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Zack Reed, Black Women's PAC respond to the picket on Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's home by White activists, and the associated mainstream media coverage.....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

15 August 2020

Kathy

Pictured are Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson (wearing beard) and former city councilman Zack Reed. At right a group of some 15 largely White activists picket the home of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson on Aug. 14

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio- Former Cleveland councilman Zack Reed spoke to Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com in detail during a one-on-one interview Friday, hours after a group of some 15 young, and practically all White activists, led by the unfamiliar activist group the Sunshine Movement, picketed the home of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson (Editor's note: Read further down in the article for Reed's comments).

Mainstream media outlets Cleveland.com, which is the online affiliate of the Plain Dealer, and Cleveland television channels Fox 8 News and News 5 Cleveland, as well as alternative news enues such as Ideastream and Scene Magazine, were among the media that covered the picket.

Dubbed "Wake-up Mayor Jackson" the protest began outside of the mayor's home in the Central neighborhood on the city's majority Black east side at 6 am in what the young activists said was a wake-up call regarding the mayor's lackadaisical approach to social ills in the city and his position against calls to defund the police.

Both the mayor and Police Chief Calvin Williams have publicly gone against the demands by activists to break up the police department and reallocate police funds to neighborhoods.

Activists wore masks and chanted and sung songs in front of the mayor's home, and they gave speeches, the picket one of many occurring nationwide in general following the May 25 Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed Black man, one of so many Blacks who have fallen victim to excessive force by police across the country.

"No Justice No Sleep," a sign read that activists held up at the protest.

Activists said that Jackson, a four-term Black Democratic mayor, has not done enough to minimize police abuse in the largely Black major American city.

"Jackson is sleeping through the many crises we are facing in this moment," they said in a press release.

Other Blacks said the mainstream media coverage of the protest on Jackson's home with so few White activists there is suspect and racist, and that Whites, like crooked judges, other elected officials, and prosecutors who do wrong, and corrupt White cops too, are often protected by Cleveland's mainstream media.

"We have had so many killings of young Black men in the last two weeks with no media in sight at the vigils and it is astounding to learn that media covered 15 White young people who likely do not live on the east side in front of our mayor's home as he works to make Cleveland a better city for all people," said Elaine Gohlstin, a community activist of 40 years and the president of the Black Women's PAC of greater Cleveland.

Activist Mary Seawright, who owns and manages Seawright Enterprises in Cleveland's Fairfax neighborhood in Ward 6, said that "while the mayor needs to stop supporting police who do wrong by Black people, I have a problem with the media targeting him as a Black man and leaving Whites alone."

Reed had an altogether different take on the matter.

A long time former city councilman who did not seek reelection in order to run for mayor against Jackson, a four-term Black mayor, Reed lost a non-partisan mayoral runoff to Jackson in 2017 and then snagged a job as a statewide minority affairs coordinator with Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican.

His campaign platform for mayor in 2017 was "Safety First," which was coupled with his demand for more officers on the streets and in city neighborhoods, something that the new Civil Rights Movement that has taken off since Floyd's murder by police opposes.

"I don't care if they picket the mayor's home," said Reed, "the question is what is the mayor going to do about crime in the city?"

He said he cannot support defunding the police because he is not clear on the concept.

"What do activists mean by defunding the police and I would love to meet with them to discuss the issue," said Reed, who is Black and was first elected to city council in 1999, ultimately representing the Mt Pleasant, Union-Miles and Mill Creek Falls neighborhoods.

He would not confirm or deny whether he will make another run for mayor in 2021, and Jackson will not rule out a run either.

Sources say that Jackson will likely run for a fifth term next year and that Reed will try to unseat him, again.

A Democrat like Jackson and all 17 members of city council, Reed said the city is on its way to a historic number of homicides this year, beyond the 101 current homicides to likely more that 150 killings by the end of December.

"Cleveland averages about 10 homicides a month," said Reed, "and with nearly four more months to go this year we should expect a record number of homicides for 2021."

Reed said that Jackson needs "to come up with a a plan to deal with the violence in the city."

Given Cleveland's history of excessive force killings against Blacks, including Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams in 2012, and 12-year-old Tamir Rice and Tanisha Anderson in 2014, and a pending consent decree implemented in 2015 with the U.S. Department of Justice for police reforms, yesterday's protest against the mayor was not at all surprising, sources have said.

