the Beacon. Let me say that I (Barry) fully support this statement and sign onto its language.
Dear President Smitherman:
Recently, you asked Councilmember Jeff Berding to repudiate alleged racist language from Westwood Concern.
Admittedly, though, Westwood Concern might periodically engage a position or an issue with which Councilmember Berding agrees—even if he does not, for example, support everything said by someone like Melva Gweyn.
Nevertheless, it appears right (and your intent) for Jeff Berding to repudiate such inappropriate behavior or words—even if, on other issues, he finds reason to agree with Westwood Concern.
After all, forming alliances with people, even if there are differences, can prove fruitful—as the local NAACP has experienced under your presidency. At the same time, leaders must make clear they can draw a line when it comes to inappropriate behavior, speech, and so forth.
Therefore, we would like to call on you today to make some clear and public repudiations.
As you may know, Christopher Finney, your organization’s Chair of Legal Redress, has appeared in media with statements that many consider anti-gay bigotry. He has said, for example, that restaurants should be able to refuse service to gay patrons—a heterosexist position.
Similarly, Charlie Winburn, a Republican who has been quite visible in his support of every NAACP issue, was a member of the staff of CCV as recently as last Spring. As you know, CCV is an extreme right-winged organization that supported the implementation of Article XII.
It would only be appropriate, then, for you to meet your own standard, repudiating the anti-gay statements and affiliations of Christopher Finney, Charlie Winburn, and the CCV. We, the undersigned, hereby call on you to do exactly that—showing you can meet the same standard you expect of others.
The HamCo GOP has made their endorsement for the mayoral race to run against Mark Mallory -- Dr. Brad Wenstrup. The decision is met with some enthusiasm, but a lot of "huh? what?" Dr. Wenstrup has no political experience, but he is a highly decorated Iraq war veteran. He also served as the Chief of Surgery at, of all places, Abu Ghraib.
...but somehow that's not a problem.
In short: the local Republicans have nominated a pretty face with a strong-ish past in a desperate effort to appear relevant in comparison to a semi-popular mayor. I doubt the Abu Ghraib thing will play at all locally, much to the disappointment of Tony Fischer who is running for Council who seems to want to play up the Iraq bit, as well, in his campaign. (Word to the wise: international war politics probably don't play well locally, and the Iraq War... well, do you want to go there?) The HamCo GOP blog seems to be very excited about their pick, though you'll find information on Wenstrup's webpage as yet unfulfilling.
Funny, those two -- Fischer and Wenstrup. I suppose if anytime is the right time to make the attempt and move on up, now is it. I'll be curious to see if the "cutie [single] Cincinnati boy home from Iraq dying to make a difference at home" line will work, for either of them.
Another fun little thought: the above picture was taken from a COAST blog posting. Chris Finney is "involved" with COAST, as is, I believe, Chris Smitherman. I wonder if Smitherman and the NAACP will ultimately endorse Wenstrup thanks to pressure from Finney and COAST, and due to the ongoing (and seemingly unresolvable) difficulties between Smitherman and Mallory. It's just a thought, though...
PS --> Wenstrup was recently featured as one of Cincinnati's own "Dr. McDreamy's," so the good doctor has some "good looks street cred."
I don't have anything official for you guys yet -- pictures, quotes, etc. -- but I have received several phone calls today that IMPACTCincinnati's presence at the City Council meeting, along with the NAACP and the African-American community, is the beginning of something beautiful.
Word on the street was that local fabulosity, Jill Benavides, more or less rocked out her speech to Council, and the collected community was hugely receptive to the dialogue they have proposed. Word is that even Smitherman was receptive to beginning the change that needs to happen between the LGBT and African-American communities, addressing each's concerns about the other (both racism in the LGBT community and homophobia/heterosexism in communities of color).
Honestly, I wasn't sure this morning, and I had received a lot of negative responses to IMPACT's proposal, from people I love and respect. I think, however, from everything I'm hearing, it was the right thing to do at the right time.
Word on the steret is that both the Cincinnati Beacon and CityBeat were there. Keep an eye out for their responses.
Update: This also got posted on both the Beacon and Back2Stonewall.com, an interview with Cameron and Jill:
There is clear evidence presented before the Council and the people of Cincinnati that inequities exist in the awarding of city contracts. As members of a minority community, we share the concerns of the NAACP about this major issue. The healthy development of any urban area depends upon a wide variety of viewpoints and expertise in its active creation. Any potential discrimination to silence those views must be considered seriously and thoroughly by officials elected to represent the spectrum of our greater community.
