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Cleveland Browns lose to New England Patriots 27 to 26, loss comes on heels of Cleveland City Council ordinance that funds $30 million for upgrades to Browns stadium

09 December 2013

Kathy

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com, Ohio's No 1 and No 2 online Black newspapers (www.clevelandurbannews.com) and (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Reach us by phone at 216-659-0473 and by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com

FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts-The Cleveland Browns lost by one point to the New England Patriots on Sunday, falling 27 to 26 in a heartbreaking loss at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Browns Quarterback Jason Campbell, who is Black, passed for 391 yards and three touchdowns, not enough though to bring home a needed win.

The Patriots trailed 6 to 0 at halftime. And with 1:25 left in the third quarter, the Browns led 19-3. But that's when Quarterback Tom Brady stepped up his game, ultimately completing 32 of 52 passes, and two touchdowns. With 61 seconds remaining, the Patriots got two touchdowns, and the Browns could not recover.

In spite of the team loss, Josh Gordon, who had seven catches for 150 yards, one of those catches resulting in a touchdown, set an NFL record with 774 yards receiving in four consecutive games. He also set a single season team record for the Browns for yards receiving, with 1,400.

Browns Coach Rob Chudzinski told reporters after the game that he was "sick about the outcome of the game."

The Browns are now four in nine, and fourth in the AFC Northern Division.

The loss comes on the heels of a controversial ordinance passed by the 19-member Cleveland City Council that allocates $30 million over a period of 15 years to fund upgrades to FirstEnergy Stadium for the Browns.

Pushed by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Council President Martin Sweeney, the measure passed two weeks ago with the required supermajority, though five city councilpersons, namely Kevin Conwell, Michael Polensek, Dona Brady, Jeff Johnson and Brian Cummins, opposed the ordinance. They argue that the money could be better spent rebuilding inner city neighborhoods, with Polensek and Johnson saying further that the city should hire more firefighters and police officers.

Jackson told reporters before the ordinance passed last month that stadium improvements are needed, and that the Browns are a city investment that he will not neglect.

Last Updated on Monday, 09 December 2013 07:50

Nelson Mandela dead at 95, U.S President Barack Obama, U.S. Rep Marcia Fudge of Ohio, who also leads the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress, respond to news of his death

07 December 2013

Kathy

nelson mandela.jpg - 177.56 Kb

Pictured are former South African President Nelson Mandela, United States President Barack Obama (in blue suit), and Congresswoman Marcial L. Fudge (D-11) of Ohio, who also leads the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Nelson Mandela, the first Black South African president and an anti-apartheid leader who spent 27 years in prison fighting for democracy and retired from public life nine years ago, died Thursday. He was 95.

South African President Jacob Zuma released a press statement saying that the nation has lost its greatest son and that "he is now at peace."

A state funeral will be held Zuma said, after calling for mourners to be dignified and respectful.

United States President Barack Obama on Thursday issued a proclamation and directed that flags be lowered to half staff beginning immediately and until sunset on Monday, Dec 9, according to a press release from White House Press Secretary Jay Carney to Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper.

"Today, the United States lost a close friend, South Africa has lost an incomparable liberator, and the world has lost an inspiration for freedom, justice, and human dignity," the proclamation reads in part.

"He left behind a South Africa that is free and at peace with itself," said Obama, the first Black president of the United States of America.

U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge, whose majority Black 11th congressional district includes the city of East Cleveland and parts of Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, and who leads the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress, released a press statement saluting Mandela.

"Although he was imprisoned for 27 years for his non-violent efforts to end apartheid in South Africa, Mr. Mandela never stopped fighting against blatantly discriminatory and dehumanizing policies of the South African government," said Fudge. "In 1994, Mandela took office as South Africa's first democratically elected president and he promoted peace and forgiveness as he led the country with pragmatic wisdom and raised aspirations of people everywhere."

Fudge said that "there is no better way to honor his legacy than to seek an end to injustice and inequality wherever it is found."

Mandela was a trained attorney that inspired activists to follow his lead, then as a young lawyer that led the African National Congress against oppression and discrimination by the South African government. But in 1961 he led efforts to secure a government takeover, and a year later he was charged with treason and ultimately found guilty. He was sentenced to life in prison on Robben Island.

Following an international campaign for his release, and after then South African President P.W. Botha had a stroke and F.W. de Klerk was installed as his successor in 1989, Mandela, on Feb. 11, 1990, walked out of prison a free man. Two years later he and de Klerk negotiated the first ever multi-racial elections amid violence and racial strife, both earning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Those elections rendered him president in 1994 and he embarked upon a journey to rebuild South Africa through economic enhancements and racial tolerance and reconciliation.