Asked his views on excessive force by Cleveland police, Reed said that police who do wrong should be "reprimanded, fired or prosecuted."

But he also said that too often people expect police officers to be all things to all people.

They expect police to independently solve, social, societal and psychological ills," said Reed. "And that is unrealistic."

Cleveland, like a host of other major urban cities, is experiencing heightened crime in the middle of a coronavirus pandemic that has crippled the nation and has had its biggest impact on the Black community, which has been disproportionately affected.

Last month President Donald Trump, with support from Mayor Jackson and Police Chief Williams, who is Black, announced that Cleveland is among some 11 cities that federal troops will monitor behind the increase in the crime rate and May 30 riots in the downtown section of the city during protest for justice for George Floyd,

The initiative, entitled "Operation Legend" includes, in addition to Cleveland, the cities of Portland and Chicago, New York, Albuquerque, Kansas City, Detroit and Milwaukee, actions in Portland and Chicago drawing criticism for the harassment by federal troops of innocent activists and protesters.

Black activists have picketed over federal troops coming into Cleveland as the media hardly covered the protest to allegedly protect the president as he continues to buy mainstream media advertisement as the November general election nears, Trump to square off with Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who served as vice president under former president Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president.

Last Updated on Saturday, 15 August 2020 19:52

Updated: Black children at risk for lack of resources as Cleveland's public schools to reopen online for first 9 weeks of the 2020-2021 academic school year, the school district of which is under mayoral control per state law-.By editor Kathy Coleman

14 August 2020

Kathy

Pictured are Cleveland schools CEO Dr. Eric Gordon (wearing blue and white patterned shirt), Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson (wearing grey tie)and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (wearing solid teal tie)

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, Ohio –Cleveland's K-12 schools will open via remote (online) learning the first nine weeks of the 2020-2021 academic school year as the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep through Ohio and the nation, the virus re-spiking in late June in spite of hopes that the curve would flatten.

And while educational policy makers say it was inevitable, others worry about risk factors relative to the city's poor and Black school children, if not all of them in general, and regarding the impact of remote learning in urban school districts like Cleveland, not only in terms of food security and educational outcomes, but also as to equal access to online educational resources.

Cleveland schools CEO Dr. Eric Gordon said that school district officials had hoped for a hybrid model of both online and in person classes but opted otherwise, sources saying the decision came following complaints and safety concerns from district parents and the Cleveland Teachers Union.

Gordon said it is not clear when or if the schools will reopen on a regular basis anytime soon.

Poor Cleveland schools families, a disproportionate number of them Black, remain concerned about remote learning after preparing for a school year with onsite free lunch and breakfast, school district officials not saying whether alternative measures will be taken to feed the city's poor children when schools are closed due to a pandemic.

Education advocates also say that poor kids and Black kids are being denied adequate remote learning resources, some of them denied individual computers from the school district and other necessary amenities.

The largely Black public school district once under a desegregation court order for discriminating against Black children and their families is led by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson per a state law that took effect in 1998, the year the desegregation of schools ended in Cleveland.

Cleveland voters later sanctioned it by way of a referendum.

The mayoral control law eliminated an elected school board and handed control of the schools to the city mayor, then Michael R. White, the city's second Black mayor who was succeeded into office by Jane Campbell, the first woman mayor of Cleveland, and of whom Jackson, then a city council president, ousted in 2005 with the help of Black leaders.

A four-term Black Democratic mayor up for reelection in 2021, Jackson also appoints school board members under the applicable state law, and while critics complain that Whites run too much in a largely Black school district under Jackson's leadership over the schools, he is credited with minimizing the chaos that came with an elected school board, activists still against mayoral control of the schools as stripping residents of an opportunity to vote on an elected school board.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine closed all public, private, voucher and charter K-12 schools in Ohio temporarily in March for in-person classes when the pandemic broke and then for the remainder of the academic school year a month later.

Hence, academic learning occurred solely online, except relative to special situations.

At the time the governor said his decision to keep the schools closed followed advice from educators and public health officials and that “we have flattened the curve, but it remains dangerous.”

