Black Residents In White Scioto County -- Facing Reality

According to the United States Census, 79,499 people resided in Scioto County in 2010. Estimates in 2019 from census.gov put that total at 75,314.

The Black or African-American percentage of that population

was 2.7% or 1,246 people.

According to Data USA, in 2017, there were 33.9 times more White (Non-Hispanic) residents (71.8k people) in Scioto County, Ohio, than any other race or ethnicity.

I share this data for the edification of people residing in Scioto County. I believe this information not only gives insight into the racial makeup of the county, but also provides proof on how our population differs from that of most of America.

As Whites in Scioto County evaluate important issues such as police brutality on Blacks, systematic racism, and the impact of Black Lives Matter, I hear most say they understand the reality of the racial unrest and believe they are certainly not racists and are fully capable of understanding the problems faced by minorities.

I do believe most of these people are not prejudiced in explicit terms, but many of them still fall prey to aversive racism – unconscious (implicit) influences on how people think about, feel about, and behave toward others based on group membership.

Aversive racists’ reactions typically involve discomfort, anxiety, or fear. In America, Whites have been able to change their minds about racism faster than they have been able to change their deep-seated, and often unconscious, feelings. In an overly predominate White Scioto County, being an aversive racist is certainly a danger.

Of course, many white residents here have Black friends, and they work and socially associate with members of minorities. In doing so, they see themselves as being diverse and open to matters of racial disparity. I hear many say, “I have black friends. I am, therefore, colorblind.” And, no doubt, they most certainly do have these people as friends and view themselves as free from racial prejudice.

But … let's get back to that perception and confront reality. How many of these same Scioto County Whites live next to Black families? In actuality, how many Whites live in school districts where more than handful of Black students are enrolled? How many of them belong to social groups or organizations with sizable Black memberships?

Consider the question of integrated schools. Public School Review reports the Portsmouth City School District (school year 2020) has a minority enrollment of 26% of the student body (majority Black and Hispanic), which is actually less than the Ohio public school average of 30% (majority Black). Anyone who has lived here for even a short time knows Portsmouth Schools educate the majority of Black students in Scioto County.

The census.gov estimate of 2019 reports 20,158 people live in Portsmouth, 5.7% of which are Black or African-American. That means 1,149 Blacks live within the city limits. And that also means a whopping 97 Blacks live in Scioto County outside of Portsmouth. To me, these statistics are very revealing. There is little, almost no, diversity in rural Scioto County.

The estimated population of the United States is 328,239,523 of which the census reports 13.4% are Black or African-American. It is evident with national percentages at 13.4% and county percentages at 2.7%, the chances of even having everyday interaction with Blacks here is far lower than any kind of American average – five times lower than a projected normal, in fact.

How much of this racial isolation is self-imposed as opposed to forced? Racial and socioeconomic segregation are closely linked - if you're a black person in America, you're more likely than a white person to live in an area of concentrated poverty. This isn't simply a matter of choice, or chance. Pew Research reports even though overall racial and ethnic inequality in wealth narrowed from 2013 to 2016, the gap remains large. In 2016, the median wealth of white households was $171,000. That’s 10 times the wealth of black households ($17,100).

Do Blacks live in self-imposed segregation for purposes of self defense and protection? After all many white neighborhoods have reputations for intolerance and prejudice. Even in less-hostile territory, African Americans find the prospect of being constantly judged by white neighbors – and having to be on their best behavior to disprove white stereotypes – tiresome.

Gregory Smithsimon – associate professor of sociology at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and the CUNY Graduate Center – says one Washington-area resident said …

“I really wasn’t interested in moving into an all-white neighborhood and being the only black pioneer down there. I don’t want to come home and always have my guard up. After I work eight hours or more a day, I don’t want to come home and work another eight.”

(Gregory Smithsimon. “Are African American families more vulnerable in a largely white neighborhood?” The Guardian. February 21, 2018.)

On the other hand, social scientists Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton contradict the idea that people like to live with their “own kind” in their landmark study of racial segregation, “American Apartheid.” They found Blacks don’t express a preference to be as segregated as they are: in surveys, the largest percentage of African Americans want to live in neighborhoods that are a 50-50 mix of black and white people. But few such neighborhoods exist, and almost none stay mixed for long.

So, to those numbers, I hear Whites say, “That is the way it is. I didn't have anything to do with the lack of diversity in the population. I can't change that.”

While acknowledging lack of blame, Whites might be well informed to look at the past. Scioto County has a long history of being a bordering slave state, a state where Southern sympathies run deep and both Black Laws intended to restrict the rights of free blacks and de facto discrimination have deep roots.

You may remember what is commonly known as Black Friday on January 21st, 1831, and the expulsion of eighty Black residents of Portsmouth. They were then expelled under the threat of enforcement of the Ohio "Black Laws” of the early 1800s. The local paper, The Portsmouth Courier, even printed a notice at the time: “The citizens of Portsmouth are adopting measures to free the town of its colored population.” The refugees were runaway slaves and their locally born sons and daughters, who for whatever reason, decided to stay in Portsmouth rather than seek freedom in Canada.

History tells sobering truths. The story of the integration of Dreamland Pool is well documented as is the fact that Portsmouth High enforced separate proms until 1954. Since then, we White residents of the county have traditionally been stubborn to change, and now much of that attitude is aversive in nature. Whites prefer to allow advancements and grant privileges to minorities – they often bristle when these minorities invoke the reins and demand due equality and justice.

The simple point I make is that it is extremely difficult to actually know the heart and minds of Blacks in Scioto County when they do not live “with” you, but instead, they live in very small numbers “around” you. This is a fact we White residents should not ignore as we tackle the reality of what it means to be Black in America. Almost all Whites in Scioto County do not even know what it means to live in a neighborhood with a significant Black population. How in the world can we properly judge the issues at hand in 2020 unless we listen to Black voices and be receptive to their messages.

I'll close with this delineation. Being “attuned,” being “sympathetic,” or even being “empathetic” is not the same as being “involved” and being “active.” The challenge we Whites in this county face is to uncover our own lack of experience with diversity, ask ourselves how we have contributed to these conditions, and then work to evoke needed changes to embrace our minorities. It is not an issue of “race” -- that is a manufactured term as you realize there is more genetic diversity within a so-called “race” than between two races. Rather, it is an issue of racism ... the kind that still haunts the communities of 2020 America.