The Chicago Project

Cincinnati Trip; Over the Rhine

3/14/08

“Why do communities engage in urban uprisings?”

We loaded vans early on a Friday in late March and headed into Over the Rhine, a small neighborhood adjacent to the downtown business district in Cincinnati.  This neighborhood became internationally known in April of 2001 as a result of the uprisings that happened after the death of Timothy Thomas, a young African American male shot and killed while running from the police.  He was the 15th African American shot and killed in Cincinnati by the police in six years. 

Our first guest speaker, Cecil Thomas, (no relation to Timothy Thomas) is a twenty seven year Cincinnati police veteran who was brought over to city hall directly after the April 2001 events to improve race relations in the city.  He is currently a council member for the city of Cincinnati.  He boarded our van and directed us through the side streets and back allies of Over the Rhine.  He presented us with six main causes of the urban uprisings that occurred in Cincinnati in 2001:

1. Lack of Jobs in the Community

2. Poor Health Care/Limited Access to Health Care

3. Poor Police-Community Relations

4. Overrepresentation of Substandard Housing

5. Narrow Viewpoint of Issues Presented in Media

6. Poor Quality Education

“I liked our conversation about the sidewalk and how downtown’s sidewalks are perfectly straight and on Elm Street the sidewalks were all broken.”

Victoria Wright, 2008

We ate lunch at the only remaining family style restaurant in the community, Tuckers.   It is a small breakfast and sandwich place with AWESOME cheeseburgers!  It was a time to unwind, reflect on what we learned concerning the uprisings, and rub elbows with people from the community.  But honestly, it really was about the food!

Mr. Donald Whitehead

After lunch we met with Mr. Donald Whitehead, a native of Cincinnati.  Due to his disease of addiction he found himself trapped in the terrible realities of homelessness. After completing a treatment program, he spent several years as an outreach coordinator and community advocate and eventually went on to be Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.  He talked to us about what life was like being homeless and shared some startling statistics about the homeless population such as half of all the resident at the shelter in Cincinnati have jobs but are not paid enough to afford housing. 

“ I always thought that homeless people were just to lazy to get a job and to provide for themselves but I soon realized that they didn’t choose to be homeless it just happened from a divorce or their disabilities and stuff like that.”

Michelle Easterling, 2008

Next we visited the Drop Inn Center, the largest homeless shelter in the community.  We served lunch for the residents, cleared tables, and cleaned chairs.  We had a tour of the facility during which we saw the sleeping quarters for the men which consisted of a room the size of a gymnasium with over a hundred steel bunk beds, thin mattresses, and the strong smell of bleach.  It was obvious that much more money was being spent on stadiums and policing than helping people move out of poverty.

“This guy that was in there actually drew me a picture of me and that made me think that there is absolutely nothing different between me and a person in a homeless shelter.”

Victoria Wright, 2008