CLEVELAND, Ohio- Women's March Cleveland's Oct 2 Rally and March for Reproductive and Civil Rights drew thousands of women and their supporters to Market Square Park on Saturday in Ohio's City's neighborhood, an event spearheaded by longtime Cleveland activist and head Women's March Cleveland organizer Kathy Wray Coleman (pictured speaking in the breads and black t-shirt).
Coleman has organized women's marches in Cleveland since 2018, and she also leads the Imperial Women Coalition, a grassroots women's rights group that stresses support for Black women in Cleveland.
Cleveland police predicted that more than 2,000 people were there, the largest crowd of protesters in Cleveland since the George Floyd rally in May of 2020, and certainly one of the biggest nationwide since the still raging coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. with a vengeance in the winter of 2020
All of Cleveland's major media covered the gathering, including local television stations channel 5, 19, 3, Fox 8 and Spectrum local news as well as Cleveland. com and the Plain Dealer, Scene Magazine, and the Call and Post Newspaper, a Black print weekly distributed in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.
"We thank the city of Cleveland for its assistance, our speakers and other participants, and the mainstream and other media that covered the march and rally," said Coleman, also a former public school biology teacher. "This fight for the reproductive and other rights for women across the board has just begun and Cleveland will continue to remain in the forefront as a largely Black major American city, particularly since these issues disproportionately impact Black women and other women of color."
Cleveland had the largest march in Ohio and one of the largest in the country, and was one of more than 600 sister marches nationwide under the umbrella of Women's March National, which hosted its march of thousands on Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., the nation's capital.
Speakers for Cleveland's noon rally, held prior to a 1:30 pm march, included 11th Congressional District Nominee Shontel Brown, who is also a Cuyahoga County councilwoman and chair of the county Democratic party, former Ohio Senator Nina Turner of Cleveland, who chaired the 2016 presidential campaign for Bernie Sanders and lost a contentious race for the Democratic nomination for the 11th congressional district seat to Brown in August, Cleveland Ward 5 Councilwoman Delores Gray, President and CEO of the Journey Center for Safety and Healing Melissa Graves, and activists Cheryl Lessin, Sherrie Grossman and Delores Gray.
Turner fired up the crowd with her speech, which touched on pro-abortion bills she pushed while an Ohio senator as well as women's rights matters in general.
Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley, and Justin Bibb, the two mayoral candidates competing in the Nov 2 nonpartisan runoff, were there to march with the women.
Local songsters Michael Nelson and William Sanders performed.
Following the rally the jubilant crowd marched from Market Square to the Carnegie Bridge that separates Cleveland's largely Black east side from it majority White west side
After marching partially across the bridge the crowd of thousands marched down Lorain Avenue, ultimately returning to Market Square
Bystanders standing along the streets chanted and applauded.
The national event in cities nationwide on Saturday comes in the midst of the recent Texas law that bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, regardless of rape or incest, and the attack on Roe v. Wade by the conservative right and state legislatures across the country
The U.S. Supreme Court reconvened on Oct 4 to hear oral arguments relative to an abortion rights case out of Mississippi and organizers said the nationwide march was scheduled two days before then on Oct 2 by design
Supported also by some 90 organizations, including Naral Pro Choice and Planned Parenthood, marches were held in all 50 states and in other major cities such as Los Angeles, Detroit, Louisville, Phoenix, Chicago and Atlanta. Aside from Cleveland there were at least four other women's marches in Ohio, including in Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Youngstown, and Warren.
Cleveland's rally and march also addressed anti-abortion laws and bills in Ohio that interfere with the reproductive rights of women, including Senate Bill 123, a bill offered by two Republican lawmakers that would outlaw abortion in Ohio if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, or if the constitution is changed around the issue.
Speakers at Cleveland's event also spoke on a $15 minimum wage, police and criminal justice reform, educational inequality, fair redistricting of congressional and state House and senate districts in Ohio, excessive force, poverty, and racism and sexism.
Black groups associated with Cleveland's event include the Imperial Women Coalition, Brick House Wellness Center for Women, Black on black Crime Inc, International Women's Day March Cleveland, and the National Congress for Black Women greater Cleveland chapter.
The inaugural Women's March was a nationwide protest held on Jan 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration of then president Donald Trump. It was prompted in part by statements he made during and after his campaign for president against then Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. It was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history with nearly five million women and their supporters marching nationwide.
The goal of the annual marches is to advocate legislation and policies regarding human rights and other issues, including women's rights, educational equity, reproductive rights, environmental justice, LGBTQ rights, racial inequality, poverty, freedom of religion, workers' rights, equal pay and police and criminal justice reform.
Now led by executive director Rachael O'Leary Carmona, Women's March National, a non profit organization for women's rights, is governed by a 16-member board of directors. Its national organizing director is Kate Shapiro, a grassroots organizer.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest. 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.
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