An African-American civil-rights activist in Louisville says Cincinnati riots rejuvenated his 30-year fight against racism in Kentucky's largest city.

        “The protests in Cincinnati really, really gave legitimacy ... to our issues and our complaints that we have had since the mid-'60s in this community,” said the Rev. Louis Coleman from his mobile phone while en route from Louisville to Owensboro, Ky., for a demonstration on Wednesday.

        The Rev. Mr. Coleman is planning peaceful protests during Kentucky Derby Week to oppose what he calls a lack of accountability by Kentucky police officers involved in shooting deaths.

        Fliers for the protest announce that Dick Gregory, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III will attend the gathering; and a Cincinnati youth minister has said he will bring buses of protesters from the Queen City.

        Mr. Gregory's wife confirmed on Thursday that her husband, an African-American comedian and civil-rights activist, will attend a demonstration in downtown Louisville on May 4, the day before the Kentucky Derby.

        The Rev. Mr. Sharpton attended a Derby Week protest organized by the same group last year.

        Calling Louisville “a modern-day plantation,” the Rev. Mr. Coleman said a similarity between the two river cities is that police are not held accountable for their actions.

        He linked the Cincinnati shooting to seven cases in Louisville and Owensboro, including the deaths of African-American men who have been fatally wounded by Louisville police, a white man who drowned while in police custody and a black man who died after struggling with correction officers at the Jefferson County jail.

        The Rev. Mr. Coleman is a media-savvy activist in Louisville, where he has crusaded for years against discrimination — from decrying a smelly sewage treatment plant in a predominately black neighborhood to holding vigils in front of crack houses.

        As Cincinnati's leaders struggle to both learn ways to “listen to the youth” of minority communities and scramble to put jobs programs in place, Al Sewell, a self-described activist from Cincinnati, was quoted in The (Louisville) Courier-Journal as describing how young men “closed Cincinnati down” during a press conference held in Louisville two weeks ago. He pledged to bring back protesters to Louisville to support the Rev. Coleman during Derby Week.

        “We're going to stand with you,” Mr. Sewell is quoted as saying. “... If we have to come down here in bus loads, we will be here.”

        When contacted by phone on Wednesday, Mr. Sewell confirmed he made those statements, adding that demonstrations can hopefully help stop injustices from happening in Louisville before riots break out there, too.

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