With this in mind, IMPACT Cincinnati applauds and endorses Council members Laketa Cole and Cecil Thomas for their seriousness in grappling with this contentious debate and proposing the creation of a Minority Business Task Force. We encourage dialogue that approaches the problem from all views, whether they are around race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or gender identity. Further, IMPACT Cincinnati views the appointment of Rea N. Waldon, Ph.D. of the Urban League to lead the OPEN Cincinnati MBE/SBE Taskforce as a positive step in the creation of truly comprehensive protection for all potential minority contractors in the Greater Cincinnati area.
We will maintain a close watch on the study and results of this committee and will actively promote the enforcement of its guidelines to create a fairer and more transparent Cincinnati. In the words of our own city creed, we are strengthened in our unity. In a gesture of acknowledgement to that fact, we further recognize the major stumbling block that racism is in the LGBTQ community. No minority group can expect equality for itself while perpetuating the oppression of another. In the words of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. Whether we are black or white, gay or straight or any mixture of the thousands of spectrums that make us all unique humans, we must support one another in our quest to be fully accepted as ourselves. We therefore are encouraging all members of the LGBTQ community in Cincinnati to join the NAACP on April 8th at 12:30 pm at the Cincinnati City Council meeting to promote awareness of the injustice perpetuated upon another minority group and so that the entire range of discrimination can be fully recognized.
In so doing we ask the local NAACP, as leaders of the African American community, to take a meaningful look at the issue of homophobia and the detrimental effects it has on members of their own community who identify as LGBTQ and respectfully challenge both the African American and LGBTQ communities in Cincinnati to find a way to engage in a meaningful dialogue around the issues that hinder our own mutual acceptance. It is not merely enough for us to acknowledge racism in our own backyard. For true acceptance, both sides must grasp the problems that stand between them and work with good faith to overcome them. Therefore, we are proposing a series of forums to discuss the intersection of racism and homophobia. Only through honest and forthright discussion can we come to a point of acknowledging what we can do to move beyond wounds that have festered for too long.
IMPACT Cincinnati, as a collection of individual grassroots activists from wide-ranging backgrounds, has been founded on the idea, and continues to believe, that the arc of history bends towards justice ... but occasionally needs a little nudge. Therefore, we hope and expect that our fellow members of the social justice movement will join us in this comprehensive endeavor to create a greater Cincinnati.
"We at Equality Cincinnati were disappointed at the recent news regarding the retention by the local NAACP chapter of Chris Finney as legal counsel. We hope this does not signal a change in what we can expect from the NAACP in the future. While the local NAACP chapter did not support the repeal of Cincinnati's notorious anti-gay law known as Article 12 in 2004, Mr. Smitherman and many individual leaders and members of the local NAACP did. Furthermore, the national NAACP has long made clear its support for LGBT rights. Additionally, Equality Cincinnati and others in the LGBT community supported Mr. Smitherman in his re-election campaign in 2005.
Mr. Finney has a been a leader of groups opposing equality for LGBT person and continues to actively work to undermine any progress we have made. We would remind Mr. Smitherman that the LGBT community knows no color lines. So the issues of importance to the African American community are also of importance to the LGBT community.
As the leader of an LGBT organization, I take my duty to the entire LGBT community quite seriously. And I take seriously the dual nature of many of their identities. Many of our members are women and LGBT, or persons of color, and LGBT, or persons of various faiths, and LGBT. Equality Cincinnati must be mindful of these dual or multiple group identities in order to best represent our community.
