Racism in Cincinnati is shocking to me(what do you guys think about it) (Columbus: school district, landlord)

[Sarah Perry]

One of my best life lessons on this subject and human nature came from exposure to people in the tiny town in rural, far-northern Indiana where my husband grew up. Everybody for miles around was not only white, they were about 99% north European Protestant extraction. And guess what. Folks still found a group of people to look at as "the other," at best to crack gentle jokes about, at worst to express real dislike and disdain for. The Amish.

[wolden]

Originally Posted by captaincatfish

I've learned to use my real-life ignore feature,

I love it! Thats a phrase to remember!

[13th Alphabet]

One thing I was shocked to find out is just how "white" the Cincinnati metro is. I remember reading something that had Cincy listed near the top for the percentage of white residents in the largest U.S. metro areas. Cincy was actually ranked above Portland which was a definite shocker to me. Portland does not really have a visible black population, but I noticed a lot of Asians and Latinos thoughtout the area. I noticed the same in Seattle, while the Cincy area is essentially just black and white.

I didn't notice it before, but after reading it, I notice there is certainly an absence of minority presence once you exit the Cincy city limits. It doesn't make me uncomfortable because frankly, I feel like I will go wherever I please, its just definitely noticable.

[cali3448893]

Originally Posted by motorman

Seeing that this OP fella's from Seattle or somewhere, maybe he ain't never seen no black folks...

It is not just about blacks it is also about asians latinos and even indians. I have seen alot of black people in seattle. I see a latino 24/7 in seattle but now in cincy i see 0 latinos and alot of blacks. But this is not what my thread is about. WE ARE ALL A FAMILY

[Matthew Hall]

That confederate battle flag in Clinton co. has been there next to 71 for at least two decades. Everything is relative in my experience. I grew up in Maryland, but was shocked at the "eco-globo" environmental evangelism of Seattle. When strangers lectured my about the type of packaging of the products I'd bought or my neighbors stopped me as I put out my trash that I didn't recycle enough, I got the impression that i was confronting a modern day Ecological Inquisition every bit as threatening as crusades of old. Every region has its cultural biases. The real issue in cincinnati is the large number of very poor and poorly educated people, black and white. That is Cincinnati's real challenge.

[jbcmh81]

Racism happens everywhere and all groups do it to some extent. I don't think most places, including Cincinnati, really have any real problem with it. The woman with the sign is totally disgusting in the 21st Century, but she's an exception, not the rule. I once had reverse racism against me. I used to work in retail in a predominantly black neighborhood. We had security cameras like just about every retail establishment anywhere, and there were a few times when some of the customers became extremely irate because they believed that the cameras were only there because the clientele was mostly black. I even had someone say, "Obama is president, get over it," as if that had anything to do with anything. Racism can and does happen, but most of the time I think people perceive it more than it actually exists.

[Wilson513]

Black persons have been fed a philosophy of victimhood for decades. The is a creation of liberals who actually see black persons as inferior and needing special treatment. Liberals see color everywhere they go and constantly create class and race resentments by trying to correct what they perceive as an unfair system. They are wrong. People of all colors do fine when they are left to their own ingenuity and efforts.

For my part, I would outlaw all classification for any purpose that are based on race. Not even for statistical purposes. Only to aid in identification.

[motorman]

Originally Posted by jonathancalderon71

It is not just about blacks it is also about asians latinos and even indians. I have seen alot of black people in seattle. I see a latino 24/7 in seattle but now in cincy i see 0 latinos and alot of blacks. But this is not what my thread is about. WE ARE ALL A FAMILY

...seems logical, considering that the Ohio River isn't the Rio Grande...

[t45209]

Originally Posted by Wilson513

Black persons have been fed a philosophy of victimhood for decades. The is a creation of liberals who actually see black persons as inferior and needing special treatment. Liberals see color everywhere they go and constantly create class and race resentments by trying to correct what they perceive as an unfair system. They are wrong. People of all colors do fine when they are left to their own ingenuity and efforts.

For my part, I would outlaw all classification for any purpose that are based on race. Not even for statistical purposes. Only to aid in identification.

I shudder to get involved in these conversations, but....

Here we are about to recognize the birthday of MLK, and frankly, I personally believe that Booker T. Washington did more to improve the station of American blacks than anyone in our history. And, yet, Washington's legacy is nearly forgotten. One of the things that I admire most about Washington is that he stood for achievement through education and individual hard work. He didn't want a free pass, and he spoke out against blacks and whites who saw profit in perpetuating the notion that racism was everywhere. Many blacks say that they are still held back by the legacy of slavery. Booker T Washington was a slave, and it didn't hold him back. He has far more credibility in my mind.

The one thing that gets me is that these threads always seem to crop up on the Cincinnati board posted by some outsider who for some reason thinks we're one step above Selma, Alabama for racism. Anyone who has spent any time in this city knows it's not true. Sure there are idiots out there, and as Wilson notes, they exist on BOTH SIDES. Honestly, I wish people would take these threads to the Indianapolis board where there is at least a history of institutional racism, something that NEVER existed in Cincinnati. The Indiana Klan once had a quarter of a million dues paying members, plus half the seats in the Indiana legislature and the governorship! So, take your racist threads to Indiana...you'll probably find a lot more skeletons. As far as Cincinnati is concerned, if you want to stir it up, it would be more appropriate to talk about the anti-German hysteria. Historically speaking, you'll find more racism there than white vs black.

And as far as that hillbilly up I-71, who cares??? The man's nearly dead...an anachronism, and hardly enough of an example to use as evidence against an entire city or region. At the end of the day, that compound displaying the Rebel flag is nothing more than something to break up the monotony of pig farms between here and Columbus...about the same as the "HELL IS REAL" billboard the Lion's Den "ADULT" sign. These things only have credibility if you give them credibility.

[wolden]

Originally Posted by Wahl_Wrighter

One thing I was shocked to find out is just how "white" the Cincinnati metro is...
I didn't notice it before, but after reading it, I notice there is certainly an absence of minority presence once you exit the Cincy city limits.

Well, the census numbers say that Cincinnati (~300,000 people) is about 50:50 white:black. And, it also says that 12% of the MSA is black; the MSA is around 2,000,000 people. That makes ~235,000 people.

Taking that, if you subtract out the city residents from the MSA population, that leaves 85,000/1,700,000, or 5%.

So unless I did something wrong with the math, your impression seems very much correct. Once you leave the city limits on average the area is overwhelmingly white.

I think this is true for all of Ohio actually. Ohio is reported 83% white and 11.8% black and the cities are much different from the suburban/rural areas.