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Cleveland Councilman Ken Johnson arrested following a federal indictment on corruption charges.... A source said that "it is open season on Black elected officials by the White establishment"

23 February 2021

Kathy

Pictured is Cleveland Ward 4 Councilman Kenneth Johnson

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief. Coleman trained for 17 years as a reporter with the Call and Post Newspaper and is an investigative and political reporter with a background in legal and scientific reporting. She is also a former 15-year public school biology teacher.

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, Ohio –Longtime Cleveland Ward 4 Councilman Kenneth Johnson was arrested Tuesday in connection with a federal grand jury indictment that accuses him of stealing $127,000 from the city by submitting false monthly expense reports for his ward over a period of years, Johnson the councilman of the largely Black east side ward since 1980.

A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Johnson is among a host of Blacks under investigation and that it is "open season on Black elected officials by the White establishment."

An ally of four-term mayor Frank Jackson, whom sources say will not seek reelection this year to a fifth term, Johnson, 74, was indicted on 15 counts, including filing false tax returns, falsification of records, witness tampering, and two counts of conspiracy to commit theft from a federal program.

The indictment was unsealed Tuesday in district court as an FBI investigation continues into the councilman's monthly expense account relative to city monies he gets for his ward and federal monies earmarked for the non-profit Buckeye- Shaker Square communities he serves.

It says that Johnson demanded the maximum amount of $1,200 monthly for his ward from the city's coffers but could not prove how much of the money, which has allegedly been requested for several years, including in 2019, has been spent.

Johnson's longtime aide, Garnell Jamison, 61, was also indicted, as was John Hopkins of Cleveland Heights, the former executive director of the Buckeye -Shaker Square Development Corp. in ward 4, which encompasses the Buckeye area near Shaker Square along the Shaker Heights border, and the Woodland Hills and Mount Pleasant neighborhoods.

The charges come as Johnson and the other 16 members of city council are up for reelection in 2021 and following a plea deal with federal prosecutors involving Robert Fitzpatrick, a Johnson affiliate and 35-year city employee who pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges that he conspired to commit theft from a federal program.

Also at issue are federal and state monies regarding the Kenneth Johnson Recreation Center on Woodland Avenue, which is named after the councilman, and is one of several city recreation centers that Fitzpatrick oversaw.

Mayor Jackson has not commented on Johnson's indictment, and City Council President Kevin Kelley, a possible mayoral candidate, is taking a wait and see approach.

Cleveland is a largely Black major American city and the second most segregated city in the nation behind Boston.

Mayor Jackson and all of the city council, nearly half of its members Black, are Democrats.

Jackson is the city's third Black mayor.

Nina Turner leads over Shontel Brown, 3 other Dems in fundraising for the congressional seat held by Rep Marcia Fudge, President Biden's nominee for HUD secretary.... By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com

23 February 2021

Kathy

Pictured are former state senator and Bernie Sanders surrogate Nina Turner (wearing eye glasses), Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chairperson and County Councilwoman Shontel Brown, former Cleveland councilman Jeff Johnson (wearing maroon tie), former state representative John Barnes Jr., and former state senator Shirley Smith (wearing necklace)

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher, Coleman is a Black Cleveland activist and journalist, Tel: (216) 659-0473 Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland native Nina Turner, a former Ohio senator and prior city councilwoman, leads in campaign fundraising over her four top perspective Democratic challengers, namely Cuyahoga County Democratic Chairperson and County Councilwoman Shontel Brown, former Cleveland councilman Jeff Johnson, former state representative John Barnes Jr., and former state senator Shirley Smith.

But does that mean that she will ultimately win the special election for the 11th Congressional district seat that Fudge will soon vacate?

Fudge is expected to be confirmed in coming days by the Senate for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development post in President Joe Biden's cabinet.

All five of the congressional wannabes, including Turner, are Black Democrats, and Brown is the first Black and first woman to lead the county Democratic party, a party that has struggled in the last 13 years following a high profile public corruption probe initiated by the FBI and IRS that has seen scores of Democrats convicted of crimes in office, including former county auditor Frank Russo, who is currently serving a reduced 22- year prison sentence for his crimes, and his sidekick, former county party chair and county commissioner Jimmy Dimora.