We would also hope that when the NAACP represents African Americans, they are speaking for and representing LGBT African Americans. When Mr. Smitherman said that he cannot be concerned with the interests of "any other constituency group", was he suggesting that the NAACP does not consider itself to represent its LGBT members? Or their interests. Clearly, the national NAACP is highly supportive of LGBT civil rights issues and we hope the local chapter will continue to supportive as well.“
Hot off the presses. Lynne Bowman, executive director of Equality Ohio, forwarded this to me (and Wolfie) to put out regarding the Cincinnati NAACP's Appointment of archconservative, anti-gay activist Chris Finney as the Chair of Legal Redress:
Equality Ohio is very concerned about the decision of the Cincinnati NAACP Chapter to appoint Chris Finney as chair of Legal Redress. The national NAACP is supportive of full inclusion and protection of all people, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and locally President Smitherman was himself supportive of the repeal of Article XII. It is very odd that an organization with civil rights at its core would appoint a person who has demonstrated opposition to equal protection for all people. While homophobia has an adverse affect on LGBT people in general, it has an even more serious impact on LGBT African-Americans, exacerbating existing issues of under-employment, HIV/AIDS, and access to appropriate healthcare. We hope that in the 17 years since he wrote the charter amendment effectively exiling LGBT people of all colors from full citizenship and protections in Cincinnati , Mr. Finney has learned not just the value of LGBT people but that of all people and families in Cincinnati . We know that leadership of the local LGBT equality organization, Equality Cincinnati, has reached out to Chapter President Smitherman to discuss the current situation and as the state organization, we look forward to learning more about Mr. Finney’s current positions on equality issues related to the need for full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents of Cincinnati.
If you haven't been keeping up, here, check out this post which, I think, gives the most information without you having to jump around a whole lot (and the ensuing controversy). Or check out the original Beacon post.
And, with that, I'm done blogging for the morning. :-)
“I think you should be very, very cautious LGBT community,” Smitherman said. “I think you should be very cautious moving forward. I don't think this is a tree you want to bark up. But if you want to go there, if this is what you want to do, we can go there.
“But the bottom line is your community as it deals with racism in the African-American community, you’re not there,” he continued. “You're absent. And then when it's convenient for you, you start evoking (sic) Dr. Martin Luther King. Proposition 8 lost in California because the (gay) community isn't properly engaging the African-American community. And you're showin' up at the last minute trying to build bridges and have relationships, and it doesn't work that way.”
I do like his point: "It's not enough to just talk about Martin Luther King."
Meanwhile, he makes an interesting point: "How can you be racist and be gay? It's an oxymoron to me." In the end, I think, racist pervades regardless of other minority indicators. But, then again, so does homophobia and heterosexism.
Update: I just cut a lot out of this blog post. I'll let you guys do the talking. Tell me what you think. Also, if you decide to repost, just give us a heads up so we can track it across the world-wide-weirdness known as teh interweb. Like this post from the Lavender Newswire, which is about to be blogrolled here at QueerCincinnati.com, and the ever angry :-) Wolfie at Back2Stonewall.com,, and don't forget the Cincinnati Black Blog's reaction, as well as Cincinnati blog.
Update: This blog was linked on Towleroad.com -- Thanks, Andy! -- and I wanted to welcome all the Towleroad readers over here to QueerCincinnati.com! To follow up with this story, there are lots of links in the follow posting, and you can check out my two other responses (Part 1, and Part 2). To sum up, for your benefit: Chris Smitherman, Cincinnati politician and President of the local NAACP and a historical supporter of LGBT rights here in the 'Nati, brought Chris Finney, arch-conservative firebrand and historical anti-gay activist, as the Chair of Legal Redress for the local organization. This details the further fallout of that decision...
I don't think we've ever gotten to a "Part Three" on any topic here at QueerCincinnati.com. Interesting. Those pictures are awful of both of them, btw.
I've been given the heads up by my "hacker" -- the mysterious person sending me links via my own account -- about two CityBeat bits that have come out about the Smitherman-Finney relationship. First, CityBeat (in its most recent issue) gives us a great lay out of Finney's history of anti-gay work here in town, including the first indication from Smitherman on his position:
“Chris Finney has done a fabulous job for the NAACP over the last two years,” Smitherman says, referring to successful ballot issues that blocked a sales tax increase to build a new jail and repealed City Council’s decision to install red-light cameras at intersections. “He has earned our confidence in him with our legal work. I cannot be concerned with the interests of any other constituency group. I must look out for the interests of our membership.”
Hm. OK. Meanwhile, a blog post at CityBeat goes a little further into Smitherman's position:
Finney has belonged to the NAACP’s local chapter for about three years, Smitherman added. With his recent appointment as “chair of legal redress,” Finney becomes one of two white members on the chapter’s executive committee.
“You have to practice what you preach,” Smitherman said.
“As if I would care what they think about that. They don’t have a relationship with the Cincinnati NAACP,” Smitherman said. “(Finney’s) been working and communicating with us. The question is, where are these other communities?”