But the curve never really flattened and DeWine has since said that individual school districts should decide the course of school openings this academic school year using state guidelines and subject to Ohio Department of Education mandates, and other authorities.

Ohio has reported more than 105,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 3,755 deaths since the pandemic broke in the United States more than four months ago.

Worldwide there are currently more than 20.9 million confirmed cases and some 760,000 deaths, with the U.S. accounting for some 5.3 million confirmed cases, and 167,000 deaths.

Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs, has reported 12, 881 confirmed cases and 482 deaths.

Cleveland recorded 75 new coronavirus cases on June 28, the highest single day figure since the height of the pandemic in early April, a figure that that day brought the total number of cases since the pandemic broke out in early March to 2,245 cases.

President Trump, a Republican like DeWine, and his political ally, has vacillated on the issue of school re-openings and had announced he would withhold federal funds if schools did not open nationwide this year, though he recognizes that his powers are limited on state and local level issues regarding America's K-12 schools.

Last Updated on Friday, 14 August 2020 13:40

Joe Biden appears with vice presidential running mate Kamala Harris for their 1st joint campaign press conference, Harris the first Black woman to compete on a major party presidential ticket in America-Harris said that America is in trouble under Trump

13 August 2020

Kathy

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief. Coleman trained for 17 years as a reporter with the Call and Post Newspaper and is an investigative and political reporter with a background in legal and scientific reporting. She is also a former 15-year public school biology teacher.

WILMINGTON, Delaware-Former vice president and Democratic presumptive nominee Joe Biden and U.S. Sen Kamala Harris appeared at a campaign event together for the first time since Biden, on Tuesday, named Harris as his VP pick, the former state attorney general and junior senator from California becoming the first Black woman to compete on a major party presidential ticket in America.

Biden said his campaign has raised some $26 million in the day since Harris came aboard to his ticket, that figure 'a grassroots record," Biden said.

Pundits said that Harris' moving speech at a televised press conference with Biden on Wednesday in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden's home state, was both heart wrenching and policy-driven, and that it showed that she has evolved since her unsuccessful campaign for president last year.

Harris said she could not be prouder to represent Biden by his side, and she said that America " is experiencing a moral reckoning with racism and systemic injustice that has brought a new coalition of conscience to the streets of our country demanding change."

She discussed her prior working relationship with Biden's now deceased son, Beau Biden, the younger Biden Delaware's attorney general at the time, and Harris, California's attorney general, Harris saying that together they tackled greedy banks and mortgage companies, and foreclosure fraud.

She said the case against President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, both up for reelection in November is "open and shut."

She called the president incompetent and gave a litany of reasons as to why she says voters should oust Trump and Pence and vote the Democratic ticket

Before introducing her, and with the audience limited to a small mainstream media group, Biden, 77, gave one the best campaign speeches of his career, even his critics admitting that he too is more polished and presentable that he was on the campaign trial fighting to become the Democrats' nominee for president, Biden a former U.S. senator and vice president who served under former president Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president.

"The choice we make this November is going to decide the future of America for a very, very long time," said Biden. "I have no doubt that I picked the right person to join me as the next vice president of the United States of America, and that's Senator Kamala Harris."

Biden chastised Trump for branding Harris 'nasty' after it was announced she would be running for vice president on the Democratic ticket, and he took him on for a host of other racist or sexism comments the president has uttered since Harris, a frequent critic of the president, stepped up as political force determined to preclude his reelection bid.

Polls show Biden with at least a 5-10 point lead over the embattled president.

The former vice president highlighted that Aug 12 is the third-year anniversary of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia that saw White activist Heather Heyer murdered at the United the Right rally and said Trump's subsequent comments that both sides at the rally, even the White supremacists that precipitated the violence, were all good people, were ludicrous, and racist.

Biden said he had no reservations about selecting Harris, the daughter of Indian and Jamaican Immigrants that the mainstream media also paint as a southeastern descendant of Asian descent.

Their respective spouses appeared with them on stage after both of them spoke, Biden's wife and possibly the nation's next first lady, Dr. Jill Biden, joining him by his side, and Harris' Jewish husband, Douglas Emhoff accompanying her, Emhoff a millionaire entertainment lawyer whom she married in 2014.