Dimora was handed an excessive 28-year sentence for racketeering and other crimes as he sits in a prison cell while his attorneys continue to file useless appeals.

Brown was elected county party chair in 2017 after then chair Stuart Garson, who replaced Dimora as chair after Dimora went to prion following a 2012 trial, quit.

A Warrensville Heights Democrat and former chairperson of the Congressional Black Caucus, Fudge has been congresswoman since 2008 when she replaced her friend, former congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who died suddenly of a brain aneurysm.

If and when she is confirmed as HUD secretary she will give up her powerful congressional seat and Ohio GOP Gov. Mike DeWine, per state law, will set a date for a primary election, the winner of the Democratic primary of whom is surely to be the next congressperson as Cuyahoga County, the second largest of Ohio's 88 counties, is a Democratic stronghold.

The 11th congressional district is largely Black and largely poor and includes most of Cleveland, mainly its majority Black east side, and several of its eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County, and a largely Black pocket of neighboring Akron and staggering suburbs of Akron's Summit County.

Turner’s campaign manager, Liz Shirey, has said that Turner, the former co-chair of Sen Bernie Sanders unsuccessful bid for president who formerly led the progressive group Our Revolution for Sanders, has raised over a million dollars thus far.

A Fudge ally, Brown has said that Turner, a front-runner along with Brown, will need more than money to beat her in the upcoming primary election to fill Fudge's congressional seat.

Time will tell.

Barnes Jr., Johnson and Smith say they are not backing down.

Like the others, Barnes Jr. has a following too, and Smith and Johnson have both run in countywide primary races before and have done well.

The articulate Turner, also a motivational speaker, was an unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Ohio secretary of state in 2014, losing to Republican Jon Husted, now Ohio's lieutenant governor.

A Black History Moment From ClevelandUrbanNews.Com: Barack Obama became America's first Black president when he was elected in 2008, and Michelle Obama the country's first Black first lady....Kamala Harris is the first Black vice president of America

20 February 2021

Kathy

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher, Coleman is a Black Cleveland activist and journalist, Tel: (216) 659-0473 Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio-It’s Black history month, so let's talk a little bit about Black history. Do we really know the true history of the plight of African-Americans and their African ancestors?

We know without reservation that former president Barack Obama is the first Black president of the United States of America and Michelle Obama is the first Black first lady.

And we know that Vice president Kamala Harris is the first Black vice president in the U.s. and Loyd Austin is the nation's first Black secretary of defense

Closer to home, we recognize and remember some of the true greats that have touched the lives of Clevelanders. They include the late Carl B. Stokes, the first Black mayor of a major American city, whom Cleveland voters elected in 1967.

Stokes later held the post under former president Bill Clinton of U.S. Ambassador to Seychelles and was a Cleveland Municipal Court judge. His older brother, the late Louis Stokes, was the first Black congressman from Ohio and led the 11th congressional district until his retirement in 1998.

The late Stephanie Tubbs Jones, of Cleveland, was the first Black Cuyahoga County prosecutor. She followed Stokes to congress and was the first Black woman in congress from Ohio. Her successor is Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, who is also Black, and who currently leads the predominantly Black 11th congressional district, which includes Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs.

Rep. Fudge is now the nominee for U.S. secretary of Housing and Development (HUD) in the cabinet of President Joe Biden, a former vice president under Obama.

But how much do we really know about Black history, particularly since eurocentric-curricula dominate teaching in elementary and secondary schools across the country, and in our institutions of higher learning?

History reveals that Black people were enslaved initially by Black people in Africa and then sold to be brought to America for further slavery to work our fields and to perform other subservient measures. But remember that it was White men that brought our ancestors to America in chains.

The aftermath of those chains still plagues the Black community in various ways, including through high unemployment, disproportionate incarcerations of Black men and women, and underfunded public school districts that serve majority Black and poor children, among other systemic problems.