In fact, Smitherman dismisses much of the criticism about the appointment as instigated by the Hamilton County Democratic Party. Noting that the local party has opposed the NAACP chapter’s last three efforts — blocking a sales tax hike to build a new jail, overturning City Council’s approval of red-light cameras and trying to revive Proportional Representation — he said thoughtful residents should be more angered at the party.
“There’s no issue that we’ve put on (the ballot) that the Democratic Party has supported,” Smitherman said. “People call Chris Finney radical, but it’s the positions of the local Democratic Party that are radical.”
OK. Strange. George Ellis, President of Equality Cincinnati, in the former article, states that he would like to speak specifically to Smitherman about this appointment before any position is made. Ellis and I disagree on a lot, and I'll be interested to know the outcome of that meeting -- seriously, I would.
Smitherman has made, in the past, some excellent points about racism within the gay community. And I'm not going to say its unfair for him to go a step farther and ask where were these groups when the NAACP needed them? I think that's kind of the point of a progressive movment, isn't it? To build a movement, and to work together. So I'm not going to say Smitherman is completely off-balance by saying any of that. I think they are valid and interesting points to bring to the table when discussing LGBT-African American relations, especially in a city like Cincinnati.
With no snarkiness, and absolutely no backstabbing or bitchiness, I'll say that I'm curious to know the outcome of a potential Equality Cincinnati-NAACP meeting over this very issue.
Meanwhile, friend Texas Liberal, a former Cincinnati resident, makes a fascinating connection: "Writing about this issue and seeing that Chris Finney is still causing trouble after I’ve been away from Cincinnati for 11 years reminds me of the Jean Sartre play No Exit. The same people year after year after year afflicting each other by dredging up bad memories and the inability to leave the room even though they may in fact have the option to go elsewhere."
And the Cincinnati Black Blog is up in an uproar over the -- ahem -- uproar: "The Beacon Boys are, quite predictably, mad about the appointment. They object to Finney because of his history of opposing special rights for white male homosexuals who want affirmative action and preferential treatment because of who they sleep with, even though there is no history of homosexuals, as a group, being denied jobs and contracts based on their sexual orientation." To which I have one response: why does anyone read the Cincinnati Black Blog? Why do I? I think it's just to get angry in the morning.
Finally, our friend Wolfie at Back2Stonewall.com is making waves trying to get in touch with the National NAACP over the appointment. He received this response: "As you know the NAACP’s national position does not condone any discrimination or denial of civil and human rights and that includes towards the LGBT community." He's waiting on further response.
As for me... well...
...this is my first foray into politics, so I'm sitting back and listening, wondering, and reading. Except to say: maybe black folk aren't wrong. Maybe it's time we stood up for them at some point, too, instead of expecting them to stand up for us.
Oh, and I just got another heads up from my hacker that Christopher Smitherman hosts a show every Saturday from 5:00pm-6:30pm on 1230am/WDBZ. It's a call-in program, apparently. I don't know. Again, I'm just sayin'
My last blog post was long and rambling, so I'll try to condense it down:
The NAACP of Cincinnati has hired Chris Finney to be their Director of Legal Redress, despite his conservative and anti-gay history. The national NAACP, the local NAACP, and the local chairperson (Christopher Smitherman) have, in the past, been in general support of LGBT rights in the city and in the country as a whole.
Thus, QueerCincinnati.com's take on the whole situation is thus: Why Chris Finney?
I think it's a fair question, considering Finney's history as a conservative firebrand quick to shout an opponent down and do anything to win a campaign. Are we appealing to what people believe as "central Cincinnati conservativism," does it indicate a shift to a more aggressive local NAACP, or does the pick indicate the NAACP, locally, is moving away from its progressive roots to move more within the conservative halls of the local body politic?
And where does that leave the relationship between the local NAACP and local gay rights organizations?
In short: Why Chris Finney? Totally reasonable to ask, IMHO.
There, much better. It helps to write everything down in one sitting instead of coming back to it a couple of times.
The Beacon has posted a bit on the Cincinnati NAACP's recent decision to hire Chris Finney as the Chair of Legal Redress. It's an interesting read, even if you aren't familiar with Chris Finney. And, truth be told, I had no idea who he was until yesterday when someone mentioned him in passing in conversation.
Update: the Cincinnati Blog also calls out the move as the "they [the NAACP] must believe Civil Rights no longer matter."
It's amazing how things like this come together.
