PRESS/COMMUNITY RELEASE. TO ALL MEDIA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. CONTACTS FOR THIS EVENT ARE THE IMPERIAL WOMEN COALITION, TEL: (216) 659-0473 AND THE HARVARD COMMUNITY SERVICES CENTER IN CLEVELAND AT 18240 HARVARD AVENUE. TEL: (216) 991-8585 (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).
Who: Cleveland area Black greater Cleveland activist groups, including the Imperial Women Coalition, Black on Black Crime Inc, the Carl Stokes Brigade and the Million Women March Cleveland, in cooperation with the Black Women's Political Action Committee (Black Women's -PAC) of greater Cleveland.
When: Thursday, February 11, 2016, 5:30 pm-8:00 pm as to an event with Cuyahoga County prosecutor candidate Michael O'Malley in a forum open to the public and moderated by Cleveland NAACP President Michael Nelson (Note: The Democratic primary is Tuesday, March 15 and O'Malley and current prosecutor Tim McGinty, both of whom are Democrats, are the only people running for county prosecutor in both the Democratic and Republican primary, with no independent candidate to date. Other candidates in other races for the March 15 primary election in Cuyahoga County are also invited and McGinty has an open invitation to attend).
Where: The Harvard Community Services Center, 18240 Harvard Avenue in Cleveland in Ward 1 on the city's east side, a block from John F. Kennedy High School
Why: For community participation relative to a county prosecutor's race that will have a longstanding impact on the Black community of greater Cleveland
What: A getting to know you forum with Cuyahoga County prosecutor's candidate Michael O'Malley with hard and unfiltered questions from the Black community and community activists. Panelists include East Cleveland Councilman Nate Martin, activists Ada Averyhart, Marva Patterson and Lavitta Murray of the Carl Stokes Brigade, the Imperial Women Coalition and the Million Women March Cleveland, Black on Black Crime president and activist Al Porter, and Black Women's-PAC sisters Dr. Mary Rice, Annette Fisher, Sheba Marcus-Bey, Valorie Aden, and Avery McCauley. (Note: Questions from the community will follow questions to O'Malley from the community panel)
Panelists questions to O'Malley will pertain, in part, to Tamir Rice, the 137 shots, necessary public policy changes, the county grand jury process, housing and economics, police brutality and excessive force, judicial assignments, indigent counsel, juveniles, disparities in sentencing, incarceration issues, education, violence against women, the death penalty, and the consent decree for police reforms between the city of Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Speakers at the forum include local activist Genevieve Mitchell, former Ward 1 Councilman Joe Jones, and John Hairston, who is representing Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge. Mitchell will chronicle the struggles by activists for justice for the victims, their families and the community, and for public policy changes relative to violence against women and police abuse and killings from the Imperial Avenue Murders to the police killing in November 2014 of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. Jones will address over prosecutions, juveniles in our legal system, police issues and the Feckner case.
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and the Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog. Tel: 216-659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).