(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher
CLEVELAND, Ohio-Led by longtime Black Cleveland activist Khalid Samad (pictured) and his grassroots groups Peace in the Hood and the Coalition for a Better Life, and also sponsored by the city of Cleveland Community Relations Board, community activists, elected officials and other community members will gather this weekend in downtown Cleveland for the 49th Annual Black Flag Raising Ceremony, which will begin at 11;30 AM on Saurday, Feb.4, 2023 at Cleveland City Hall.The event will include an indoor activity with food and speeches that will follow speeches at noon led by Samad on City Hall steps before the flag is raised.
The open-to-the-public event is part of a salute to Black History Month. A seasoned grassroots activist and forcer assistant safety director for the city who has been in the trenches for years on issues such as gangs, execvessive firce, violence against women and Black on Black crime, Samad said that Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, the city's fourth Black mayor, will be among those there.
"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 of the annual event. Samad said that in addition to Mayor Bibb community activists will be among the speakers, and he said that the annual gathering is always an inclusive event.
The annual flag raising was initiated decades ago by community activists associated with the now defunct Black Panhter Party and the Coalition for a Better Life and the late Carl B. Stokes. Stokes was younger brother and only sibling of the late congressman Louis Stokes and the first Black mayor of Cleveland and of a major American city. He was elected as mayor in 1967 when Cleveland, now a majority Black city of some 372,000 people, was largely White.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) E,ai: editor@clevelandurbannews.com Tel (216) 659-0473