There are two central points to the Beacon article:
1) Chris Finney has a long history of being a conservative activist and attempted to make sure that hate crime laws in Cincinnati did not cover sexual orientation. More importantly, he was one of the authors and main supporters of Issue 3 here in town -- "Issue 3," btw, became the infamous Article XII that specifically barred protections for LGBT Cincinnatians.
2) The NAACP, though the national organization's board is support of the LGBT community, and the local President (Chris Smitherman) has been supportive in the past, is making a very strange decision here.
And it is a strange choice.
Mr. Finney is no stranger to the news, though, a simple Google search brings up a host of news articles and blog postings -- everything to coverage of an outburst Finney had during a Pepper news conference to a Business Courier article on his mean-spirited tactics in campaigns to not supporting the repeal of Article XII in 2004 to his involvement in banning red light cameras in both Toledo and Cincinnati (and, in his defense, his defense of a woman who was trying to seek visitation rights from her ex-husband). In short, the man is a conservative firebrand, it seems, who does not shy away from the public spotlight. (Not unlike us bloggers, sometimes :-) -- I'll own up to it, at least.) So, why would the NAACP -- a more progressive organization -- hire Finney to represent them? Finney just led the NAACP lawsuit against the City of Cincinnati over the powers of the City Manager. The relationship appears to have begun over the red light camera bits, with Finney working with COAST (Coalition to Oppose Additional Spending and Taxes), which is the earliest connection I could find.
I mean, I think there is a valid point that Smitherman brought up after his failed re-election bid:
That leads him to the biggest disappointment of his re-election campaign: the failure of the gay white community to return the favor. Smitherman says he traded a lot of political capital to support the repeal of Article 12, an unpopular issue with his African-American base.
But he hasn’t seen the gay community support Roger Owensby Sr.’s campaign to get justice for his son, an unarmed man who died in police custody in 2000. Nor did they lend meaningful support to his re-election campaign, Smitherman says.
“When the repeal of Article 12 happened (they said) ‘We need to be on the Buzz (WDBZ, 1230 AM), we need to be on WCIN, we need to be on 1320, we need to be at every church everywhere,’ so we know that you know where the churches are, we know that you know where the radio stations are,” Smitherman says. “But when one of their biggest advocates is up for re-election and then they’re reading The Enquirer—that maligned their community, that doesn’t support them—and then you believe what you read in The Enquirer about me, there’s something sick about you.”
He says the gay community must address racism within its ranks, which contributes to a rift with the African-American community.
“They, meaning the gay community, take no responsibility for that disconnection,” Smitherman says. “They just say, ‘The black community is homophobic,’ not ‘We’re just adding to the broken relationship by taking and not giving.’ “
He concedes that racism can flow both—many—ways.
True -- racism within the gay community is something that I think we should look at very specifically. And, yes, I think there is some valid point to be made that, though we ask for a lot of support for gay issues, we don't necessarily step up for them when they need it.
However, with the national NAACP, there is a growing support of LGBT issues, as evidenced by this video by Chairman Julian Bond supporting the NO on 8 movement:
And this even more recent message to the HRC stating that gay rights are civil rights:
Appropriately, it would be good to remember that it works the other way (gay rights are civil rights; but, perhaps as importantly, civil rights include gay rights).
Regardless...
Back to Chris Finney.
I think this is turning out to be one of those, "I'm not sayin' anything, I'm just sayin'" posts. Except for two points for me:
1) Why Chris Finney? Though the thought seems to be that a) he's won some court cases for them (and may, in fact, be a good lawyer... and some indications sound like he watches politics pretty closely), and b) it appeals to the conservative nature of the city and the body politic. But, considering his history and the overwhleming progressive nature of the national organization, it seems like a surprising move.
2) We, as the homosexuals of the world, should start addressing some of our own issues. This includes racism, but also includes transphobia, sexism, classism, our own health, and a multitude of other issues. Smitherman was not wrong to point it out. (But the reverse is not wrong, either... that there is homophobia in the black community... but that's not my issue to deal with internally except with the love and tolerance it takes to open someone's mind.)
Anyways, that's all I'm sayin'. But who knows, I'm rarely right about these things.
On Tuesday around noon, it became official: Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States, and black people won’t have President George W. Bush to kick around anymore. Some of us may find that hard to do.
Just think of it: NAACP board Chairman Julian Bond won’t be able to give his annual anti-Bush tirade at the organization’s convention. No more cracks about Republicans being America’s version of the Taliban. No more NAACP Voter Education Fund “issue ads” all but claiming Bush supports lynching.
