Guest article by Christopher Smitherman, President, Cincinnati NAACP

Congratulations to the Black Family Reunion coordinator/committee on another successful year.  The Black Family Reunion (BFR) was blessed with good weather and outstanding attendance. 

Unfortunately the Cincinnati Enquirer did not report similar acknowledgments on the front page of the Monday, August 20, 2007 edition nor the local section of the paper.

I attended the BFR but I did not see any coverage anywhere or of any significance in the Enquirer on Monday after the event had concluded.  The Enquirer typically gives high visibility coverage before, after, and during Tall Stacks.  Our city is 45% African American, Hamilton county is 25% African American.  I would think that an event that draws 100,000 people into the city’s core would be news worthy.  Had there been any problem such as a shooting, the Enquirer would have placed the negative story on the front page of the paper.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Cincinnati Branch President is expressing concern about the Enquirer’s pattern of reporting biased, exclusionary, and or negative stories about the African American community.  The way the Enquirer reports impacts how people think.  Their pattern of reporting feeds stereotypes.  I believe this is intentional and the result is the continuation of institutional racism at its core.  If the Enquirer does not change they will force the Cincinnati branch of the NAACP to take measures to curb their behavior.

President Christopher Smitherman
Cincinnati Branch NAACP

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