Cincinnati Black United Front officials said Sunday that they have begun contacting other activist organizations and urban league chapters around the country in attempt to persuade the National Urban League to reverse its decision to hold its 2003 national convention in Cincinnati.

        Demonstrations are planned today at Urban League offices in Chicago and Detroit to protest the national organization's decision to hold its convention in the Queen City, the group said Sunday.

        The group also said it has sent letters to 100 urban league chapters nationwide requesting they demand the decision be reversed.

        “The Urban League needs to stand for justice with the community in Cincinnati,” Black United Front President Rev. Damon Lynch III said Sunday. “The fact that one day after the Urban League announces it's coming, (Cincinnati) Assistant (Police) Chief Ron Twitty gets stripped of all police powers because of a fender bender should clearly show the Urban League that not much has changed in Cincinnati.”

        By some estimates, the boycott has deprived the city of at least $10 million in revenue and created bad press after high-profile performers like Bill Cosby declined to come here. But momentum has slowed since April, Enquirer research shows.

        Contacted Sunday night, Sheila Adams, president and CEO of the Urban League of Cincinnati, said her chapter continues to support the national group's decision to convene in Cincinnati.

        “The decision was not based on saying everything is OK in Cincinnati,” she said. “It was not an easy decision the national made to come here.”

        The National Urban League, which had been reconsidering a decision to bring its convention to Cincinnati following the April 2001 civil unrest, reaffirmed its choice Thursday.

        “We stepped back from our initial decision to assess whether the city would really begin the process of healing, start rectifying the grave flaws in the local police policy and practice, and genuinely start to address the underlying economic and social gaps that keep so many African-American perpetually outside of Cincinnati mainstream looking in,” Urban League President Hugh B. Price said Thursday.

        “After consulting extensively with Sheila Adams, we are persuaded that Cincinnati has now embarked on its arduous trip down the comeback trail.”

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