Bush-bashers who skewer him for supporting the No Child Left Behind Act will feel an emptiness inside, although they were on shaky logical grounds to begin with. Really, what can you do with otherwise intelligent people who make remarks like this: “No Child Left Behind is awful, and it’s underfunded.”
A columnist colleague of mine said pretty much that to NAACP Washington, D.C. bureau chief Hilary Shelton back in November. Shelton responded by agreeing wholeheartedly. Neither he nor my colleague quite grasped the notion that bad laws shouldn’t be funded at all, “under” or otherwise. By contrast, Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights did have enough integrity to point out that the NCLB law did have some good provisions.
The NCLB law was a bipartisan effort supported by none other than Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, a Democrat with some pretty liberal street cred. That didn’t stop the Bush-bashing when it came to NCLB and darn near everything else.
Remember when Kanye West popped off, in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, about how “Bush doesn’t care about black people?" That phrase soon morphed into “George Bush doesn’t like black people,” which strikes me as something distinctly different from “not caring” about black people. After all, the people who said little to nothing about the crimes committed against black folks in New Orleans by black criminals long before Katrina hit can also be accused of “not caring” about black people. And that would be virtually all of us, Kanye included.
We cared about the increasing rate of HIV positive infections among black folks only insofar as we could use them to bash Bush or former Vice President Dick Cheney. Remember the 2004 vice presidential debate, when Cheney admitted that he wasn’t aware of the increased rate of HIV positive infections among black women? Remember the outraged reaction?
“How DARE Dick Cheney not know about the increased rate of HIV positive infections among black women?”
Had we saved some of that outrage for the brothers who are infecting those sisters, maybe the rate of infection would be lower. But black folks getting mad at irresponsible black folks? No way. Too Bill Cosbyish.
It’s time for a bit of uncomfortable truth about the growing rate of HIV positive infections among black folks: Most of it is caused by people who willingly engage in the high-risk conduct that results in getting the AIDS virus. That would be unprotected sex and injecting drugs intravenously with an infected needle. What could former President Bush and former Vice President Cheney have done about people who willingly choose to engage in high-risk, irresponsible conduct?
Why, the same thing President Obama can do: Absolutely nothing.
Oh, there’ll be the usual claim that Obama can increase funding for sex education and kick the “abstinence only” education out the window. “Abstinence only” sex ed has been widely seen as a Bush brainchild, but writer Ta-Nehisi Coates reported in the December issue of Vibe magazine that it actually started under President Clinton, who funded it for $50 million a year. Coates reported that the funding under Bush increased to $176 million a year.
“Abstinence only” sex ed is seen as a failure and one that’s attributed to Bush. But the failure started long before he came into office. If federal dollars for public education resulted in a system where many black students achieved only a basic level in reading and math – meaning that the students could barely read or do math – then what could that same system teach them about sex ed? Why even trust the same system to effectively teach them about sex ed? If the system can’t teach them reading and math, chances are it can’t teach them about sex either.
The first – and really, the only – teachers of sex education should be the parents. Many of them choose to pass on it. Who can we blame for that?
One thing is certain: we don’t have Bush to blame anymore.
Does anyone else think it's strange that the NAACP Convention is being held here? I mean, weren't we just being boycotted a few years ago?
I mean, YEA! But, what's the 411? What's happened?
Per the local website, no indication was given about the riots and the boycott 7 years ago, and this is what the press release from the national organization says:
"Ohio will be the epicenter of our nonpartisan efforts to elect a pro-civil rights Congress [that year], and we look forward to visiting the city again," said NAACP Board Directors Chairman Julian Bond.
For more information, be sure to check out our awesome local NAACP chapter
Thanks to all of the QueerCincinnati.com readers! The current incarnation has moved. Click here for the new site and please update you bookmark to "http://queercincinnati.wordpress.com"
2009 Local Elections
Candidates -- Cincinnati City Council
Democrats Laketa Cole (inc.) Jeff Berding (inc.) Greg Harris (inc.) Cecil Thomas (inc.) Wendell Young Laure Quinlivan Nicholas Hollan Tony Fischer Bernadette Watson
Republicans Chris Monzel (inc.) Leslie Ghiz (inc.) Amy Murray Charlie Winburn George Zamary
Charterites Chris Bortz (inc.) Roxanne Qualls (inc.) Kevin Flynn
