STATEMENT ON CINCINNATI SHOOTING BY NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE PRESIDENT HUGH B. PRICE

New York, NY, April 11, 2001–We extend our condolences to the family and friends of Timothy Thomas, the 19-year old young man who was shot and killed on Saturday in Cincinnati.

While the facts of the case have yet to be determined, we are appalled at the spate of shootings of young black men by police that have occurred in the Cincinnati area. The fact that the FBI has begun an investigation into the shooting is an encouraging first step but we call upon the United States Attorney General to launch a thorough and vigorous investigation into all four shootings to determine what occurred, and if civil rights violations or excessive use of force played any role.

If it turns out that the police were at fault in any of these incidents, and that racial profiling, police brutality or violations of the civil rights of any of the four fatalities occurred, then the police must be held accountable. At a minimum, the four shootings seem to indicate that a comprehensive review of the policies and practices of the Cincinnati police department is in order.

Since the 1997 shooting of Amadou Diallo the National Urban League and numerous other civil rights and civil liberties organizations have actively fought to bring issues of police brutality, abuse and racial profiling to the forefront of public consciousness and in so doing, to aid in the eradication of those injustices.

Most recently the League called upon the President and Attorney General Ashcroft to develop specific recommendations to end racial profiling in police departments throughout our nation. The eradication of racial profiling and police brutality and abuse must among the top priorities of our nation’s Justice Department.

Hugh B. Price is President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Urban League. He was appointed on July 1, 1994. The Urban League is the nation’s oldest and largest community-based movement devoted to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream. The National Urban League, headquartered in New York City, spearheads the nonprofit, nonpartisan movement, while Urban League affiliates operate in more than 100 cities in 34 states and the District of Columbia. For more information, visit the League’s Web site at www.nul.org