Blacks have long contributed to the greatness of America.

The very first Black killed in a major American war was a Black man named Crispus Attucks, who died in the Revolutionary War. Hundreds of Black soldiers were among the casualties at Bunker Hill.

Blacks were at one time, if not even now in some situations, counted as 3/5 of a person. And while the slavery of Blacks is not mentioned in the constitution, it is implicated under the 14th Amendment, which demands equal protection under the law for members of a protected class like Black people, and women.

President Abraham Lincoln’s executive order of the Emancipation Proclamation did not start the American Civil War, but it help to end it. President Lincoln was a Republican, as was Civil Rights activist and historian Frederick Douglas.

Jim Crow laws kept Blacks traditionally enslaved and the Ku Klux Klan was started in part because racist Whites wanted to keep former slaves in line and were angry that slavery had ended in the official sense.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s served to stop the Jim Crow laws. King gave his life to better America, and the official holiday named in his honor is well deserved.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson, with some saying he did so solely under threat of an override veto. Still, Johnson pushed the federal act through Congress, along with Dr. King, and a host of others.

What will children in our schools be taught this month about Black history? Will it be that Michael Jackson was a great man? How do we define greatness? Do we forgive major flaws? Yes we can. Pop singer Michael Jackson knew his craft, and was truly a great musician and songwriter of all time.

Legendary singer Nat King Cole, boxing legend Muhammad Ali, poet Maya Angelou, Malcolm X , pop icon Michael Jackson, the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are also among Black notables, as are the following:

-Native Clevelander Garrett A. Morgan invented the traffic light and gas mask

-George Crum was inventor of the potato chip

-Frederick McKinley Jones invented the refrigeration unit for trucks

-Dr. Patricia Bath invented laser eye surgery for cataract removal

-Thomas L. Jennings invented dry-cleaning products

-Hiram Revels (R-MS) was the first Black in Congress as a U.S. senator

Cleveland mayoral hopeful Justin Bibb calls for a public comment segment at city council meetings....Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leaders

18 February 2021

Kathy

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief

Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com-CLEVELAND, Ohio-Justin Bibb (pictured), one of several people vying to win Cleveland's mayoral election this year, announced on Wednesday his support for implementing a public comment period at city council meetings.

Currently citizens can only speak at council meetings per the request of city council members and must instead voice their concerns on issues of public concern during council committee meetings, which are held infrequently on weekday mornings when most people are at work.

Community activists and community members have called for a speaking forum for citizens at regular council meetings like they do in most neighboring suburbs.

This week Bibb joined them in demanding community participation at city council meetings

"It's time for politicians to listen to the voices of residents and allow for public comment at city council meetings," said Bibb, 34 and a former banker who heads a local non-profit and is an executive at Urbanova, an organization of stakeholders advocating for smart city technology in cities like Cleveland.

Residents, he said, "need to be heard."

He went on to say that "I will make it easier to communicate with me at City Hall and in your neighborhood. From day one, you can expect my administration to hold regular community conversations in each Ward, walk the neighborhoods, host office hours and be available to residents."

That is, of course, if he wins the race for mayor.

Others purportedly running for mayor include state Sen Sandra Williams, Council President Kevin Kelley, Ward 7 Councilman Basheer Jones, former councilman Zack Reed, who lost a runoff to current Mayor Frank Jackson in 2017, former congressman Dennis Kucinich, Robert Kilo, and Edwin's entrepreneur Brandon Chrostowski.

All of them are Democrats but Kilo, a Republican.

The mayoral election is non partisan,

"I'm proud to join the growing coalition of supporters for public comment," said the energetic and articulate Bibb, who is Black. "For far too long, politicians have ignored these calls. It's time to act. Residents can't wait."

A four-term Black mayor, Jackson, 74, has not ruled out the possibility of seeking an unprecedented fifth term, though sources say it is unlikely.

