Outsiders want 50,000 to march in Lima, but they offer no solutions

People who live nowhere near Lima are calling for a 50,000-person march to protest the Jan. 4 police shooting that killed a Lima woman. What then? Will those outsiders be back to see change implemented, or will they move on to grab attention for themselves elsewhere?Warren Ballentine, a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host, pledged Monday to bring 50,000 protesters to Lima before police Sgt. Joe Chavalia goes on trial. Chavalia has been charged with two misdemeanors in the Jan. 4 shooting death of Tarika Wilson during a SWAT team raid of her home to arrest Anthony Terry. The Rev. Al Sharpton also promised help organizing a Lima protest.Compare Ballentine and Sharpton’s effort with that of the local Black Ministerial Alliance, which pushed back a march it originally scheduled for Sunday. The ministers didn’t want anyone to confuse the Chavalia case with anger about the overall criminal justice system. Compare the efforts of Ballentine and Sharpton with those of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who spent time here and who said he’ll come back. (He planned to be in Lima for Sunday’s march, which was postponed.) Jackson offered ideas. Local black ministers invited him to come here. To our knowledge, Ballentine and Sharpton have come on their own, and we question their motives.Ballentine and Sharpton seem more interested in drawing numbers, reminding everyone how influential they are. But, if police and courts treat blacks differently than they do whites — if criminal justice treats any group of people differently than it does others accused of the same crimes — there’s an issue larger than Ballentine’s and Sharpton’s egos.If that difference exists, it’s still going to be here after whatever size crowd Ballentine and Sharpton bring leaves. It still will require a solution. Perhaps the outsiders plan to leave the real work to those who live here.