The president of the NAACP here in Cincinnati said this to the local newspaper—The Cincinnati Enquirer—about the University of Cincinnati: “UC needs to work harder to recruit more black students and professors, Smitherman said. “Let me say that UC is a gem,” he said. “But from the perspective of the Cincinnati NAACP, UC has not done a good job in recruiting and retaining African-American students.” (“What the Area Wants of UC”- http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090529/EDIT03/305290051)
Smitherman (above) is president of the Cincinnati NAACP
Now, call me a person with a limited social viewpoint, but I highly dispute Mr. Smitherman’s comments. I would like to present to you my facts and research on UC’s minority enrollment and Smitherman’s rather checkered past here in Cincinnati.
First, let me start with a comment from 2003, before Smitherman was appointed to Cincinnati’s City Council (often referred to by locals as City Clown-cil). He said this, “The police force - they are truly at the core of the African-American community's frustration,” he said in an interview days before his swearing-in Monday as a Cincinnati City Council member. “You have a 21-year-old white officer who's never had an African-American friend in his life, and you dump him off in Over-the-Rhine at 3 a.m. and say, ‘Police it.’ We don't prepare our officers.” (http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/11/29/loc_loc1counb.html)
Fair enough. As a freshman in high school when Smitherman made these comments, I may not be able to recall much, but I think Cincinnati was given a national black eye over the race riots that occurred in 2001 after a white officer shot and killed a black man running down a dark alley when the officer believed that the man was about to pull a gun and shoot at him.
However, the whole West Side of Cincinnati became anti-Smitherman when he made some comments about a local high school a few weeks later. In January of 2004, Simtherman requested a report from the police chief. The memo to the City Manager said, “Please provide my office with the following information: A listing of each sworn officer in the Cincinnati Police Department. For each sworn officer, the name of the high school that he/she attended.”
The article continues: “The memo didn't mention a specific high school, but Smitherman's critics said it was clear what he was after. “He's asking for the information because he doesn't like white Elder grad police officers,” said Hamilton County Prosecutor Michael K. Allen, an Elder alumnus and former Cincinnati police officer. “Let's be honest about it. What he is doing is profiling, and he should have to account for that.” (http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/01/26/loc_loc1asmith.html)
Guess who else graduated from Elder High School? You’re reading his work right now.
Me (on the left) and most recent graduate of Elder, my brother Tony
I remember this story, and recalled what a bad name it gave Elder High School, where I resided as a student during that time. You don’t mess with Elder High School, or its alumni, and not pay for it. After all, almost 75% of all Elder grads still live in the Cincinnati area, and Elder supporters of all kinds rushed to denounce Smitherman when they heard of his comments.
So, needless to say, my “super research mode” provided me with some more ammunition to fire off—proverbially—at Smitherman’s ignorant comments. Now, had I not done much research, I may not have found that comment, but that comment made me even angrier at Smitherman’s already racially insensitive comments from Sunday’s paper.
So, I did a little digging, and bless their hearts, the University of Cincinnati posts the student body diversity statistics on their website. According to UC’s numbers, only 10% of the student population is African-American. Out of 37,000 students, only 3,700 are African-American.
I attend UC, and I know that those numbers just can’t be correct. I have plenty of African-American young men and young women who share classes and activities with me. There’s no way that only 3,700 students are African American. Turns out, UC’s numbers might be underestimating by a little bit.
An article by Taylor Dunjen, of UC’s independent student newspaper, The News Record, says that over the past year UC lost .2%, or 15, African-American students. I’ll do some math, and I’m not a math major! Fifteen students at .2% means that 1% of African-American students is equal to 75 students (by taking 15 and multiplying it by 1/.2—or 5). That means that approximately 7,500 students are African-American at UC. (Read the full article here: http://www.newsrecord.org/sections/news/uc-sees-drop-in-minority-enrollment-1.1643420)
Someone screwed up, and I’m putting money down on UC’s website
My numbers show that UC is off by over 50% on the number of African-American students who attend classes at the school. Yikes. If you take UC’s “official” numbers as fact, then nearly 85% of students are white. While a fair number of students are white at UC, I have a tough time believing that UC is 85% Caucasian.
See what happens when you make comments I think are out of line. Maybe I’m letting my blood boil over something small, and I actually agree that UC could do a better job of attracting African-American students, but UC is doing a fine job right now. They are a group of students who bring a lot of talents to the table and add to class discussions.
Students that I have shared experiences with have shared stories and experiences that I didn’t get when I went to grade school and high school—at predominantly white, Catholic, schools. But, claiming that UC needs to bring more African American students on campus when we have probably a 30% to 35% population of African-American students is blatantly playing the “race card” in my opinion.
But, I thank Mr. Smitherman for his comments. They helped me realize what a history he has for saying inconsiderate, imprudent things and pushing his agendas too far. He also helped me write an entirely too long piece on UC’s minority student population.
Recall Smitherman’s comments about dropping a white officer off in Over-The-Rhine (a predominantly African-American community) from earlier? Well, maybe we should drop off Smitherman in the middle of the UC campus on a weekday when classes are in session and let him walk amongst the African-American students that UC needs to recruit more of. Maybe then he’d see that UC is doing just a fine job of recruiting African-American students.
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