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.