As usual, the press was alerted well in advance that the Black United Front would stage “a mass demonstration” at City Hall last month. I guess mass demonstrations aren't what they used to be. Less than two dozen people showed up to tear up copies of the city's “historic agreement to end racial profiling.”

        By the time I got there, the media were hiving around a press conference in the hallway. At the center of the jabbing microphones and scribbling reporters was one of the regular City Hall shouters who couldn't draw flies to a dump a year ago. I'd name him, but that's what he wants.

        How did we come to this? How did we get so low that the press is giving credibility subsidies to clowns who rant about blue-eyed devils?

No help wanted

        Here's one answer:

        Last January, before the boycott gained national attention from Bill Cosby, some state lawmakers tried to team up with city council members to stop the damage before it snowballed.

        Sen. Mark Mallory and Reps. Sam Britton and Catherine Barrett, Cincinnati's black caucus in Columbus, wanted help from the black council members: Alicia Reece, Paul Booth and Minette Cooper.

        It went nowhere.

        “We just wanted to talk about what we can do,” Mrs. Barrett said. “They didn't want the state to get involved.”

        The council members said they were not contacted or don't remember it. But they're willing to listen now — especially Ms. Reece, who has been taking a talk-radio beating for opposing the boycott.

        “I would love to have some help,” she laughed. But few African-Americans will risk the abuse, she said.

        “They look at me and say, "She stood up, and look what's happening to her. She's being attacked.”'

        Ms. Reece is especially frustrated by the silence from groups that receive city money.

        “I've been disappointed,” she said. “You'd think at least those persons would speak out.”

Look who's quoted

        Mr. Booth worries that a vacuum of leadership creates the impression that the “self-promoters” speak for the black community. “It's the absolutely wrong impression to give, and it's part of our problem,” he said. “There's some media responsibility to that, too.”

        Ms. Reece agrees. She says the press is ignoring the “silent majority” of the black community. “Look who gets quoted,” she said. “Some of those individuals were on the ballot, and the African-American community overwhelmingly rejected them.”

        Mr. Booth, who has been more quiet than Ms. Reece, said he understands why black leaders are reluctant to undermine the causes behind the boycott. He hopes “there is an urgency” to resolve it soon.

        But local “Kissingers” have tried to meet with the Rev. Damon Lynch III. They have been rejected. Their calls are not returned.

        “To some people, it's not beneficial to call off a boycott,” Ms. Reece said.

        Exactly. There is media attention, power and even public money to be mined from the boycott.

        “To some people it's a game,” she said. “But it's no game when people are losing their jobs.”

       E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.

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