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CLEVELAND, Ohio-Greater Cleveland community activists groups, victims and victims family members of police brutality and Black elected officials will will hold a rally and candlelight vigil at 5 pm near Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland at 14410 Terrace Road on Thursday March 6, 2014 to call for a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury currently hearing evidence from County Prosecutor Tim McGinty to issue a criminal indictment against the 13 all non-Black Cleveland cops that gunned down unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams, 31, and Timothy Russell, 43. Both were killed with a hail of 137 Cleveland police bullets on November 29, 2012 following a police car chase without reasonable suspicion or probable cause that began in downtown Cleveland and ended at Heritage Middle School in neighboring East Cleveland, a largely Black impoverished suburb of Cleveland.(The rally and vigil will be at the intersection of Lee and Terrace Roads in East Cleveland near Heritage Middle School. From downtown Cleveland take Euclid Avenue to Lee Road, turn right onto Lee Road and go two blocks to Terrace Road).

Organizers and contacts for the rally and vigil include Oppressed People's Nation Chairman Ernie Smith at 216-778-0998, Imperial Women Activists Group President Kathy Wray Coleman at 216-659-0473, Black on Black Crime Founder Art McKoy at  216-253-4070, and Khalid Samad of Peace in the Hood, who also leads the grassroots group The Task Force for Community Mobilization, at 216-538-4043.

"We will be there," said,  Dorothy Sigelmier, a close aunt of Malissa Williams.

"I am pleased to help lead the rally and the police should be indicted," said Ernest Smith, an East Cleveland Community Activist who leads the grassroots group The Oppressed People's Nation.

"We will be there," said both Community Activists Khalid Samad and Art McKoy.

"The 13 police officers that did the shooting should be charged at least with negligent homicide," said Cleveland Attorney Terry Gilbert, during a previous interview with Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read online Black newspaper."

A Civil Rights and criminal defense lawyer, Gilbert represents the estate of Russell, who left behind a 17-year-old son.

Rally speakers include members of the Russell and Williams family, Black clergy, community activists, family members of victims of police brutality, and Black elected officials.

The deadly car chase that ultimately included 104 Cleveland and other police ended with the car Russell was driving and Williams as a passenger shot at with 137 rounds of ammunition, gangster -style.

One of the police officers , who is still on the job like the other 12 officers, jumped aboard the hood of Russell's 1979 Chevy Malibu Classic and fired 49 rounds through the front windshield.

Participating activists groups include The Oppressed People's Nation, Black on Black Crime Inc, The Imperial Women Activists Group, The Carl Stokes Brigade, Peace in the Hood, The Task Force for Community Mobilization, The People's Forum, Revolution Books, Survivors/Victims of Tragedy, The Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, Sister to Sister, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, People for the Imperial Act, The Joaquin Hicks Real People's Movement, The Cleveland Chapter of the New Black Panther Party, Ohio Family Rights, and The Fairfax Business Association .www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

LOS ANGELES, California  — The brutal  historical drama '12 Years a Slave' won best picture at the 86th annual Academy Awards Sunday night.

Steve McQueen’s slavery odyssey, based on Solomon Northup’s 1853 memoir, out did best picture nominees Gravity, Captain Phillips, Philomena,  The Wolf of Wall Street, Her, and the The Dallas Buyers Club.

McQueen (pictured), the first Black director to win the Oscar for best picture, dedicated the honor to those who suffered slavery and “the 21 million who still endure slavery today.”

“Everyone deserves not just to survive, but to live,” said McQueen.

And Lupita Nyong'o (pictured), 31, also Black, won the Oscar for best supporting actress for the film, which was produced by actor Brad Pitt.

Nyong'o of African descent said during her acceptance speech that the opportunity to act in the movie as a role model for young Black women and the accompanying Oscar represent "the joy of my life."

John Ridley, also Black, captured the Oscar for best adapted screenplay in "12 Years a Slave."

Pictured are Ohio Democratic Party Chairperson Chris Redfern (in green tie), Ohio Governor John Kasich (R-OH) (in red tie), Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH) (in white blouse), who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress (CBC), Ohio State Senator Nina Turner (D-25 ) (in light blue suit), Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted (R-OH) (in blue tie), and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary

Rodham Clinton (in Black suit), the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016.

COLUMBUS, Ohio-As the election for Ohio governor looms and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton leads in national polls by large margins any prospective Democratic contenders for president in 2016,  Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern announced yesterday that the state Democrat party that he leads has launched an Ohio Voter Defense Fund for monies to sue Republican Gov. John Kasich over expansive voter suppression bills that the governor recently signed into law, two last week, and one on Friday.

Warrensville Heights, OH – Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) (pictured), a Warrensville Heights Democrat who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress, released a press statement today following the announcement by the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) of first-round funding awards to land banks in 11 counties throughout the nation through the the Neighborhood Initiative Program (NIP).  The program is based on approval by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to reallocate up to $60 million of the state’s remaining Hardest Hit Funds for demolition purposes.

The land banks in the 11th congressional district that will receive a portion of funding through NIP are the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation , which will receive $10,118,750, and  the Summit County Land Reutilization Corporation, which will receive $2,000,000.

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

MEDINA, Ohio- Gov John Kasich (pictured in blue tie) delivered his fourth State of the State address Monday evening to a capacity audience at the Medina Performing Arts Center in Medina, Ohio, a city 30 miles south of Cleveland. And Cleveland was center stage from Ohio Courage metals that the Republican governor bestowed on Ariel Castro's ten -year hostage and rape victims Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight, all three looking lovely on stage, to his highlight of the Cleveland schools education reform plan.

The Cleveland Plan for Transforming Schools was enacted in 2012 through a state law passed by the state legislature from  companion bills dubbed House Bill 525 and Senate Bill 335, HB 525 co-sponsored in the Ohio House of Representatives by state Rep. Sandra Williams (D-11), a Cleveland Democrat, and SB 335 co-sponsored in  the Ohio Senate by state Sen Nina Turner (D-25), also a Cleveland Democrat. It is a sweeping overhaul of the majority Black school system that, among a host of initiatives, sets parameters to increase parental involvement, establishes charter schools run by the district and strips teachers of tenure. And it is supported by the Cleveland Teachers Union.