CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-Cleveland, Ohio-May 6, 2019 marks the sixth-year anniversary of the escape, after a decade of captivity, of Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight and Amanda Berry from Ariel Castro's Seymour Avenue home on Cleveland's west side, the home of which has since been demolished and Castro dead from a self-hanging in a state prison. (Call organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, of Imperialwomencoalition.com and Women's March Cleveland at 216-659-0473, Coleman having organized anniversary rallies on Seymour Avenue since 2015).

Berry and DeJeusus were teens when they were abducted by Castro, 53-years-old at the time of his arrest in 2013, and Knight was 21.

Cleveland community members, led by Women's March Cleveland, International Women's Day March Cleveland, Imperialwomencoalition.com, the Laura Cowan Foundation, Black on Black Crime Inc, Peace in the Hood, Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Clevelandurbannews.com and community activist women, will remember the abduction, decade-long rape and escape of the Seymour Avenue victims from the wrath of convicted rapist Castro at an anniversary rally and march at 5 pm on Monday, May 6, 2019 at 2207 Seymour Avenue in Cleveland where Castro's home once stood.

Rally speakers include community activists, greater Cleveland elected officials, and female victims of violence and family members.

Organizers, mainly grassroots activist women, say the event will also address the Violence Against Women Act, local, county, statewide and national public policy changes sought, and a demand for resources as to violence against women and children

They want more police detectives in Cleveland's cold cases and sex crimes units.

Human trafficking, and the epidemic of missing persons are also of concern, organizers said.

Additionally, activists want more equitable distributions of resources in educational arenas for women and girls per the Violence Against Women Act, and via other resource venues, particularly regarding  poor, minority, and inner city women and girls.

Other participating activist groups include Greater Cleveland Independent Black Journalists, Carl Stokes Brigade, Finding The Missing -Ebony Alert, Peace Action, Badass Teachers Association, Rebuilding Our Village and Protecting Our Children's Safety, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, Black Man's Army,  BEMAD, and the Task Force for Community Mobilization

A local guitar player and former Cleveland schools bus driver, Castro hanged himself in prison a month into his life sentence without the possibility of parole as to his kidnapping and rape of victims Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight. He was a sad character and a serial rapist of children and women.

Data regarding violence against women and girls includes the following:

-Violence against women and girls, including rape and murder, remains an epidemic, as does human trafficking

-Women and girls ages12-34 are at the highest risk for sexual assault

-Poor women are 12 times more likely to get raped and murdered

-One out of every six American women has experience an attempted or completed rape and 22 percent of African-American women and 14 percent of Hispanic-American women experience at least one rape or attempted rape in their lifetime.

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.