Why Is Cincinnati So Racist?

Beats me, but it’s a question that people in Cincinnati ought to be asking themselves. The demographic makeups of Dayton and Columbus are almost exactly the same. What is it about the city on the river that gives so many blatant haters so much free rein? (If I had to guess, I’d argue that the vileness of talk radio in the city gives permission and cover for even greater vileness among its listeners.)

I grew up outside Dayton and once considered living in Cincinnati, which I described as the only interesting city in Ohio. Not any more.

Racism is a moral failure akin to child abuse and rape. How so many people can justify engaging in it is beyond me.

FWIW, on Tom Tango’s blog they have informally adopted a series of awards for bad contracts in the offseason (on either the team’s part or the player’s part). One of the awards is the Gritty White Guy award, as players of that type often seem to get an unusually large contract relative to their production. So that kind of racism isn’t restricted to Cincinnati, though I agree that it’s certainly the case that it exists in Cinci.

The Eric Davis saga was the most prominent example that I remember in terms of apparent racism-driven public opinion regarding a ballplayer. Sometimes, at least as I remember it, the discourse boiled down to “come on, boy, shake it off and play.” (say that in a southern accent and you’ll hear it).

As for how people can justify engaging in it, it’s probably the case that everyone is racist on some level. If not toward African Americans (or, in reverse, Caucasians), then toward Asians, Latinos (think about the immigration debate for a second…), etc. I think the important thing as an individual is to try to be aware of one’s prejudices in order to actively work to eliminate or at least reduce them. I don’t think there’s much to be gained by pretending they don’t exist (e.g. Stephen Colbert’s “I don’t see color”), but rather to confront them in ourselves and then try to modify our point of view via new experiences.

Anyway, just my $0.02.
-j

its in southern ohio and there are still a lot of racist rural people

The sports teams are and have been owned by those aforementioned white rich elitists.
From Robby to Lee May to Eric Davis, even to Barry Larkin – this town has never truly welcomed black/minority athletes. Anthony Munoz, Tony Perez, Archie Griffin, Joe Morgan were well received but never a part of the fabric of the city’s movers and shakers. Even Reggie Williams was eventually ‘put in his place’

I have had the pleasure and the humiliation of working with/for some of the richest white people in this part of country on an almost daily basis for over 25 years. Many of these people have good intentions, would give money to help the needy and believe that they are righteously non racist – but. almost to a person they wouldn’t allow their daughter to marry a black – not ever a “Brahman.”

I will not go into detail on this blog and name names and situations that I’ve seen up close and personal and I’m not a native to the city although I’ve lived here for 30 some years. My son in law is black (I’m white), my son’s fiance is Hispanic, daughter #2 is hot and heavy with her long time boyfriend (he’s Jewish she’s an agnostic Catholic) god forbid if daughter #3 wants to marry her sister!
I love all these folks – but you can’t believe the snide shit I hear from some of our ‘friends’

Go Jr – Go Dunner – Go – EdE – Go Dusty – Go BP….wait a minute Dunn is white…but he is from Texas…...Go Reds.

I think this is a case of believing what you want to believe and/or what you are told. Dunn is the Reds best offensive player, and the national media seems to like him, but in Cincinnati, they hate him (see e.g., Daugherty and Brennamen). Meanwhile, they love Norris Hopper, and by far the most popular Red is Brandon Phillips.

Basically, I don’t think Griffey’s race is the problem.

Far be it from me to get into a discussion like this, but I’m far from sold that this is actually a racial issue. Everyone likes to just stir the pot and since he is African American and hinted at the fact he wants to leave every throws that around.

I think people in Cincinnati and even outside when talking about Cincinnati just love to throw race into everything which always makes it worse.

Personally I loved Barry Larkin, Eric Davis, and Pokey Reese. Add to that Sean Casey, Jason Larue (quit laughing) and Jose Rijo.

Any like for Sabo quickly vanished the day he corked (superballed) his bat. Next time Ryan Freel goes down I’ll say here we go again and Pete Rose can just suck it for lying to everyone all of those years (not that I believed him.)

Outside of the Reds, Clemens is a POS, Bonds bites the big one and I never understood how Darryl Strawberry got away with as much as he did.

I don’t know, I just think everyone is making a bigger deal that should be.. I vaguely remember when Griffey left Seattle it wasn’t on good terms and had death threats and racist remarks thrown about, peoples memory is very short.