The top two primary winners will advance to the Nov. 2 general election for mayor.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news sites in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

NAACP, Congressman Thompson sue Trump over Capitol riot under the KKK Act on the heels of an acquittal by the U.S. Senate of Trump during an impeachment trial relative to the tragic Capitol riot.... By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com

16 February 2021

Kathy

Pictured are NAACP President Derrick Johnson and U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief

Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com-Washington, D.C.- On the heels of a U.S. Senate acquittal on Saturday of former president Donald Trump of a single impeachment article of inciting a riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6 that left five dead, including a Capitol police officer, the NAACP and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, filed suit on Tuesday in the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia claiming the former president did, in fact, incite the Capitol riot.

Several members of Congress are expected to sign onto the lawsuit in coming days, mainly Democrats.

Also named as defendants in the 31-page lawsuit are Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, the far-right White supremacist group the Proud Boys, and the militia group the Oath Keepers.

An uphill battle by most standards, the suit has been filed under the Ku Klux Klan Act, an 1872 statue designed to combat KKK-type violence and conspiracies that interfere with the congressional duties of Congres.

It alleges in part that Trump and Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney, conspired to stop Congress from doing its job of certifying the presidential election the day of the riot at issue and that his actions served to threaten and intimidate members of Congress.

“January 6th was one of the most shameful days in our country’s history, and it was instigated by the [former] president himself," Rep Thomson said in a statement on Tuesday."His gleeful support of violent white supremacists led to a breach of the Capitol that put my life, and that of my colleagues, in grave danger."

NAACP President Derrick Johnson said that “Donald Trump needs to be held accountable for deliberately inciting and colluding with White supremacists to stage a coup, in his continuing efforts to disenfranchise African-American voters."

Trump's legal team said the former president did nothing to incite the riot and that he had immunity as the then president to speak out on issues of public concern leading up to the now infamous riot.

Unlike a criminal proceeding, the bar is not as high in a civil suit, requiring that the plaintiffs prove Trump and the other defendants in the case are guilty by a preponderance of the evidence rather than beyond a reasonable doubt.

After taking control of the Senate via last November's election, the Democrats now control the Senate, the House of Representatives and the White House but could not muster up the two-thirds majority needed to convict the former president following impeachment by the House of Representatives

The Democrats needed 17 Republicans for a conviction but got only seven pro-conviction votes from GOP senators.

It was the second impeachment trial and a second acquittal for Trump, 74, a Republican and one term president ousted in last November's election by President Joe Biden, a Democrat who was vice president under former president Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president.

The five-day trial that began on Feb, 9 did not draw the expected excitement and was overshadowed by a still raging coronavirus pandemic that has left millions dead across the country and worldwide.

Congressional impeachment managers put on their case first as an array of Democratic congresspersons showed video of the deadly Capitol riot and gave commentary

Protesters, whom Trump egged on during a fiery speech before the deadly siege on the Capitol, say the presidential election, in which Biden won both the electoral college and popular vote over Trump, was tainted, and stolen from the former president.

More than 200 people have been criminally charged relative to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

A real estate mogul and former television personality who upset Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the White House in 2016,Trump did not testify as his lawyer's defense on his behalf was that the constitution does not allow an impeachment conviction against a former president who has left office and that Trump's fiery speech leading up to the riot was constitutionally protected speech.

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Welcome to the Frontpage

Cleveland Councilman Ken Johnson arrested following a federal indictment on corruption charges.... A source said that "it is open season on Black elected officials by the White establishment"

Nina Turner leads over Shontel Brown, 3 other Dems in fundraising for the congressional seat held by Rep Marcia Fudge, President Biden's nominee for HUD secretary.... By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com

A Black History Moment From ClevelandUrbanNews.Com: Barack Obama became America's first Black president when he was elected in 2008, and Michelle Obama the country's first Black first lady....Kamala Harris is the first Black vice president of America

Cleveland mayoral hopeful Justin Bibb calls for a public comment segment at city council meetings....Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leaders

NAACP, Congressman Thompson sue Trump over Capitol riot under the KKK Act on the heels of an acquittal by the U.S. Senate of Trump during an impeachment trial relative to the tragic Capitol riot.... By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com

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