"This is a moment of real consequence in America," said Harris while looking trim, confident and vice presidential.

Harris and Biden took on a range of issues from voting and reproductive rights to Obamacare, climate change, civil and human rights, immigration and police reforms, and the Black Lives Matter Movement, Biden saying that jobs and the economy are key and Harris strategically outlining the flawed manner in which the Trump administration has responded to the coronavirus pandemic.

She blamed Trump for the heightened pandemic in the country.

The president did not hesitate to later respond.

During a White House press conference he held hours after the Biden-Harris campaign press conference Trump attacked Biden and Harris, and called Harris, who said his actions around the pandemic were irresponsible and contributed to thousands of American deaths, "weak on facts."

The president said that the national polls that show him losing to Biden are fake, like 'the fake news."

He said that he looks forward to the debate between Harris and Vice President Pence.

And he called Harris angry and mad, a racial stereotype often used by White men in an effort to subordinate strong Black women.

The only Black woman to seek the 2020 Democratic nomination for president, Harris is the fourth woman to compete on a major party presidential ticket in America behind vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin in 2008 and Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, and Hillary Clinton in 2016, Clinton a presidential candidate that year.

The Democratic National Convention, which Biden has said he will skip due to coronavirus concerns, begins Aug 17 in Milwaukee, less than three months before the Nov 3 presidential election.

Harris is slated to give the keynote speech at the convention, Democratic National Committee officials said Tuesday.

The daughter of Indian and Jamaica immigrants and a former California attorney general, Harris, 55, was selected among more than 20 women aspiring to become vice president that caught the former vice president's eye.

Biden promised to choose a female running-mate during the 11th Democratic Debate on March 15 in Washington, D.C as pressure subsequently mounted by Black leaders and Democrats, and even some mainstream media, for that woman to be a woman of color, preferably a Black woman.

Others on Biden's short list for vice president, most of them Black women, were U.S. Sen Tammy Duckworth, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Rep. Val Demings of Florida, former national security adviser Susan Rice, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep Karen Bass of California.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

Last Updated on Friday, 14 August 2020 13:05

Putin announces that Russia will begin coronavirus vaccinations in October with the vaccine available to other countries in November....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com,

12 August 2020

Kathy

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS. Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief. Coleman is an investigative and political reporter with a background in legal and scientific reporting. She is also a former 15-year public school biology teacher.

RUSSIA-Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday that Russia has approved the first coronavirus vaccine for use as questions remain as to whether Russia can prove that any such vaccine is effective and safe.

Putin said that mass vaccinations for Russians will begin in October and that the vaccine will be available for other countries in November.

American coronavirus experts are skeptical.

"Having a vaccine and proving that a vaccine is safe and effective are two different things," said White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr Anthony Fauci, Fauci going on to tell reporters that "I seriously doubt that they've done that."

Putin called Russia's new vaccine the world's first.

"A vaccine against coronavirus has been registered for the first time in the world this morning," Putin said on state TV. "I know that it works quite effectively, it forms a stable immunity."

Outdoing Brazille, which got the first test drive of the Oxford University coronavirus vaccine, Russia is the first country to complete human trials of the COVID-19 vaccine as the United States is expected to introduce a vaccine by the end of the year.

Developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, Russian scientists and doctors utilized two different types of clinical trials using 20 people who volunteered for the injection, one clinical trial carried out at the Burdenko Military Hospital and the other at the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University.

"The research has been completed and it proved that the vaccine is safe," said Elena Smolyarchuk, chief researcher for the Russian Center for Clinical Research on Medications at Sechenov University in a news wire.

Once again Russia has outdone the United States relative to science and technology, this COVID-19 vaccine of which follows the 20th century space race competition between the U.S. and Russia where the Soviet Union achieved the first successful launch with the October 4, 1957 orbiting of Sputnik 1 and, on April 12, 1961, sent the first human to space with the orbital flight of Yuri Gagarin.

The new vaccine is named Sputnik-V, referencing

Sputnik 1

The USSR also sent the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, to space on June 16, 1963, with numerous other firsts taking place over the next few years with regards to flight duration, spacewalks and related activities.