I like Dave Parker just fine.. It’s SLOW GOLFERS that bug me, he just happens to be one of those, it isn’t a racial thing.. :)

I grew up on a farm, spent my formative years travelling the country playing Rock and Roll, got married had a family and 3 grandkids. No matter how hard I try I still find an occasional residue of racism in the my own point of view. I truly work at not being elitist, racist and/or a Dunn hater..yet I know that I still have some racist shit ingrained in me. Think about all those folks who really beileve that they are better becasue of their skin color, or the amount of money they have ot the schools they’ve attended. It almost too much to comprehend. Good Night and Go Reds.

Oh, that.

That’s the 30,000 BCE Alpha Centurian gene splice.

You dirty half-breed.

Even though I’m 21, and grew up in a reasonably forward thinking area (for being in KY), and was raised by progressive parents from midwestern states, I STILL catch myself thinking racist things. For example, my graduation speaker was an african-american young man (also a current graduate). And I immediately thought to myself ‘how well-spoken he was’. What did I expect? He’s a college graduate. He completed a more rigorous program than I did. It’s ridiculous.

And I think that the subconscious racism is really the next great challenge in race relations. For instance, one study showed that having a ‘white’ name is actually worth 8 years of experience over having a stereotypically ‘black’ name. How do you fight something that insidious? Not every interaction can be blind.

have a desire for everyone to assimilate into American-European culture. However, America is an eclectic blend of culture. That is what the beauty of America is and should always be. If a Caucasian wishes to express a view that a certain culture should assimilate because of their own selfish ways, then they should preface their bias and follow it with their criticism. Then it wouldn’t sound racist and insensitive.

Stereotypes are becoming more of a nuisance for me and especially on this post. If somebody wants to make a point they should research or use specificities and not use blanket stereotypes. Nothing bugs me more than a comment that pigeon-holes a person into a category because of faulty views and there have been many on this post. I know that this is just a blog to opine one’s opinions, but some comments are borderline offensive with stereotypes. I’m not asking for MLA citations, but just to check stereotypes at the door of mother’s basement.

and we are going to need to go to threads

I hate everything about them—their music, their food, their so-called “religion”, the way their men are so skinny and their wives are all so fat, but mostly I hate the way they judge people based on tired stereotypes.

I have arrived a bit late to the panel discussion but I have a few thoughts to add.

I think an important distinction to make when it comes to racism is the difference between individual racism based on ignorance, upbringing, lack of morality and structural or systematic racism based upon exclusion from resources, education, and well paying jobs.

In many ways, we have come a long way in the US when it comes to individual racism and political equality. Many people of color, often with the support of white folks, worked hard to organize movements for social change- from abolitionism to civil rights to the many struggles that still continue today for racial justice. Slavery was abolished, segregation was ended, voting rights were gained; all good things that came from the hard work of ordinary people organizing for change.

Yet, African-Americans still , on average, earn less than all other racial/ethnic groups in the United States of America. What is going on? Why is there still inequality in our Country?

I would say the answer has to do with the history of race and its role in the colonial expansion of Europe over the last few centuries. Who invented race and why? Race as we know it was constructed by the first European anthropoligists. Race was, and is, a system of knowledge that places cultural values on percieved phenotypical differences (that is, on percieved physical differences like skin color). Creating the subject position of the inferior “dark skinned other” was a crucial step in the colonial project that made the invasion and subjegation of Africa, Asia, the mid-East and the Americas possible. We should never forget that the majority of African-Americans were brought to the US in chains, that it was slave labor that built the foundations of our great nation.

And here we are today, 2008, still talking about race. Why? Because we have never adressed the root problems of race- the problem that race only exists in the first place to make certain people exploitable by others; the problem that when slavery ended there was no real plan in place to deal with its reprecussions in our society, to heal those who toiled and those who wipped, to provide new, just, forms of income for both blacks and whites in the south.

Instead, many freed slaves remained on their same plantations, working in the same conditions but now for “wages.” Those who did venture north found themselves competing with the Irish for low paying industrial jobs. The end of slavery led to few immediate changes in the feudal South and was a blessing for the capitalist industrial North.

Race is still a problem in the US, and the world as a whole, because we are not working collectively to adress the sytems and structures that have purposefully marginalized and exploited certain groups of people for the benefit of others.

Everyone seems to have a different definition. I wish I had seen this discussion last night. I’ve learned a lot about racism in the past several years, but my experiences leave me more questions than answers. Posts like this are interesting and can help answer some questions.

