Cincinnati is predominantly black. Surrounding Hamilton County is predominantly white. I live about a mile or so from the city limits. I don't see a race war coming. Here's why.
1) I work in the city. Blacks and whites are generally able to tolerate each other just fine. There are probably hatreds under the surface, but everyone seems to be able to keep it in their sock and deal with the reality.
2) There are a lot of affluent black folk that don't want to wreck a good thing around here. There always has been that kind of folk around here. They are part of both communities, and they show others that there is a way to success. Overall, there isn't anywhere left around here that is like the sincere squalor and depravity like we had back in the 50's and 60's.
3) We had race riots here less than 20 years ago. Afterward, the two sides got together and decided to make sure it didn't happen again. Cincinnati now has a revamped police force that is the model for the rest of the country.
4) One thing that has changed from 20 years ago is that the hate-mongering political leaders have been successfully squelched. They used to be out with a bullhorn every whipstitch. Somebody must have given them a dose of STFU. You don't hear them anymore.
5) We have had riots periodically over the years. The thing of it is, they always seem to target their own neighborhoods and kill their own doing so. All you generally have to do is quarantine the area and let it burn itself out.
Me? Look, the Germans moved in here just looking for a better deal than they were getting back home. We're mostly get-along kind of people. My grandfather got very rich in this town not judging a man by anything other than how well he could do a day's job. I don't see any reason to change.
Having said that, I'm counting the days before I can wave Greater Cincinnati a fond farewall and move to the country. Out here, everyone sees a race war coming, and have their hackles up. I'm just glad I'll be at the end of a long road and nobody will ever come down it except those that know me. As I explained it to one of my neighbors:
"I look at my neighbors and I see those big fish you put in your fish tank. They always hide and you hardly ever see them again. You put some new fish in the tank, and everything's cool until the lights go out. Next morning the new fish is gone and the big fish is a little fatter. I figure whoever comes out here is going to have to get through all those big fish before they get to me."