The United States, however, can brag of being the first to have a human to walk on the moon as the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle, commanded by astronaut Neil Armstrong, stepped onto the moon's lunar surface on July 20, 1969, some 49 years ago.

According to the World Health Organization, there are at least 21 potential vaccines currently under trial worldwide.

Worldwide there are 13 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 573,000 deaths.

After months of decline, the coronavirus pandemic, which hit the U.S. in March begin re-spiking in late June

Russia has reported some 902,701 cases of the new SARS coronavirus and 15,260 deaths caused by complications from Covid-19, the disease caused by the new SARS.

Worldwide there are some 20 million confirmed cases and over 740,000 deaths, 5 million of those deaths in the U.S. alone, which has posted some 168,000 deaths.

Data show that COVID-19 is affecting some 213 countries and territories around the world and two international conveyances, the U.S. leading all of the countries in both reported cases and affiliated deaths, followed by Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa and New Mexico respectively.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 August 2020 20:19

Joe Biden chooses Kamala Harris as his running mate to run for vice president, Harris the first Black woman to run on a major party presidential ticket in America...By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com /Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

12 August 2020

Kathy

Pictured is United States senator and former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (D-CA), whom presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has chosen as his running-mate for vice president on his presidential ticket

CLEVELAND, Ohio-U.S. Sen Kamala Harris of California, the only Black woman to seek the 2020 Democratic nomination for president, was chosen yesterday by presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden to run for vice president on his presidential ticket, Harris the first Black woman to run on a major party presidential ticket in America.

A native of Oakland and a former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016, Harris became the fourth woman to compete on a major party presidential ticket in America behind vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin in 2008 and Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, and Hillary Clinton in 2016, Clinton a presidential candidate that year.

The announcement comes less than a week before the Democratic National Convention, which begins Aug 17 in Milwaukee, and less than three months before the Nov 3 presidential election where Biden faces incumbent president Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.

Harris is slated to give the keynote speech at the convention, Democratic National Committee officials said Tuesday.

"I am deeply honored and excited," Harris said via a Biden campaign video presentation on Tuesday after Biden chose her as his running mate.

After saying previously that he welcomed Harris on Biden's ticket, Trump tweeted Tuesday that the federal lawmaker is " the most liberal person in the U.S. Senate,' an indication that the president is gearing up his conservative Republican base to take on Harris as too progressive for American values.

A new Monmouth poll of registered voters has Trump lagging behind Biden by 10 points, 41 percent to Biden's 51 percent.

A former longtime U.S. senator who served as vice president under former president Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president, Biden said that " Sen. Harris has the capacity to be anything she wants to be."

He said the junior senator out of San Francisco and the only Black woman senator in Congress, is solid and "can be president someday herself."

Former president Barack Obama commented on twitter that Harris, an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., one of the nation's most prominent Black sororities, is a prime choice for vice president and that she "spent her career fighting for the Constitution and for those who needed a fair shake."

Celebrities like LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers weighed in too.

"Congrats and well-deserved Sen Kamala Harris," James said on twitter. "Love to see and support it."

The daughter of Indian and Jamaica immigrants and a former California attorney general, Harris, 55, was selected among more than 10 women aspiring to become vice president that caught the former vice president's eye.

Bass appeared to be a last moment favorite but caught criticism relative to comments about former Cuban president Fidel Castro, though a fraction of key Democratic insiders, including Vermont senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, and nearly 400 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, lobbied on her behalf, obviously to no avail.

Harris brings a Jewish husband to the White House if she and Biden win in November over President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, and a grown stepdaughter and stepson, both of them Jewish also.

An Obama ally, Harris was a known pick in political circles to be the one both Biden and Obama favored, as well as the moderate wing of the Democratic Party.

Hailing from the nation's post populous state, she was the best known on Biden's narrowed list for his vice president choice.

Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee tweeted that "I have tears in my eyes, and I know that women around the nation, women of color, and yes Black women, can see their equal status in this nationally finally. Thank you vice president [former vice president], Biden."

U.S. Rep Marcia Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat whose 11th congressional district includes Cleveland and a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, endorsed Harris for president, Fudge also a former chair of the CBC.

