Gerald C. Henley

clevelandurbannews.com and www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Former Cleveland school board member and activist Gerald C. Henley of Cleveland has died. He was 76.

Henley is survived by his wife Annaliesa and four adult children.

Funeral services will be in Knoxville, Tennessee, his native town.

Activist Donna Walker Brown said Cleveland activists will celebrate Henley's life at an open-to-the-public event on Thurs., Feb. 13 at 6:30 pm at Black on Black Crime headquarters, 15416 Kipling Ave. in Cleveland.

Henley was a board member when the elected school board was demolished to pave the way for an appointed school board under mayoral control, a controversial state law pushed by Republican state lawmakers that took effect in 1998 when the desegregation court order was eliminated. His criticism, however, continued at school board meetings and he and activist Walker Brown once sued the predominantly Black school district relative to prospective school closures that they say targeted poor Black school children and their families.

"Henley was a warrior," said Walker Brown. "We sometimes argued over community issues but we could count on him when we needed him."

Activist Alfred Porter Jr. of Black on Black Crime Inc. said Henley "cared about Cleveland's public school children and was not afraid to speak out on community issues, " and that he fought with activists in their fight against educational inequalities regarding Black children, murder and other violence against women, and police brutality and police murders in the Black community.

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