Once filled with 503,000 residents, the city now has only 331,000. For the most part, those who left have been middle class and white, and they have gone to the suburbs. In 1970, Cincinnati was 28 per cent African-American. Today, it is 43 per cent black. With few other ethnic groups, the city is basically bipolar.
All issues become racial.
On the surface, Cincinnati appears to be the model of a civil and civic-minded US city. Yet it is also home to considerable poverty. Of the nation's 75 biggest cities, it is the 12th highest for people living below poverty, according to Census figures. Here, rich and poor often coexist side by side. With the rioting over for now, neighbourhood activists and others are watching to see what happens with the investigation into the shooting and what changes might come about as result.