We Stay Up Here

Our College Hill neighborhood school, Pleasant Hill Academy, was one of the Cincinnati Public Schools to receive money to build an outdoor environment where students can be hands-on while learning about nature. The chosen site was in the park at the end of our street. We had been watching its development since early Fall, so eager to see it all come together. It was extra special for the neighborhood children who may not have a yard or regular access to parks and nature. The log bridges, bird watching station, huge rocks to rest on, and the waterfall and creek make you forget for a moment that you are in urban Cincinnati.

After dinner this evening, I asked my husband, Chris, to take our dog, Tucker and walk down to the park with me. Today was the day they turned the water feature on. Tucker immediately began tromping through the flowing creek, leaving watery paw prints behind on the staggered rocks. He waded through the high grass, found sticks for us to throw, and lapped up some of that cool waterfall.

We had thrown sticks and looked at rock fossils and peeped some birds. It was time to head back home. 

When we came out of the preserve to the wide open field, we saw what looked to be 10 or more black kids coming toward us. Some were crying, some were cursing, and one little girl had a very bloody nose. "He threw a stick and bloodied her nose!" one of them said pointing toward a much older white boy who had walked swiftly into the preserve to escape his consequences. As soon as my husband saw the little girl, he was incensed. I asked the little girl to lean her head back. Before she did, the blood poured from her nose and onto her shirt. I know what my husband was thinking. Our daughter, same age, plays at this park daily. If someone bloodied her nose with a stick...Chris handed a random kid our dog's leash and headed into the preserve to keep an eye on the boy.

I had nothing to stop her nose from bleeding. She just stared at me, the adult, and tried to keep the blood from going in her mouth. We walked into the preserve so she could wash her hands and face off in the waterfall. The kids were amped up, each telling me what happened all at once. "He said he was in the KKK!" "He said he hates black people!" "He's 21 hitting a 12 year old girl!" I asked the little girl for her mother's phone number. The call did not go through. I asked her cousin for her mother's phone number. She didn't know it. I finally saw my husband walking toward the playground with the boy. "Call the police" he said.

The crowd followed my husband and the 21 year old over to the playground. Chris asked him to sit while we waited on the police. He called his mother. She told him there was nothing she could do for him. I stepped backward onto a broken board. "That's the stick he threw" one of the kids said.

The police arrived and I walked the little girl over to meet them. Three white officers stood in front of her with arms crossed and asked her what happened. This little girl who went on and on to me about what happened and where she goes to school and who her sister is suddenly clammed up. Her eyes shifted to the ground. Clutching her cousin's hand, she lifted her finger out and poked her in the rib "I want her to tell it" she whispered. "Well, I wish somebody would tell it" the officer said impatiently. 

After asking her a few more questions, he asked her to lift her nose. He then looked at me and asked if I saw the male throw the stick. I told him that I did not. Then I looked at her shirt and wondered if he could see that the white word "Cool" on the front was now stained red.

He asked the little girl where she lived. "We stay up here" she said, pointing up the street to a block of apartments. Her older sister interjected quickly, "Our momma isn't home. I have the house key. She is at work."

The officers then went to speak to the adult male who threw a wooden board at a 12 year old girl.

I turned toward her and said "You did real good talking to those officers. No one is allowed to hurt you." My husband and I then began to walk back home. I turned to look back at her and she was already running back to me for one last hug.

My husband and I were meant to be at the park today. We are meant to be in College Hill. 

I'm glad we stay up here.