He served a one five-year term by choice and divorced second wife Winnie Mandela during his tenure as South African President. He later married Graca Machal, the widow of the late president Mozambigue, an arranged marriage by design.

In addition to his wife Graca and mourners worldwide, Mandela also leaves to champion his legacy, three grown children. Two other children preceded him in death.

Last Updated on Saturday, 07 December 2013 20:48

Police to do checkpoint sobriety stops in greater Cleveland today, sobriety checkpoints are legal in some states, including Ohio, but cannot be random, otherwise police typically must have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to pull a car over

06 December 2013

Kathy

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Parma, Ohio police will do sobriety checkpoints tonight, Friday, December 6, 2013, according a departmental press release. Police will conduct the checkpoints in the 5700 block of Ridge Road from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m, the press release said.

Parma is a majority White suburb of Cleveland, and a city where Blacks traditionally stay away from due to claims of racism and police harassment, not to mention a consent decree the city once had with the Cleveland Chapter NAACP for discriminating in hiring against Blacks seeking to become firefighters there.

The U.S. Supreme Court in Michigan Dept of State Police v. Sitz. determined via a ruling issued in 1990 that state highway sobriety checkpoints are not unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure or under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. But the high court said in its ruling that the traffic stops must not be random and must be done by uniformed police officers. And data must show that the purpose deters illegal drinking and driving.

Thirty eight states and the District of Columbia, including Ohio, have state laws that allow the checkpoints, though ordinarily police cannot stop a car without either probable cause or reasonable suspicion, the latter in such cases as alleged traffic violations.

In the absence of a state law permitting it, sobriety checkpoints are illegal. States that ban such checkpoints include Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Last Updated on Friday, 06 December 2013 23:24

Journalist and community activist Dick Peery is among honorees at upcoming Fairfax Business Assoc affair, keynote speaker is Woodmere Mayor Charles E. Smith, also read this article in this week's print edition of the Call and Post Newspaper

05 December 2013

Kathy

Pictured are Dick Perry (in brown suit) and Charles E. Smith,

the mayor of Woodmere Village in Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Retired Plain Dealer reporter Richard Peery, also a former reporter for the Call and Post Newspaper, is among eight attendees that will receive community service awards on Saturday, Dec 7 at the annual community affair of the Fairfax Business Association (FBA). The event will be held at Fairfax Place in Cleveland, 9014 Cedar Avenue. Tickets are $50. For more information contact Betty Mahone at 216-926-8003.

Since retiring Peery, who was also a longtime president of the writer's Guild union at the Plain Dealer, has continued his activism in the community, rallying with community activists and others around violence against women issues in greater Cleveland, a stand your ground bill in the Ohio State General Assembly, and police brutality.

The keynote speaker is Charles E. Smith, the mayor of Woodmere Village in Ohio.

Other award recipients include Wesley Toles, Jackie Sutton, Shirley Thompson, Tim Willis, Leona Wilson, Linda Green, and Paul Clark.

"It will be marvelous and is our academy awards for the Fairfax neighborhood," said Betty Mahone, secretary for the FBA and owner and operator of the Chateau Mansion lounge and restaurant in East Cleveland.

Last year's award recipients (pictured above) were Attorney James Gay, Our Lady of Peace Church Pastor Gary Chmura, Brenda Hubbard Tolbert, 19 Action News Anchor and Reporter Harry Boomer, and William Earl Morris. Boomer was also the featured speaker at the event last year.

Peery and Toles will both receive the William Seawright Award at Saturday night's banquet, the highest honor the organization bestows on people.

The late William Seawright was an entrepreneur and philanthropist in the Fairfax community who owned real estate and who believed that Black businesses were the cornerstone of the Black community. He often gave money and other resources to small business owners to help them survive, and he supported the East Technical High School basketball team, among other community venues.

"I have long had respect for Mr. Peery," said Mary Seawright , the surviving spouse of William Seawright who owns and operates Seawright Enterprises in Cleveland.

"Dick Peery is an outstanding gentleman and was a supreme journalist," Mary Seawright said. "We appreciate that we can honor him and others that have given back to the community, the Black community in particular."

Led by Greg Roberts, the FBA is a resource and networking organization designed to enhance Black businesses in the Fairfax community.

