If you're like me and continue to wonder how Cincinnati ended up like this, an article in yesterday's Enquirer is a good read; it discusses the presence of the African American community in the city. Most interesting observation (and one that I tell people consistently) is made by Henry Louis Taylor Jr.:
"The city leaders created a money map that sifted and sorted people into communities based on the amount of money that they had," Taylor said. "Race itself doesn't become a factor of any consequence until homeownership enters the equation."
So the racial segregation of Cincinnati was actually economic segregation which impacted the African American community the most. Of course, when blacks who could afford to live in communities like Hyde Park or Mount Lookout inquired about living there, they were refused until courts showed it was illegal.
I'm not saying there is no race problem in our city, but the economic diversity is really the issue.