A historic first step toward racial equity and repair came with a public acknowledgement and apology, delivered by Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, for the city's role in causing multi-generational trauma with the destruction of the lower West End neighborhood. The thriving Black community was razed - and its social and economic fabric destroyed - in order to build an expressway and industrial park detailed in the city's 1948 Master Plan. This history was described in the 2022 CCR documentary "America's Truth: Cincinnati," laying bare the devastating impact it continues to have on current day racial disparities in Cincinnati -- and sparking conversations with CCR, community, and city officials. Mayor Pureval's verbal apology to lower West End descendants was later followed by a proclamation signing acknowledging and apologizing for the institutional racism behind the West End's destruction, the city's failure to make good on its promises to adequately rehouse displaced residents, and a 'pledge to work toward recognition and remedy for this injustice.' Prior to the apology and proclamation, CCR Director, Wendy Ellis presented to Cincinnati City Council on a range of policy and investment strategies, developed by CCR's Policy Lab, to address the racial wealth gap and poverty in Cincinnati. Anne Steinert, PhD, of the University of Cincinnati, a partner in the CCR documentary, also presented to council on the history of the lower West End and its deliberate destruction by Cincinnati officials.
To learn more, check out these articles:
- Enquirer: Cincinnati leaders to apologize for destruction of Black neighborhood in 1950s
- WKRC: Cincinnati leaders begin apology for razing West End neighborhood 60 years ago
- WLWT: Cincinnati leaders apologize to former residents for elimination of lower West End
- BET: The City Of Cincinnati Apologizes For Removal Of Black Neighborhood Decades Ago