Racial discrimination in Cincinnati can be as subtle as a white store clerk turning her back on a black shopper as she approaches the clerk for help.

        Or it can be as overt as a white homeowner in a mostly white subdivision telling a black motorist asking for directions that he's in the wrong part of town.

        Fabian David, 50, a longtime Walnut Hills resident, says she's experienced both types of discrimination. But the indirect forms of bias stand out in her mind and, she says, are the most prevalent in Cincinnati.

        ''I was at the cologne counter the other day, and when she (store clerk) saw me coming, she just turned around and walked away,'' Ms. David says.

        Ms. David is convinced that she was treated that way because she is black. White store clerks, she says, assume she can't afford the merchandise or that she ''may be trying to steal something.''

        ''You can't prove that it's racism because it's not a physical thing,'' she says. ''But if you know what it feels like to be discriminated against, you know when it's happening.''

ONLINE EXTRA

• Complete poll results and PDF of the report

MORE COVERAGE

•Races See Two Cincinnatis   • About this series   • How this poll was done   • Tell us what you think   • Letter from the Editor   • City combines best, worst of North, South   • Tensions hurt potential for growth

        Ms. David is among black Cincinnatians who believe they have been discriminated against in some facet of their everyday lives, either while dining out, shopping, working, renting or buying a home, or using public transportation.

        It's a difficult thing to measure.

        Eric Ellis, president of Integrity Development Inc., a West Chester diversity consulting firm, says that ''just because a person feels that they are being discriminated against doesn't always mean that discrimination has occurred.''

        Yet many studies have shown that racial discrimination does exist, he says.

        ''We all should recognize, almost at a common-sense level, that if you are different than the dominant culture you are going to experience some challenges and discrimination as a result,'' he says.

        Rolando Perry, who recently relocated to Cincinnati from St. Louis to work for a mortgage lending firm, says he's not surprised by the poll's findings and would expect to see similar results in St. Louis and many other cities.

        What strikes him, though, is the mental ''state of denial'' he believes most whites are in despite evidence that says discrimination exists.

        ''I work with a middle-aged white woman who lives in Blue Ash who is always talking to me about how bad she feels about how her black friends are treated in Cincinnati,'' Mr. Perry says. ''But this same woman, who I work with every day, remember, grabbed her purse like she thought I was going to snatch it, when I passed her on the street. I don't think she even recognized me.''

        Douglas Springs, 51, of Mount Auburn says he believes most whites in Cincinnati don't experience discrimination and are perfectly happy with the status quo.

        Mr. Springs, a senior health inspector with the Cincinnati Health Department, says blacks experience plenty of bias on the job every day.

        ''They have had supervisor positions available that blacks have applied for, including me. But the only ones getting hired are white men,'' he says.

        ''They came in new and inexperienced. We (blacks) trained them, and the next thing we know, they're our supervisor.''

ONLINE EXTRA: Complete poll results and PDF of the report
Races See Two Cincinnatis
About this series
How this poll was done
Tell us what you think
Poll reflects attitudes, defines problems
Subtle racism gets under blacks' skin
City combines best, worst of North, South
Tensions hurt potential for growth