Five years ago, Cincinnati's race relations came wrapped in a polite silence that contributed to a widening gap between blacks and whites.
The gap's still there, but now it's being filled with noise. Some of it comes in the form of angry shouts that attract TV news cameras. Other expressions are whispers of goodwill that escape the media.
None of it, local human relations experts say, is entirely unwelcome. Like other major U.S. cities before it, Cincinnati is maturing into a more diverse place.
These are a few of the most recent shouts:
- Dissatisfied with the city's report of the fatal February police shooting of escaped black psychiatric patient Lorenzo Collins, a coalition of civil rights groups earlier this month promised more demonstrations.
- A summer Sunday night African-American tradition of ''cruising'' Eden Park has become a flash point for alleged racial disparity in enforcement of the city's year-old noise ordinance.
- Groups of young black men - possible spillover from Eden Park - reportedly detained and threatened two white women (one with her 3-year-old daughter in the car) in separate Aug. 3 incidents in Corryville.
The public hardening of racial attitudes in response to such events is typical of Cincinnati and other major U.S. cities, human relations experts say.
''People of goodwill ... had a rude wake-up call when they saw the divergent reactions to the Rodney King and O.J. Simpson verdicts,'' said Robert ''Chip'' Harrod, executive director of the Cincinnati chapter of the National Conference (formerly the National Conference of Christians and Jews). ''We saw that, black and white, our perceptions of life in this country were a lot farther apart than we thought.''
Cincinnati had its own share of alarming racial incidents in 1992 - the year of the King verdict. That's when racist remarks by Marge Schott became public. That December, a Ku Klux Klan cross went up on Fountain Square for the first time.
Much of the Tristate again retreated to polarized positions after seeing the televised arrest of black teen Pharon Crosby by Cincinnati police in April 1995.
Spurred by high-profile national and local events, a growing number of Tristate residents have been moved to address race issues, experts say.
Thousands of Greater Cincinnatians are quietly going about the day-to-day business of improving intergroup relations. It happens informally in personal lives and, increasingly, through coordinated efforts.
These are the whispers:
- In the CommUNITY program, more than 30 multiracial groups of a dozen people each have been meeting to discuss race in private homes during the past year. The program is the outgrowth of the Summit on Racism established in 1994 by the Rt. Rev. Herbert Thompson Jr., bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio.
- The national evangelical Christian men's movement Promise Keepers sowed meaningful seeds of racial compatibility during its May rally in Cincinnati, many of its 46,000 participants say. Carrying integrated groups of men, dozens of buses will travel from the Tristate to Washington, D.C., for Promise Keepers' Oct. 4 national ''Stand in the Gap'' rally.
- Still other local churches are realizing the spiritual contradiction between prejudice and faith. Interracial pulpit exchanges are on the rise here, and some segregated congregations are entering joint-worship relationships across racial and denominational lines.
- Summer camps - such as Camp Joy in Clarksville, Ohio - continue to bring together youths of diverse backgrounds.
- Professional associations encourage co-workers of different backgrounds to get to know each other outside the office.
- In Kentucky, public television stations aired statewide conversations on race Tuesday night. One of the broadcast sites was Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights.
- The region's 40 human relations organizations have been brought together by the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission. This coalition will ask the League of Women Voters to include the question of race relations on forms sent to candidates for political office.
From the land's most powerful political office has come a call for a national dialogue on race relations. Alarmed by attitudes behind violent racial incidents nationwide, President Clinton introduced his initiative in June.
From the pulpit
Some of the most important players in the dialogue are churches, which still preside over the nation's most segregated day - Sunday.
A growing number of ministers and religious leaders have taken the criticism to heart.
The Rev. Paula Jackson, rector of the Episcopal Church of Our Savior in Mount Auburn, said her church began talking frankly about race in the wake of the videotaped Rodney King beating.
''That was the turning point for us,'' she said. ''That's when we started having some intense focused conversations on race. And it was so helpful in the parish that we decided to take it on the road.''
Teams from her integrated congregation reach out to any churches that will invite them in for an open dialogue on race. The dialogue starts with the 90-minute film Color of Fear.
These are baby steps in the grass-roots tradition, but the Rev. Jackson said they are the most effective.
''The big official proclamations and movements, I don't see them having that much impact,'' she said. ''I think it's got to be folks who see each other on a daily and weekly basis, who decide to go beyond the 'Hi, how are you?' and 'Have a nice day.'
''They have to go beyond that, because that is the change that will last.''
Greater Cincinnati might see an official proclamation from the leaders of various religious denominations.
One leader has indicated that the ecumenical group is attempting to draft a joint statement urging all people of faith in the Tristate to confront racial and ethnic prejudice in their lives.
Living-room dialogue
Talk is not cheap in the battle against prejudice, human relations experts say. It's an effective weapon.
''When an issue arises like the one surrounding the Lorenzo Collins case, dialogue can give you a place to talk openly about them,'' said Michael Hawkins, chairman of the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission. ''It's the people - white and black - who have the least contact with those outside of their particular group who are most likely to react to these unfortunate incidents with negative stereotypes.
''Dialogue gives you a person to go to and maybe come up with a personal resolution.''
Kay Smith, 60, of Amberley Village is involved in her second CommUNITY group. An African-American who directs the Community Land Cooperative in the West End, Mrs. Smith has observed how few people have daily contact with people outside of their group away from work.
''They come into the meetings with a lot of 'isms,''' she said. ''One white CEO came into my house and said he'd never been in the home of an African-American and couldn't believe how much it was like a white home. Great things can happen if we get to know each other as people.''
A National Conference program sponsored by Cinergy Corp., CommUNITY brings 11 or 12 people together for three, three-hour meetings in group members' homes. A diversity trainer is present. Some groups have gone on to worship together, while members of another perform volunteer work as a group.
Economics fuels tension
Councilman Tyrone Yates is encouraged by efforts such as CommUNITY and the number of other personal attempts to grapple with the city's race-relations problems.
But he is discouraged by the decreasing number of economic opportunities for African-Americans in large U.S. cities.
''If you believe reports, the economy has never been better,'' Mr. Yates said. ''But the African-American has gotten left out because of the immutable characteristic of skin color. The larger picture of police-community relations is based on this whole question of economic deprivation.''
In Cincinnati:
- The rate of black unemployment is more than three times the rate for whites.
- The unemployment rate for young black men - 45 percent - is twice as high as it is for the city's white youths.
- Median household income for blacks is about half that of whites - $18,876 compared with $34,485.
- Almost three times as many blacks as whites - 39.4 percent of blacks and 14.7 percent of whites - live in poverty.
Individuals and small groups can force change.
''They have to keep taking risks in their neighborhoods by making race relations a central issue,'' Mr. Yates said. ''They need to interact with their corporate leaders and ask their bosses if the corporation's values reflect what employees' are asked to do in their lives and homes.''
Enquirer reporter John Hopkins contributed to this story.
EFFECTIVE RACE DIALOGUE FACES BARRIERS
STATEWIDE FORUMS
