April Martin and Paul Hill in Conversation

 April Martin and Paul Hill's searing 2015 documentary "Cincinnati Goddamn" never ceases to be timely or urgent. With events unfolding in Minneapolis, Columbus, and across the country, this is an appropriate time to share and discuss it again, this time in a conversation presented by the Wex and the Worthington Community Relations Commission. The film was created over the course of several years with support from the Wexner Center’s Film/Video Studio program.

Released as 2013’s Black Lives Matter movement gained traction in the United States, Cincinnati Goddamn investigates the city’s complicated history with antiblack racism and police brutality. The feature-length documentary brings these issues into focus through incidents involving 29-year-old Roger Owensby Jr. and 19-year-old Timothy Thomas. Between 1995 and 2001, Cincinnati police killed 15 black men including Owensby and Thomas, ultimately resulting in 2001’s citywide boycotts, riots, and unrest. Hill and Martin’s exhaustive reporting includes perspectives from all sides of the conflict, including Owensby’s father, mother, and daughter; Thomas’s mother; attorneys for the Owensby and Thomas families; former Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen; local police (some of whom participated in the incidents); and many others. The film is further contextualized through interviews with leading black historian Manning Marable (1950–2011) and writer and civil rights activist Michelle Alexander.

Watch the film.

About the Worthington Community Relations Commission

The Community Relations Commission (CRC) works to promote an atmosphere of mutual understanding and cooperation among all members of the Worthington community. The Commission acts in an advisory capacity to Worthington City Council on community issues related to fair and equal treatment for all persons. The CRC annually sponsors the Good Neighbor Award, the Neighborhood Grant Program, and the Martin Luther King Community Celebration and many other programs of community interest. Community members are encouraged to get involved by volunteering with the CRC on one of its working groups focusing on Age-Friendly, Youth, and Racial Justice initiatives. Visit the CRC online at worthington.org/CRC for more information.