Now this is one of those stories that makes your blood boil — not just because of what happened, but because of how the people in charge are spinning it.
On July 26, several people in Cincinnati were brutally beaten by a mob — a mob that, by all accounts, was largely black. The footage is out there, it’s ugly, and it’s sparked outrage online. But instead of unequivocally condemning the attack, some of the city’s elected leaders have done the unthinkable: they’ve pointed fingers at the victims.
Let that sink in.
Victoria Parks, the President Pro Tem of the city council, actually took to Facebook to write that the victims “begged for that beat down!” — yes, those are her words — adding that she was “grateful for the whole story.” If that doesn’t make you shake your head, Vice Mayor Jan Michele Kearney doubled down with a statement blaming not just the mob but “the instigators of the fight.” The message? Don’t look at the brutality itself, look at the narrative we’re trying to spin around it.
Ken Kober, president of the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police, wasn’t having it. In an interview with The Daily Wire, he absolutely torched that narrative. “I speak to our investigators probably every 12 hours, and there has been absolutely zero evidence so far that has suggested that these victims caused this,” Kober said. “They’ve looked at video evidence, they’ve done interviews, and nothing suggests that these victims were the ones that started this mob attack.”
Why are officials twisting the story? Kober has an answer for that too: “I think a lot of it is pandering to their constituents … quite honestly, it’s pretty disgusting.”
And here’s the kicker — while these leaders are busy blaming victims, the city is crumbling under actual crime problems. Cincinnati’s police force is down by as much as 20%. Progressive judges keep letting criminals out on low bonds — one of the men arrested for this mob attack was out on just $400 bond after facing felony weapons and stolen property charges.
GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno nailed it when he ripped Mayor Aftab Pureval for the city’s soft-on-crime leadership: “Nice words don’t mean anything unless you have actual actions. This is way too little response.”
So here’s the reality: hardworking police are doing everything they can with fewer boots on the ground, criminals are being released back into the community with a slap on the wrist, and now city leaders are scapegoating the very people who were victimized.
Kober summed it up perfectly: “Despite what council members are saying … [our investigators] have done an absolutely phenomenal job.”