But Mako also feels that a shrinking economy will pit black and white against each other. Mako ticked off the large rubber companies operating when he grew up in Akron. Parents didn't want you to work in those smelly rubber companies. General Tire Co. Now there's few jobs. That keeps people apart.
Work is where people bond.
To use Barkoukis' analogy, however, the lack of jobs is straining an already shaky marriage of black and white in society. And when they do talk, whites and blacks often seem to have different meanings for the same word. There is a difference between perception and reality,' said Larry Zarrilli. At 47, Zarrilli finds himself in a position to judge the economic realities of Northeast Ohio. A vice president of a local savings and loan, Zarrilli has to make daily decisions about the economic health of businesses and individuals.