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Old 12-01-2012, 04:29 PM
 
1,581 posts, read 1,962,073 times
Reputation: 1699

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Quote:
Originally Posted by jsims View Post
I grew up in Cincinnati in the late 60's, early 70's, in a Hyde Park neighborhood, with Whites living on my street and Blacks living on the next street. Such a clearly marked line between the races! I was in fourth grade when we moved there and I remember walking up the street to find friends to play with. The White kids I came across were no fun at all. The next day, a pile of Black kids came over to my house. We had fun! For the next three years, all my good friends were Black. There was really no difference between my Black friends and me, except that I lived in a big house and their houses were very small. I also excelled in school and they didn't, and though we went to the same elementary school, they went to different classes entirely. I knew they were intelligent, I didn't know why they were in "dumbbell" classes. My buddies and I went around the neighborhoods cutting lawns and I always spent the money I earned, they took their earnings to their mothers - it helped with the family income. I think that most of my friend's mothers were on welfare. I rarely saw my Black friend's fathers - visits from them were few and far between. I remember a teacher telling me not to play with my Black friends, they were a bad influence, she said. I also remember winning a running race, when my Black competetor clearly got across the finish line before me. As a kid, it was all confusing. That's how institutionalized racism works - all the little acts of favoratism, privilege, insults, preferences don't seem like much, but little by little, day by day, I moved ahead in the world, while my Black friends moved back, back, back. Leaving elementary school, I attended Walnut Hills High School, a college preparatory school, and they attended the regular junior high. We lost track of each other, but one of my friends dropped by years later to try and sell me some weed. Just before we left for Los Angeles, my mom saw another one of my old friends in the back of a squad car. I went on to earn a doctorate and all that. I just checked on whatever happened to my old buddies by googling their names. I happened to find out that two of my Black friends died years ago (they would have been in their fifties now). To those of you with interest in racism, it's not so much about the n-word or the confederate flag, or any individual thing, it's about the endless stream of advantages for one person over another and the equally endless stream of insults to one person and not the other. It all added up for me to be successful and comfortable in California and for at least some of my pals to be dead well before their time. Is this unique to Cincinnati? No, but there is an intensity there, that makes it possible to have one street occupied by Whites and the next by Blacks. Here in Los Angeles, I watch my daughter excel in school, attending the finest programs in public schools and each year I have observed fewer and fewer Latino and African American students in her classes. One mother of a Latino student had to place her very bright son in a very expensive private school because she knew the cards were stacked against him in the public school system. So my daughter and the Latino student both lose. The diversity of elementary school for my daughter is lost by the time she goes to High School and the very bright Latino student has to attend a special private school for a great education. So, hope this helps with your thinking about racism in Cincinnati. And to the original poster of this thread, you mentioned that you think you got your answer to your original query. I'm interested in what that answer is.
Yea, everyone's less racist in Los Angeles and all us nasty Cincinnatians are barbaric. Give me a break. I was in LA for the Rodney King riots...we were all scared for our lives because of all the racial love and half my office carried guns to work for a month. Yea, all the Koreans love the Blacks, all the Blacks love Mexicans......again, give me a break. LA's as racist a city as any in the deep south, maybe more so.

P.S. when is this thread going to be locked so it can die a merciful death.
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Old 12-01-2012, 06:12 PM
 
3 posts, read 4,112 times
Reputation: 26
I think you need to read my posting again. Racism is alive and well in Los Angeles!
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Old 12-01-2012, 07:51 PM
 
Location: Mason, OH
9,259 posts, read 16,709,519 times
Reputation: 1954
yac... Lock this thread so it can die an uneventful death. It was sitting nice and peaceful for 6 months until some yahoo decided to wake it up again. I think the majority of us agree it has had no redeeming value from the beginning.
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Old 12-01-2012, 08:39 PM
 
Location: Chicago(Northside)
3,681 posts, read 7,185,945 times
Reputation: 1697
Quote:
Originally Posted by kjbrill View Post
yac... Lock this thread so it can die an uneventful death. It was sitting nice and peaceful for 6 months until some yahoo decided to wake it up again. I think the majority of us agree it has had no redeeming value from the beginning.
Being the one who made the thread i completly agree with you, id dint know i was going to get more then 6 pages of this!
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Old 12-02-2012, 07:09 AM
 
