This column has been printed from The Cincinnati Beacon: Where Divergent Views Collide!

The Cincinnati Beacon

Rockin’ Hejabi:  Cincinnati Has Overt Racism
Sunday, December 17, 2006

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

Most of you are probably asking the most natural question:  What or who is “Rockin’ Hejabi”?  Turns out to be a blogger who recently relocated to the Cincinnati area.  According to her Blogger profile, Rockin’ Hejabi is a convert to Islam—having grown up as a Methodist—who currently lives in Florence, KY but hopes to become a Cincinnati homeowner soon.  Some may wonder why we would feature an unknown blogger’s commentary so prominently here at The Beacon—but we figured it was educational to reflect on an outsider’s first impression of our humble City.

In a post entitled ”Racism in Cincinnati,” Rockin’ Hejabi makes some indicting observations:

Well, we’ve been here now since August and my husband and I agree that this is pretty much the most racist place we’ve ever seen.

The racism is so obvious in people, it’s sad.

A man I casually chatted with the other day while our children were playing on the same playground exhibited some prime racist statements; he was telling me about “how much better” the city of Indianapolis is for families (WTF! there’s NOTHING in Indianapolis! ..Except of course, lots of WHITE people!), and about “how safe” it is there (meaning; lots of white people) and how there is so much more to do downtown Indianapolis than there is downtown Cincinnati for families (nevermind all of the great Christmas festivities on Fountain Square! They don’t count because there are black people present I guess).

(...)

My husband says that the white folks at his place of employement always refer to whomever it is they are referring to not just by his or her name, but they preface their statement with “you know that black (guy/gal) named ______....” WTF? What does the somebody’s skin colour or ethnic background have to do with how you identify them? Seriously, something wicked this way comes!

But it gets even more severe. There was a patient who needed to be released. She had nothing but the clothes on her back, seeing as she was admitted as an emergent case in a fire. No house keys, no car etc. Her one relative could not come to pick her up that night, but could do so the following morning. So the social worker was going to release her anyways and send her to the homeless shelter for the night! Outlandish! Luckily for the patient, another staff member intervened, pointing out the fact that this woman was not homeless, she had a home she just didn’t have transportation until the morning. 100% chance if this patient had been white the social worker would NEVER have thought to send her to the homeless shelter for the night! But she was black...when probed as to why on earth this would be an appropriate decision, the social worker replied that she “does this all of the time,” . Whoa!

Just some material for your weekend reflection.

Thank you for reading (and printing from) The Cincinnati Beacon.