Brought to you by Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com, Ohio's No 1 and No 2 online Black newspapers (www.clevelandurbannews.com) and (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Reach us by phone at 216-659-0473 and by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.co

Last Updated on Friday, 06 December 2013 17:48

Rev Dr. Otis Moss Jr tells why racism in America is so powerful, Moss marched with MLK, Moss' article comes on the heels of the anniversary of fatal 137 shots shooting by 13 White Cleveland police officers of 2 unarmed Blacks

04 December 2013

Kathy

Pictured are the Reverend Dr. Otis Moss Jr. (in blue suit) and deadly Cleveland police shooting victims Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams

Why racism is so omnipotent (powerful) (The article below is reprinted here at Cleveland Urban News.Com (www.clevelandurbannews.com) with the expressed permission from Call and Post Newspaper Associate Publisher and Editor Connie Harper).

By the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss Jr.

(Editors note: The Rev Dr. Otis Moss Jr., a retired former senior pastor of the prominent Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland and also a Civil Rights icon who marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the height of the Civil Rights movement Moss' comments below come on the heels of the anniversary last week of the 137 shots tragedy where unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell were killed by 13 White Cleveland police officers shooting 137 bullets on Nov 29, 2012 following a police car chase that began in downtown Cleveland and ended in neighboring East Cleveland, Ohio. Community activists, family members of the victims and others rallied and prayed on Nov 29, 2013 at Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland where the shooting occurred, an event marking the first anniversary of the unprecedented shooting that has caused racial unrest in greater Cleveland's Black community. The case is currently before a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury for a potential criminal indictment against the 13 police officers at issue).

By the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss Jr.

Cleveland, Ohio-I must use the adverb “almost” because there is a necessary distinction between all and some. It is the difference between mighty and almighty. But we must never forget that whatever is mighty can harness the power to destroy lives, families, communities, institutions and nations. This is what racism does on a daily basis. We have, to some degree, lost the will and/or the capacity to identify and challenge this destructive and powerful force in our culture and institutions. This advent season presents the church with a great moment — an opportunity — to sharpen its discernment. It is an opportunity for the church and the world to experience a new birth in love, racial justice and reconciliation.

My New Testament professor – over a half century ago – frequently quoted one of his professors who often said, “The customs of a people are omnipotent.” This was an intentional hyperbole, but the point was a teachable exaggeration. Customs and habits are not easily removed even if they are wicked and unjust, but profitable and politically rewarding.

We once had a relevant U. S. Civil Rights Commission with subpoena power. It had the responsibility to investigate, research, expose and recommend. Its recommendations went to the President, Congress and the people. But it was despised by some and stripped of its relevance and effectiveness. It was a valuable tool of education and conscience. It lifted up a mirror to the nation. But rather than look in the mirror for examination treatment, prevention and cure, the mirror has been destroyed. This was one of the great errors of President Ronald Reagan.

Why is racism so powerful throughout such a long period in American history? Let me give, in my opinion, a few responses to this question and invite you to join the dialogue. Let us share with calm reasonableness, love and a quest for justice and reconciliation.

First, for centuries racism has been at the center of our culture. It is a decisive and divisive force in our economics, politics, religion and education. Since no one is born a racist, the song in the play “South Pacific” has a truth-telling message for the past, present and future:

You've got to be taught before it's too late,

Before you are six or seven or eight

To hate all the people your relatives hate

You've got to be carefully taught!

Through decades and centuries, racism has been taught and made economically profitable. From the buying and selling of human beings (Chattel slavery) to interest rates, insurance rates, payday loans, prison sentences, stop and frisk laws, cradle to prison pipelines, prison privatization, the “New Jim Crow,” voter suppression and “slavery by another name,” racism is a powerful force in our culture. It is designed to make some wealthy by keeping others poor and disenfranchised, by keeping some powerful and others powerless. Secondly, racism thrives in a climate of denial, insensitivity, apathy and disbelief.

When this systemic arrangement goes unchallenged, it receives silent endorsement. Henry David Thoreau was right: “Whoever can protest and does not is an accomplice in the act.” What is lacking today is a coherent national policy against persistent racism. The measures of prevention are too weak and corrections and cure are too elusive.Thirdly, racism has been endorsed by religion and education in ages past and denied and disowned in the present age. There was a time in ages past when religious leaders and college presidents owned slaves. Let us not forget that Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” was written in response to eight Birmingham religious leaders. Leaders who condemned Dr. King’s non-violent direct action protests, would not condemn the brutal fire hoses, vicious dogs and police beatings against children.

