The blame for the unruly behavior and assaults that marred an otherwise successful Midwest Black Family Reunion rests mainly with the youthful perpetrators and the parents who weren't there to stop them.

        Nobody disputes that, but many readers who've contacted me about my last column wanted to see it cleared up.

        No problem. It's just one of several misunderstandings surrounding last weekend's melee that I'm happy to correct. I wish the other communications lapses I've noted were as easy to fix.

No excuses

        Police estimated that at least 150 youths and young adults last Saturday and Sunday rampaged outside the reunion, held at Sawyer Point. They assaulted people, inflicting minor injuries, and they damaged cars and buses. Police arrested 15 people.

        Now reunion organizers, police and others are meeting over ways to save this annual celebration and information fair.

        I applaud their efforts. Until this year, and to a lesser extent last year, it has been a peaceful, uplifting event.

        My column recommended that police be more visible, that only minors accompanied by responsible adults be admitted, and that Metro buses pick up reunion-goers at Sawyer Point.

        Simple, non-controversial suggestions, I thought.

        Wrong. Most of the 40 readers who've since called or written saw those suggestions as excuses or attempts to spread the blame.

        That surprises me. Lots of people made recommendations this week about the reunion. The police have recommended putting more officers in patrol cars for the event.

        Somehow, their recommendations aren't mistaken for excuses or blame.

"Your children'

        Some readers also wrote to me and referred to the youthful offenders as “your children.” I heard similar language on talk radio.

        Even black callers made generalizations about black children, referring to them as “our children.”

        That's curious. I doubt that many white Tristaters refer to miscreant teen-agers they don't know as “their children.”

        Quite a few of my pen pals have called for African-American ministers and “leaders” to speak out about the “breakdown” or “dysfunction” in African-American families as the cause for these crimes.

        Probably a Sunday doesn't go by where a minister in majority-black churches doesn't touch on the things that trouble African-American families. Such themes are typical in African-American church sermons.

        I don't hear as many people calling for similar messages from white ministers and “leaders” after events such last May's Cinco de Mayo melee at the University of Cincinnati, where 50 people were arrested, or after recent years' Mardi Gras disruptions in Covington.

        Even so, communications gaffes are all minor compared to this: After the melee, a police officer was quoted referring to it as “wilding.”

        It's technically a correct choice of words. Webster's College Dictionary says its least common usage describes “a spree of violent or criminal activity.” I've seen the term used only twice before.

        In 1989, a woman jogger was raped in New York's Central Park by a group of black and Hispanic youths who were later convicted. And in 2000, several women were sexually molested in a crowd at a Hispanic heritage parade in New York.

        Cincinnati's “wilding” did not include sexual assaults. Nevertheless, the word appeared in some local and national headlines.

        Police have since refrained from using the term.

        I'm not the only one watching my language.

        E-mail damos@enquirer.com or phone 768-8395.

Uniforms are catching on, with little fight
Lemmie: Businesses must listen to boycotters
Freedom Center structure going up
Honus Wagner card vanishes
9 'probable' W. Nile cases investigated
Allen wants to open records of abuse allegations
Civilian wants to be treated like cops
Federated stands by NAACP
Germans pay visit to Blue Ash
Obituary: Elias L. Levine, engine designer
Reading help is just for kids
Schools put money issues to voters
BRONSON: Reparations rally
HOWARD: Some Good News
SMITH AMOS: Downtown melee
Drug court may be up to voters
Ex-police chief on probation
Hospital's location still not selected
Lawyers support councilman
Plan will bypass Oxford voters
Warren Co. voters face money issues
Work on I-75 ramps at Monroe speeded
Youth reproduce memorial
Bill would create Amber Alert in Ohio
Mother of sunburned children says she didn't commit a crime
Fugitive's conviction upheld
Kentucky News Briefs