1,581 posts, read 1,962,073 times
Reputation: 1699
Race, religion, and politics are topics to steer away from.
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Old 12-02-2012, 10:33 AM
 
4,023 posts, read 1,428,649 times
Reputation: 3543
Quote:
Originally Posted by jsims View Post
That's how institutionalized racism works - all the little acts of favoratism, privilege, insults, preferences don't seem like much, but little by little, day by day, I moved ahead in the world, while my Black friends moved back, back, back.
For the most part, institutionalized racism holds very little water in today's world. It may have existed more when you were a child, but today not so much. Your example of how you moved on and how your black friends didn't is sad, but is only one example, and we know that one example does not a data set make. I'm a white guy who is a first generation college student who has had to work my butt off for everything I have, and let me tell you, I don't have much compared to others my age. I'm hoping that my years of hard work will pay off one day, but the key has been and will be hard work.

Racism in the US now happens mostly from person to person not institutionalized like was the case decades ago. As far as I'm concerned the white to black thing is over. Sure there are still whites who hate blacks, but there are also blacks who hate whites as well as members of all ethnicities who for one reason or another (lack of knowledge usually) hate members of other ethnicities.

I believe that the largest thing holding people from various ethnicities back is a general breakdown of expectations. People will behave up to the expectations you have for them. While I was relatively poor growing up, and for a while I was directed to certain careers because of my family history, I was expected to work hard no matter what I did. Later in life, I made the decision not to be held captive by my family's history and went back to school working my way through it and taking out loans as needed.

I was at a conference a couple weeks back and I heard a successful black man give the keynote address. One of his main points was that he is where he is because of hard work. One of his quotes was that "there is no substituion for hard work." I have learned this too, and believe it to be true. What I say next may not be popular, but in order for there to be a revolution within the black community, there needs to be leaders within that community that step up and say it's time to take responsibility and hold oursleves to higher standards. Men need to be men and be active in their kid's lives, and kids need to know that they too can be successful in today's America with hard work. This holds true across racial lines across America. Instead of blaming everyone else for our woes, we need to look in the mirror and start holding ourselves accountable.

As far as racism in Cincy goes, as someone who moved here two years ago, there does or did seem to be more tension than other cities. However, even in the time I have been here it has gotten a lot better, as the leaders of this city are doing a fine job with this, and there are hints of people from all ethnicities working together. I am seeing more and more successful black people in the area, and that is a good thing, as their kids will know they can be successful. It doesn't mean there still aren't doors that are hard to pass through, but that is the case for everyone.
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Old 12-02-2012, 10:36 AM
 
4,023 posts, read 1,428,649 times
Reputation: 3543
Quote:
Originally Posted by flashes1 View Post
Race, religion, and politics are topics to steer away from.
Maybe on a city forum like this, but otherwise we need to talk about these issues. It doesn't help to just bury them and pretend they don't exist. Discussion and knowledge will help everyone. Besides, race relations is something every city deals with including Cincy. Having various ethnicities is part of our culture.
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Old 12-02-2012, 10:57 AM
 
1,325 posts, read 2,907,499 times
Reputation: 1411
It's not shocking to me. Whenever you have lots of poor/lower middle class whites and poor/lower middle class blacks living in the same area, there's bound to be a lot of racism.
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Old 12-02-2012, 04:22 PM
 
3 posts, read 4,112 times
Reputation: 26
Thank you "bertwrench" and "bicoastal10" for responding to my experience from when I was a kid. You know, I really admire the original poster's intention - to find out what people think about racism in Cincinnati and how to stop it. Before this thread "dies a merciful death," as some senior members are calling for, is there any chance that the originator, could come up with what he found out about racism through this discussion and the chances of stopping it? I think it was a noble effort and deserves a decent burial if folks want to bring it to an end.
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Old 12-02-2012, 05:20 PM
 
Location: Cleveland and Columbus OH
11,046 posts, read 12,326,099 times
Reputation: 10365
Quote:
Originally Posted by bertwrench View Post
Maybe on a city forum like this, but otherwise we need to talk about these issues. It doesn't help to just bury them and pretend they don't exist. Discussion and knowledge will help everyone. Besides, race relations is something every city deals with including Cincy. Having various ethnicities is part of our culture.
Exactly. Not talking about it doesn't make it go away. It makes it worse.
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