Cincinnati Enquirer launches community conversations on race

By Alicia Benjamin-Samuels
freedomforum.org

01.15.02

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After Cincinnati was shaken by the riots and racial tension that erupted after the police shooting of an unarmed African-American man, The Cincinnati Enquirer developed a public forum on race called “Neighbor to Neighbor.”

On April 7, 2001, Cincinnati police officer Steve Roach shot and killed 19-year-old Timothy Thomas. For the next few days, riots, arson, assaults and looting raged in the city. “It was the most violent civil unrest to hit Cincinnati since 1968,” according to a May 22, 2001, article in the Enquirer.

The Neighbor to Neighbor program, which began in November 2001, was created to help promote understanding among the races in the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana tri-state area. Meetings are scheduled through February, with additional meeting times and locations to be announced.

“Our goal is to have a facilitated, solutions-oriented conversation on race in every neighborhood, township, village and city of Greater Cincinnati — 145 in all,” wrote Enquirer Managing Editor Rosemary Goudreau.

See Goudreau’s article on the Neighbor to Neighbor initiative at www.gannett.com/go/newswatch/2002/january/nw0111-1htm

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