Morris Robinson Addresses Racist Incident at Cincinnati Opera Event - 'There is no Innocuous Racism'

On the heels of a New York Times article which reported that tenor Russell Thomas cited that an incident of "brazen racism by a white donor" occurred during a Cincinnati Opera board leadership party in 2015, The Cincinnati Enquirer shared Morris Robinson (Artistic Advisor to the Cincinnati Opera)'s thoughts: "There is no innocuous racism,"

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It is said that a man at the rooftop party pointed at the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge and commented to Robinson and Thomas that when it was built, "you boys wouldn't be able to cross that bridge."

The incident was discussed in a June 5 Facebook Live panel in which Robinson and five other notable Black singers discussed racial inequity in the world of opera.

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The Cincinnati Opera is still looking into the incident.

In recounting the incident, Robinson shared: "I'm not a person who's ever at a loss for words... But that is one of the few occasions when I didn't know what to say."

Cincinnati Opera general director and CEO Christopher Milligan said:

"None of us had heard anything about the incident until that account on Facebook... It's not the sort of thing that should ever happen. In fact, the policy we share with all of our staff is that if you see or experience something like that, you say something to us in management. You let us intervene."

Read the full story HERE.

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