The two white victims shown in a now-viral video of a brutal attack in Ohio “begged for that beatdown,” one Cincinnati councilwoman said.
Victoria Parks, a councilwoman who started her term in 2022, made the statement on Facebook after a mob of largely black people was caught on camera stomping on and punching a white man and woman. Parks defended her reaction as free speech on Thursday.
“In this country, we have freedom of speech, however, you may not run into a crowded theater and scream fire,” Parks said. “He was in a crowded theater, and he screamed fire. There are unintended consequences, but that’s what happened.”
“It’s a metaphor,” Parks continued. “I’m just going to let people draw their own conclusion. That’s my statement.”
The “he” to whom Parks refers ostensibly concerns the male victim in the video, who was repeatedly kicked in the head, and beaten by the mob. When a white female went to check on him, she too was struck in the face and knocked to the ground, unconscious and bloody. The female, Holly, released photos in the aftermath of the attack to demonstrate the mob’s brutality.
Authorities have charged five people in the fight so far.
Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy (R) spoke with Holly, a single working mom who on the night in question was attending a friend’s birthday party, after the attack.
“It’s unconscionable that there were no police present in that area of Cincinnati on a Friday night, or even an ambulance to take her to the hospital,” Ramaswamy said. “Hard-working Americans shouldn’t have to worry for their safety when they have a good time in our cities. Holly said not a single local or state official had yet reached out as of earlier this afternoon, other than one police detective.”
Before she served as a councilwoman, Parks was the Hamilton County Commissioner. During her term, Parks spearheaded the effort to classify racism as a public health crisis.
“It’s righteous indignation, but after all of that in order for it to count there has to be policy,” Parks said in the summer of 2020, as race-related protests swept the country. “After protest there has to be policy and if there’s not, then what has changed?”
She is a current board member of the AMOS Project, a grassroots organization that “works to dismantle systems of inequity and build a future where every person — especially Black women — can thrive with dignity, wellness, and freedom,” according to its website. An Air Force veteran, Parks was recently selected to fill a seat on the county’s Veterans Services Commission.
Parks also co-led a push last year to allocate a half of a million dollars from the Cincinnati Health Department’s budget to transgender and nonbinary youth.