Today the ugly attacks on Affordable Health Care are just as vicious. And when we consider the millions of families and individuals in need of Affordable Health Care, SNAP Programs and Head Start, the attacks are just as vicious and even more pervasive.

Fourthly, those who want to make racism yesterday’s reality we must say, marching around the White House with a Confederate flag is today’s racist reality. This Confederate flag is an ugly expression of racism, hatred, violence, lynchings and mobs. But not enough, of us are raising our voices with moral courage for love and justice.

We are living in difficult days. To pretend (or believe) that the light came and racism ended with the election of President Obama is like saying that cancer ended with the development of chemotherapy. Therefore, all research, treatment, care, prevention and funding should be immediately ended.

In Shaw’s presentation on Joan of Arc, one character in this drama, speaking of Joan’s execution says: “Thirty minutes to burn her, four hundred years to declare her a saint.”

It takes only a short time to do irreparable harm through sequestration, government shutdowns, voter suppression, gun violence, budget cuts, blocked nominations, delayed immigration reform and opposition to Affordable Health Care. This Advent season, we must lead our congregations to meet these ugly forces with the beauty of love, justice, truth and reconciliation no matter how long it takes. This will assure the world that racism and hate are mighty, but never almighty. Reinforce the truth that injustice is mighty, but redeeming love is almighty. God is love.

The Rev Dr. Otis Moss Jr is also a graduate of the prestigious Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia

Last Updated on Thursday, 12 December 2013 21:12

Community Activist Kathy Wray Coleman speaks to reporters at Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland at first anniversary rally for justice for slain 137 bullets Cleveland police victims Malissa Williams and Tim Russell, both Black, both unarmed

02 December 2013

Kathy

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Community Activist Kathy Wray Coleman (pictured) spoke to reporters on Nov. 29, 2013 at Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland, Ohio at the first anniversary rally and vigil for gunned down unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams and Tim Russell, both shot with 137 bullets heading at them following a Cleveland police car chase that began in downtown Cleveland and ended in neighboring East Cleveland on Nov. 29, 2012.

At the event Coleman, on behalf of the Imperial Women Activists Group that she leads, called for Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine to be aggressive in pursuit of an indictment of criminal charges by the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury of the police officers. Coleman called McGinty and Dewine "discrepancy models in the case who should either do their jobs or step down."

The case is currently before a county grand jury.

Nearly 100 community activists, victims of police brutality and other community affiliates attended the gathering led by Community Activist Ernest Smith, chairman of the Oppressed People's Nation.

Other sponsoring groups include Black on Black Crime, Survivors/Victims of Tragedy, Peace in the Hood and Revolution Books.

"The police officers that killed Malissa and Tim need to be brought before a duly impaneled jury of their peers," said Coleman, also a local Cleveland area journalist and editor-in-chief of Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper.

Also at the rally attorneys for the victims called for justice with Cleveland Attorney Terry Gilbert,who represents the estate of Tim Russell, previously telling Cleveland Urban News.Com that the 13 non-Black police officers at issue "should at least be charged with negligent homicide."

Local media covering the event include the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper, the Northeast Ohio Media Group, and Cleveland television news channels 5, 3, 19, and 8

Last Updated on Wednesday, 04 December 2013 05:21

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Nelson Mandela dead at 95, U.S President Barack Obama, U.S. Rep Marcia Fudge of Ohio, who also leads the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress, respond to news of his death

Police to do checkpoint sobriety stops in greater Cleveland today, sobriety checkpoints are legal in some states, including Ohio, but cannot be random, otherwise police typically must have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to pull a car over

Journalist and community activist Dick Peery is among honorees at upcoming Fairfax Business Assoc affair, keynote speaker is Woodmere Mayor Charles E. Smith, also read this article in this week's print edition of the Call and Post Newspaper

Rev Dr. Otis Moss Jr tells why racism in America is so powerful, Moss marched with MLK, Moss' article comes on the heels of the anniversary of fatal 137 shots shooting by 13 White Cleveland police officers of 2 unarmed Blacks

Why racism is so omnipotent (powerful) (The article below is reprinted here at Cleveland Urban News.Com (www.clevelandurbannews.com) with the expressed permission from Call and Post Newspaper Associate Publisher and Editor Connie Harper).

Community Activist Kathy Wray Coleman speaks to reporters at Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland at first anniversary rally for justice for slain 137 bullets Cleveland police victims Malissa Williams and Tim Russell, both Black, both unarmed

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