I grew up in Southwest Ohio. My high school had a few blacks but I was not friends with any of them. Generally, my family is conservative Republican. My grandmother sometimes says “darkies.” All of this made my experience in ten years away from Ohio a learning experience, because I had never been around diversity like that, and I think the same can be said for many of us who grew up in this part of the world. Here are some things I have learned over the last decade. They may seem “racist” at first glance.

1. I learned that just because you are in a black neighborhood doesn’t mean it’s a bad neighborhood.

2. I learned that saying hi to someone on the street can do wonders to disarm any racial tension that may exist between two strangers.

3. I learned racism wasn’t confined to white trash but could be found in all social spheres. Indeed, the more money a white person makes, the more likely he is to hold racist views, or at least distance himself from people of another color. I think, though, that the opposite is true for blacks. The more money a black person makes, the more likely he is to hang out with whites. Now, though, I’m just generalizing. That’s bad. I learned that, too.

Yes, it was ignorance. On the one hand, I knew all of this, yet it took living elsewhere to understand it. Does this mean I was racist? I don’t think so, because I was not motivated by hatred. I had always viewed things such as KKK rallies, police brutality, and discrimination as evils and in college I remember defending affirmative action though I did not understand why we needed affirmative action in the 1990s. I had always assumed we as a nation were past that kind of thing, but then again, I had the America is infallible idea back then as a result of growing up in this area. The thing is, I didn’t even KNOW I thought those things. I didn’t realize that I felt uncomfortable in black neighborhoods. I didn’t realize that my eyes darted away as I passed someone of different color on the street. I had simply grown up in an environment where “that’s how things are.”

But I also am blessed with an open mind and an insatiable desire to learn about people, why they do the things they do, how they interact with one another. I soon grew comfortable around people of different races, and I pretty much forgot all of those naive ideas I had back in my Ohio days. It took a friend of mine visiting from Austria commenting about the racial diversity on a DC bus last summer to remind me of how far I had come in the decade since I had left SW Ohio.

Now, however, being back in the place I grew up is showing me the ugly side of race again. The most disturbing experiences happened as I was helping out on the Obama campaign – mostly doing canvassing – and I couldn’t believe some of the things I heard in this part of the world. But I was also having a difficult time discerning what was racist and what was just ignorance.

Now, there are some things I know ARE racist:

1. Saying blacks have the same opportunities as whites followed by a sentence containing the word “lazy.” Try developing into a productive member of society when you grow up with a crackhead mother, no father, go to a crumbling inner city school, surrounded by drugs and crime. It takes a special person – a very strong person – to climb out of that, and if most of us had grown up in that environment, we wouldn’t have what it takes to make that climb.

2. Using the term “race card” every time someone mentions race. This is a term invented by whites who refuse to acknowledge that the first statement isn’t true. Are there people who use race as an excuse for bad behavior? Yes. Congresswoman Crazy is one of them, and there are many, many more. But this Junior stuff, for example, well, there is an element of truth to it. Many of us here at RR are of the more enlightened persuasion, but there are some pretty nasty people in this area. We don’t know what goes on behind the scenes, but we do know that Junior has received death threats, and well, I’m willing to bet that more than a few of those had something to do with race in them. Now, I don’t know about you all, but if I receive death threats, I am going to shape some opinions on things based on what’s in those.

3. Saying all white people are racist. Vice versa, too.

4. Saying your race is the only one that suffers from racism.

5. Saying “I’ll never elect a black president.” This is different from saying “America will never elect a black president” or “America is not ready to elect a black president.”

6. Using the N word. Doesn’t matter what color you are. Same goes for using gook, wop, and all of those other racial epithets for which you don’t have to say “using the X word.”

7. Holding KKK rallies on the steps of the Hamilton County Courthouse. Or anywhere, for that matter. Duh.

But there are those other things I’ve seen and heard, things like everyone in a restaurant sitting at tables furthest from a black guy, or the guy who was complaining about affirmative action programs in Troy, Ohio (where whites are an overwhelming majority), to people lowering their voices in saying “black guy” to tell a story about someone when a racial description was not necessary to the story, or reactions from the Griffey thing, that may be defined by some as racist but that may not be motivated by hatred. Is ignorance racism? I’m not sure a person can answer that question if he’s been stuck in SW Ohio most of his life – I think you have to see different things, because that’s the only way you’ll really understand that not everybody thinks like you do.

Anyway, thanks for posting this. It was thought provoking and I’ll probably continue to think about it for awhile. My vote goes to Brendanukkah for the Tribe post.