Monday night, as three main boycott groups and their supporters held a public meeting inside New Prospect Baptist Church in Over-the-Rhine, a smaller but louder boycott group protested outside.

That's right, boycotters were boycotting the boycott meeting.

It gets more complicated.

Nate Livingston, a local activist, was among those outside the church. Using a bullhorn, he accused its pastor, Rev. Damon Lynch III, of selling out the boycott. Lynch, he says, is an agent of the government.

That's a strange claim, considering that few in City Hall have positive things to say about Lynch.

It's also not surprising, coming from Livingston.

He co-leads a group called the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati, which last year split from the main boycott fold. To be clear, his group supports the boycott, just not the other boycott leaders.

The real boycotters

Monday night's sideshow outside the church provides one more excuse for city and business leaders to ignore the boycott groups.

Mayor Charlie Luken asked recently, who do you bargain with when it's not clear who can call off the boycott?

Good question.

Inside the church, Lynch and other boycott leaders projected a more united front.

Lynch, head of the Cincinnati Black United Front, told the audience of 200 or so that the boycott movement is like "the African-American community - agitated inside and outside, but there's a whole lot of unity even in that agitation."

For the record, he didn't sound much like an agent of the government.

He preached the usual sermon that makes him unpopular in City Hall: that Cincinnati has made little progress on matters of police brutality, neighborhood reinvestment, health care and education for African-Americans.

Lynch also vowed to bring in volunteers from outside the Tristate who'll keep the national eye on Cincinnati's race struggles.

Joining him on the dais were leaders of two other boycott groups - the First Coalition for a Just Cincinnati and the Concerned Citizens for Justice.

All three groups now call themselves The Cincinnati Boycott Council.

The three groups are preparing to speak as one, to negotiate an end to the boycott.

Fewer demands

They've blended their lists of demands into one and are paring down the 43 demands to something more workable, says Juleana Frierson, one of the leaders. Even the demands from the dissident group - the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati - are included, she says.

But many in the business community are keeping their distance.

Downtown Cincinnati Inc., which promotes businesses and development in the center city, has had no position or official dealings with the boycott, a spokeswoman for the group says. That's why she was surprised Tuesday to find her group featured prominently in a letter supporting the boycott.

The boycott council Monday night handed form letters to supporters to sign and send to elected officials. Those letters cite a Downtown Cincinnati Inc. survey showing that 85 percent of blacks support the boycott.

Downtown Cincinnati Inc. never did such a survey, says Anastasia Mileham, its vice president of communications.

Ms. Frierson says she'll correct the error.

Meanwhile, the boycott council says it expects business and political leaders to read and objectively evaluate the newly edited list of demands.

The boycott leaders have made progress, but they still seem disorganized. They should get their act together, soon.

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