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By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher

Led by longtime Cleveland activist Khalid Samad and his grassroots group Peace in the Hood, and also sponsored by the city of Cleveland Community Relations Board, and held also  in cooperation with the Underground Railroad Society, activists, elected officials and other community members will gather for the 46th Annual Flag Raising Ceremony, which will begin with a noon flag raising today, Sat, Feb. 1  pm at Cleveland City Hall.

The open-to-the-public event is part of a salute to Black History Month.

Organizers said community advocates will also be recognized.

Samad said that  Mayor Frank Jackson,  Community Relations Board Director Grady Stephenson, and members of city council will be among those attending

"We invite everybody to come down to the flag raising and to enjoy  good music, food and dialogue on the significance of today as it relates to the Black community and our struggles," said Samad, the head organizer.

The annual flag raising was initiated by the late Carl B. Stokes, the first Black mayor of Cleveland and of a major American City, Stokes, the brother of the late Ohio congressman Louis B. Stokes, elected in 1967 when Cleveland, now a majority Black city of some 385,000 people, was largely White.

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