Smitherman mum on Black Fist support

Councilman Christopher Smitherman declined to comment today on his involvement with the leader of a black separatist group indicted Friday on charges of witness intimidation and retaliation.

"I have no comment on any of that," Smitherman said between committee meetings at City Hall. "I am here to make public policy."

Smitherman attended the initial court appearance of Kabaka Oba, the Black Fist leader known for urging the death of Jews and police officers in protests at City Hall and on Fountain Square, and put a word in for Oba with Judge Kendal Coes.

In 2003, shortly before he was sworn in, Smitherman told the Enquirer he would keep an open door to such activists -- but also hold them to the same standard he would anyone else:

While other city officials shun boycott activists like Kabaka Oba and Nathaniel Livingston Jr., Smitherman has gone out of his way to meet with them - even spending 15 minutes talking to them at an Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce meeting last week.

"You can't dehumanize people. You can't say their constituency is irrelevant," he said. "But believe me, I'm going to hold people accountable. I won't put up with people who come to City Council and cuss people out, no matter who they are."