Some African-Americans say they have two options when confronted with racism in the suburbs: They can get angry and move away, or they can try to make a difference.

Michelle and David Scott help their children, Brooke, 10, (left) and Briana, 12, with homework in their Fairfield Township home. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        Michelle Scott, an African-American insurance claims manager who lives in Fairfield Township, picked making a difference, even under the harshest of circumstances.

        In 1998, three white youths tried firebombing her house. They put a Molotov cocktail on her porch, but the homemade bomb didn't go off. The youths were convicted on second-degree felony charges in juvenile court.

        Instead of seeking a sentence involving time in a juvenile detention center, Mrs. Scott, now 38, asked that the youths undergo racial sensitivity training.

RELATED NEWS

Complete coverage in our special section.

        A year earlier, a little white girl on a school bus informed Mrs. Scott's daughter that she “hated black people.”

        Instead of getting angry, Mrs. Scott rejuvenated an inactive group called Concerned African-American Parents of Fairfield.

        The group now works closely with the Fairfield School District on diversity and racial sensitivity issues. It holds monthly meetings where parents voice their concerns to school officials, including the superintendent and the curriculum director. Members work with educators on how to relate to and discipline minority children.

INFOGRAPHICS

• Where blacks live in Cincinnati-area counties • Top concerns of suburban blacks, whites • Beliefs and values of suburban blacks

RACE POLL

Read the results from The Enquirer's poll on racial attitudes in Greater Cincinnati. • Satisfaction with Life • Race Relations • Social Life • Schools • Neighborhoods • Racial Discrimination • Law Enforcement • Economic opportunity • Summary

        Mrs. Scott also became more active in the Hamilton-Fairfield-West Chester branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

        But moving out never crossed her mind.

        “I'm a fighter,” she says. “If I can stop one family from going through what we went through, it will be worth it.”

        Overt acts of racism like the ones her family experienced aren't the norm in the suburbs, Mrs. Scott says. Most of her white neighbors were “sympathetic and supportive” during the firebombing incident.

        “The majority of people around here don't condone those things,” she says.

        “It's just getting them involved and helping them to understand why it's important to speak out about it that's difficult.”

Bridging two worlds
Forest Park offers lifestyle, diversity
       

Bridging two worlds
Forest Park offers lifestyle, diversity
Speaking up when racism is overt
Connections factor in judge selection
City pays for police lawsuits
Alleged actions often end in big settlements
A towering dilemma
Answers to killing elude family
Churches remember holiday lows
Holiday shopping crimes low, but police advise wariness
Islamic youth group delivers donated goods
Preschool starts kids on English
Tristate A.M. Report
Walter Zimmer Sr., Cincinnati, Navy firefighter, dies
While the work goes on, the emotions linger
BRONSON: Osama's video
HOWARD: Some Good News
PULFER: Can-Do Kids
Mason pool raises admission price
Area targets teen substance abuse
Bill may aid poor women
Covington bishop to go south
Kentucky News Briefs