—A Cincinnati landlord who claimed a black girl’s hair products clouded an apartment complex’s swimming pool discriminated against the child by posting a poolside “White Only” sign, an Ohio civil rights panel said Thursday in upholding a previous finding.
The Ohio Civil Rights Commission voted 4-0 against reconsidering its finding from last fall. There was no discussion.
The group found on Sept. 29 that Jamie Hein, who is white, violated the Ohio Civil Rights Act by posting the sign at a pool at the duplex where the teenage girl was visiting her parents.
The parents filed a discrimination charge with the commission and moved out of the duplex in the racially diverse city to “avoid subjecting their family to further humiliating treatment,” the commission said in a release announcing its finding.
An investigation revealed that Hein in May posted on the gated entrance to the pool an iron sign that stated “Public Swimming Pool, White Only,” the commission statement said.
Several witnesses confirmed that the sign was posted, and the landlord indicated that she posted it because the girl used chemicals in her hair that would make the pool “cloudy,” according to the commission.
Hein told the commission she received the sign from a friend, and Ronnell Tomlinson, the commission’s housing enforcement director, said at Thursday’s hearing it was an antique. The sign says “Selma, Ala.,” at the bottom, followed by the date “14 July 31.”
Racial discrimination has particular resonance in Cincinnati, whose population is 45 percent black, far higher than the rest of Ohio, which is about 12 percent black. Surrounding Hamilton County is 26 percent black.
Cincinnati was the scene of race riots in April 2001 when police and demonstrators clashed in a blighted neighborhood following the shooting of a black suspect by police.
The commission’s statement said that its investigation concluded that the posting of such a sign “restricts the social interaction between Caucasians and African-Americans and reinforces discriminatory actions aimed at oppressing people of color.”more at source
Racial makeup changes in Ohio
White population down in 43 counties, while Asians, Hispanics grow
Whites are now the minority in about 10 percent of the nation’s counties.
While none of those counties are in Ohio, the racial and ethnic makeup of the state’s 88 counties has changed substantially since the 2000 census, according to population estimates for last year, released today by the Census Bureau.
Asians and Hispanics are the fastest-growing groups in nearly three-quarters of Ohio’s counties. The Asian population increased the most in 45 counties, while Hispanics grew fastest in 20 counties.
The non-Hispanic white population was down in 43 counties a statewide decrease of 47,256 since 2000.
Across Ohio, the number of Hispanic residents grew by 50,627 up 23 percent since 2000. The Asian population grew somewhat faster 31 percent. But the 41,181 overall increase was less because there are fewer Asians than Hispanics in Ohio.
Ohio’s black population grew by only 4 percent, but the 57,001 increase was the most for any racial or ethnic group. That’s because blacks remain, by far, the largest minority group in the state with an estimated population last year of more than 1.35 million, or about 12 percent of Ohio’s total.
No comments:
Post a Comment