It has been almost a year since Cincinnati experienced what many in the news media, the prosecutor's office and elsewhere refer to as a “riot.”

        Still, many African-Americans still hesitate to call it that. Words like “uprising,” “rebellion,” “unrest” or even “disturbance” seem more palatable, if not more accurate. The reasons have to do with scope and semantics.

        Some journalists from larger cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia — which have had social conflagrations of larger proportion — were reluctant to dub Cincinnati's three days and nights of protest, violence and property destruction a riot.

        The scope was too small.

        Yet the case for “riot” is strong when you tally the damage. Sixty-six people were charged with riot-related felonies; 800 with misdemeanors. Looters and hooligans cost at least $3.6 million in property damage and overtime pay for law enforcement and fire protection. Not counted were lost business, damage to Cincinnati's image and other hard-to-tally effects.
       

Past clashes

        Last year's riot also was about the size of others in Cincinnati's history.

        One person died in a riot in 1967 after police arrested an activist for loitering. It cost the city $2.6 million and was quelled only by the state National Guard. In 1968, four days after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, Avondale businesses were set afire. Two people died, 220 were arrested and $3 million worth of damage was done.

        But Cincinnati's disturbances pale when compared to others throughout the nation.

        The 1965 Watts riot in Los Angeles was a six-day conflict in which 34 died, more than 1,000 were injured and more than $200 million in damage was done.

        Then there was Liberty City in Florida, where the 1980 acquittal of five officers in the beating death of a black motorist resulted in a night of violence. Eighteen died, 858 were arrested and $80 million in property was damaged.

        The acquittal of officers who were videotaped beating Rodney King launched an inter-ethnic conflict in Los Angeles that killed 50, injured 400 and cost more than $1 billion in 1992.
       

Look behind the word

        But the relative size of Cincinnati's melee is only one reason so many people won't call the April unrest a riot.

        There's a psychological battle at stake. With “riots,” people find it easier to ignore conditions that led to the conflict. It's harder to make the connection to problems that can be fixed.

        “Riot entails disorder, people doing something for no reason,” says Gavin Leonard, an Over-the-Rhine resident and community organizer.

        Last April's clashes, though plagued with opportunistic thieves and other criminals, also involved many people who were not throwing bricks or setting fires but who were calling for justice.

        Adds former Ohio Rep. William Mallory Sr.: “If the avenues to have your grievances aired are not open, then people devise all kinds of means to be heard. There's always been injustice in this world, and there's always been people who stood up for justice.”

        But if a rebellion is called a riot, then those who are standing up for justice will be lumped in with the lawbreakers, he says.

        So, a year later, Cincinnati shouldn't chalk it all up to just senseless violence, attributed to “thugs” — some people's favorite word for errant African-American youth.

        We'd better not assume that just because the felons are incarcerated, we can wash our hands of the matter.

       Denise Smith Amos can be reached at 768-8395, or e-mail
       damos@enquirer.com

Agreement reached in racial profiling
Neighbor charged in 3 Reading killings
Hugs for all from new city manager
Lemmie faces 9 council agendas
UC hoop star back in trouble
Gambling bill dies in committee
CAN set to unveil plan today
Children's to get $1.9M in study on improving care
Fire destroys home; officials seek owner
Girl's trial may be first under new law
Luken plays the veto card
Tristate A.M. Report
UC losing transplant director to Chicago
BRONSON: Spring break
HOWARD: Some Good News
SAMPLES: Destroyed art grew from determination
SMITH AMOS: Unrest, rebellion?
Female cop says she was mistreated
Quilter memorializes victims
Rally set to promote senior levy
School aide fired over drug charge
Three held after robbery at bank on Kenwood Road
Trial begins in robbery, murder case
Ohio tourism ad contract facing review
Cleanup campaigns begin this weekend
Contractor cited over blast that killed man
Developers aim to keep open space
House withholds action on budget
Lobbyist earns trust, respect
Northern Kentucky spring cleanups
Schools group drops chief