The theme of this year's march in Cleveland, the 6th annual march, and for International Women's Day internationally, is #Stand Against Bias. The event will be held on Tues, March 8 beginning at 4:45 pm in the Ohio City neighborhood at Market Square Park across from the Westside Market at 1979 W. 25th Street and Lorain Avenue near downtown Cleveland.
Last year's keynote speakers for the rally were Whaley and state Rep. Emilia Sykes, who is a former minority leader in the Ohio House of Representatives out of Akron who is running for Congress this year in Ohio's 13th congressional district. Ohio 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Shontel Brown, , then a candidate for the seat in a crowded primary that includes former Ohio senator Nina Turner, was also among the speakers last year.
Head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, who leads the Imperial Women Coalition and is also head organizer of Women's March Cleveland a larger venue with an annual march each January and intermittently during the year, said that it is time for greater Cleveland women to march again and that activists welcome a cadre of talented speakers to the event on Tuesday, and a host of activists who seek public policy changes across the board for the betterment of women and their families.
"We are pleased to have two Black women, one a superior candidate for the U.S. Senate in Morgan Harper, and the other a worthy lieutenant governor candidate and county elected official in Cheryl Stephens, as well as longtime activist fighter Cheryl Lessin as our keynote speakers in Cleveland on March 8 for International Women's Day March Cleveland as we fight for the reproductive and Civil and other rights for women internationally," said Coleman." Also at issue is violence against women and racism, sexism, the denial of reproductive and and voting rights, and the unnecessary war on women in Ukraine and other places in the world like Ethiopia."
Coleman, who has been head organizer of the International Women's Day rallies and marches in Cleveland since the first rally and march in Cleveland in 2017, added that Cheryl Stephens is from Cleveland Heights and is home grown.
Other event speakers include Black Women's PAC President Elaine Gohlstin, Cuyahoga County executive candidate Tariq Shabazz, activists Dorothy Walwyn of Father's Live Matter, Delores Gray of Brickhouse Wellness Center, and Laura Cowan of the Laura Cowan Foundation, and a representative from the greater Cleveland immigrant support community. Activist Michael Nelson will perform a song for the women.
The women said that they will also address a pending bill in the Republican-dominated Ohio state legislature that is designed to chill free speech and arbitrarily criminalize protesters in Ohio for peacefully speaking out on issues of public concern. And event organizers say that they remain concerned as to anti-abortion bills and laws nationally, and in Ohio in particular that wreak havoc on women and violate the tenants of Roe v Wade. the 1973 landmark U.S., Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal nationwide.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|