Thank you to the FOP for giving me the opportunity tonight to publicly sing the praises of one of my heroes – Cincinnati Police Officer – Alphonso Staples.

Good evening everyone, my name is Whitney Austin and I am one of the survivors from the September 6th 2018 mass shooting on Fountain Square. If you have heard my story, yes, I am the woman who survived twelve bullets. I think it’s likely, hope it’s likely that you have, considering I left my profession as a product manager at Fifth Third Bank to pursue the job I’ve been called to do – advocate and fight for solutions that can make all of us safer. This gig, the Executive Director of Whitney/Strong, provides ample opportunities to tell my story but most of the time it’s a sound byte here or a sentence there – never enough time to give Officer Staples, Al to me, the adulation he deserves.

Luckily for me, you guys decided to give him this award – The Lifetime Presidential Achievement Award. Now I’ve been given the perfect opportunity to share with all of you why Al fits the definition of hero so well, not just because of his actions on September 6th but because of how he interacts with the world each and every day. He is also averse to public praise, so I apologize Al, this won’t be easy for you. I’d talk about Toyeas, Chilton, Etter, and Kaminsky but they aren’t getting an award tonight.

So, let’s talk about what being a hero means. The Webster Dictionary tells us that a hero is as follows:

A mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability.

I’m not going to give Al the mythological title, but he is certainly a legendary figure within this city. Have you seen the Singing Mural on Central Pkwy? It’s Al and all of his legendary buddies – Elton John, Mr. Rogers, etc. This community saw the value in Al far before I came into the picture.

Endowed with great strength or ability. Absolutely, that’s Al. From the moment I was shot the first time to the moment the Cincinnati Police Department arrived on Fountain Square, one minute elapsed. That timeframe still feels impossible to me considering the many, many thoughts I had in such a short span of time. I’ll spare you the details but after frenetically running through all options for survival and coming up empty-handed, I resigned myself to death.

I imagine that some of you in this room have faced that moment. If yes, maybe you can relate to the emotional pain that hits as you begin to process what you’re leaving behind. In my case, a husband and two small children. The emotional pain was unbearable. Unbelievably, I didn’t have to sit with it for more than just a few seconds. One minute was up and Al caught my eye.

This is where his great strength and ability came in. The moment our eyes locked my adrenaline pumping resumed and my brain communicated clear directions: “You are living not dying.” I still remember the fear in his eyes but even more prominent, the love and compassion he directed toward me without even saying a word.

I was behaving stupidly, refusing to play dead, hollering at him to save me because I had children at home who needed their mother. I don’t remember exactly what he said in those moments, but his eyes conveyed everything I needed to survive. I wish you could have all been privy to that moment of heroism. I wish you could bottle it up and implant it into the brains of every officer across this country. His strength and ability are a shining example of what all officers should aspire to each day.
An illustrious warrior. This one is too much. If you want to be an illustrious warrior, Al, I’ll support you. I just do not have any evidence to share with the audience.
A person admired for achievements and noble qualities. It took some time to sort out who Al was and then connect with him in-person. In fact, our first meeting was a month after the shooting when I needed to return to the hospital for a second surgery on my right arm. I had learned that Al sang in a gospel quintet and that the whole group wanted to come up to the hospital room and serenade me. Imagine that happening today!

They sang beautifully but more importantly, it was this magical moment where we were together again, face to face, but under entirely different circumstances. Still, it was enough time to log away more behaviors, more characteristics that were helping me assemble a full picture of the man, Alphonso Staples. From that interaction I gathered humility, dedication to faith, deep and loyal friendships, light-heartedness, and extreme warmth. I barely knew this man but that was not apparent in the moment. It felt like we had known each other for years.

Over the coming weeks and months, this picture of Al continued to build. Stories regarding his time spent in OTR and the many people he connected to and made feel safe. The banker at the branch downtown who needed a familiar face after the shooting and Al was there to comfort her. You know someone is a hometown hero when you begin to build up your network of volunteers and supporters for gun violence prevention and people start giving you stories of Al’s random acts of kindness for the Cincinnati Children’s Theatre and more. Or the authentic and loving relationship he has with the other officers that saved my life. It didn’t take long for me to realize my hero didn’t just become an exceptional human being in that moment, he has been an exceptional human being for a very long time. How lucky am I to be tied to him for life?
One who shows great courage. I will never stop saying this. It is not normal to run into danger. I am constantly complimented for my bravery, for my ability to stay calm under pressure and survive something so horrific. My response is always the same – praise the police officers. I unknowingly found myself in that situation. They knowingly entered. Al chose to crouch down just mere feet away from me. This is bravery!

There is a lot of scrutiny placed on police officers in this moment in history. My organization is focused on reducing gun violence of all kinds, placing me in a position to feel quite intimately the pain that comes with the kinds of gun violence that disproportionately impacts communities of color. I believe that there is real work that needs to be done to address systemic racism and inequity and we all have much room for improvement. I am sorry that this movement has, at times, broadly painted law enforcement in such a negative light. I cannot tell you explicitly what steps should be taken to reverse that criticism but I can remind you that officers like Al and the others that saved me on that day, are the kind of officers that the country is clamoring for. Al Staples is your North Star.
The central figure in an event, period, or movement. 100% – he is the central figure of September 6th and not just for me. He has since become a beloved member of my family – just ask him how often my Dad calls to tell him he loves him. Or about the cat we adopted and named Alphonso. Or how my children pretend to be lions on the phone every time they talk – it is an inside joke that developed due to Al’s disdain in having a cat named after him. Or how he and my husband can now joke about how I demanded he give me his phone so that I could tell Waller the unfiltered version of what had happened as we sat waiting for the ambulance. Even other survivors from September 6th have been drawn to him for support and friendship. His role on that day has been memorialized for decades to come, something that he greatly deserves.

And while he was the central figure on September 6th, he is now a central figure in my life and for that I am so grateful. You will never know all the wonderful things about him because that his nature. He is a true hero who walks the walk of servanthood daily. Congratulations Al. You deserve this and so much more.