Whether Harris truly believed she could win the Democratic nomination for president when she entered the race last year is questionable, pundits say, her performance and likability on the campaign trail a plus in winning a slot on her party's 2020 Democratic ticket.

She suspended her presidential campaign last December after fundraising difficulties and consistently low poll numbers in the months leading up to her departure, the senator polling at just 2-4 percent in some polls, a drop from when she surged to second place at 22 percent and within five percentage points of Biden following her spectacular performance during the First Democratic Debate in Miami, Florida.

Upon dropping out of the race for president she told supporters in an email that she could no longer afford the pursuit of the presidency due to a lack of money but that she will continue to fight.

“My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue,” Harris wrote. “But I want to be clear with you: I am still very much in this fight.”

Most notably on the campaign trail for president, Harris raised eyebrows when she took on Biden during the first Democratic debate on race, saying he has fraternized with segregationists and that he should not have opposed court-ordered public school busing plans, busing a 1970s, 80s and 90s phenomenon in place to seek to remedy racial disparities and intentional discrimination against Black children in America's general largely Black public school districts.

And while she may have surged in the polls regarding her dispute with Biden on race during the First Democratic Debate, some Democratic voters, mainly Whites, simply did not like her attacking Biden, 77, her supporters saying she did what debaters do to win.

How quickly we forget, some of those critics now excited about her run for vice president.

Black political pundits said Harris had an uphill battle from the get go to win the presidency because she is both Black and female, and the country has never entertained a woman for president, not to mention a Black woman.

Despite her general appeal and good looks, and her commitment to the Black community on public policy matters of significance, she could not gain inroads into the Black community like Biden to edge toward winning the Democratic nomination, as Biden enjoys widespread support from Black voters, particularly among older Blacks and southern voters.

Running for vice president is a different animal, pundits have said, and Harris fits the profile that U.S Rep James Clyburn originally told CNN that he wanted on the ticket, a woman and "preferably an African-American woman."

A seasoned and respected congressman, Clyburn is Black too, and is credited with reviving Biden's then failing campaign by endorsing him for South Carolina's primary, which Biden won, and never looked back, his campaign saying also that he did not necessarily expect to win in the earlier primaries like in Iowa and in New Hampshire, White voters territory without a doubt.

And while Harris has some baggage regarding some policies she has pushed and positions she may have taken as a former California attorney general from 2011-2017 and Biden wants to distance himself from criticism regarding the 1994 anti-Black crime bill he backed as a then U.S. senator when Bill Clinton was president, pundits say she has the stamina, stage presence and campaign experience to walk with Biden on the campaign trail, and to compliment the Democratic ticket as a candidate for vice president.

Last Updated on Thursday, 24 June 2021 06:20

Governor DeWine accepts Trump' s federal unemployment benefits package for Ohioans during the coronavirus pandemic as employment factors nationwide remain dim in the Black community, the U.S Department of Labor reports....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman

11 August 2020

Kathy

COLUMBUS, Ohio- Ohio GOP Gov. Mike DeWine (pictured) announced Monday that Ohio has agreed to President Trump's coronavirus stimulus monies for states after benefits issued by Congress to unemployed Americans at $600 weekly ended Aug. 1 and Congress is at a stalemate on more money under the CARES Act.

Trump’s order, signed Saturday, allocates $44 billion in federal AID from FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund and requires that states contribute the roughly $15 billion by puling from federal coronavirus relief funds already distributed to states earlier in the crisis, funds that some states say they do not have and that have been utilized for critical coronavirus needs.

Unemployed Ohioans would receive $300 weekly in federal unemployment benefits in addition to state benefits under the plan DeWine agreed to late Sunday, reportedly at no costs to the state, the benefits slated to take effect in a month DeWine has said, and after the U.S. Department of Labor intervenes for clarity, and direction.

Another option, which DeWine rejected, would have provided $400 weekly per claim in federal unemployed aid from the White House on top of weekly state unemployment benefits Ohioans already receive, the most in dollars each week of which is $480 in Ohio, with entitlements to more for dependents.

Total weekly monies per each unemployment claim under the president's order differ, however, depending on the state at issue, Hawaii and states like Massachusetts opting out at some $856 in combined federal and state weekly benefits to their unemployed residents, and deep south states like New Orleans and Louisiana getting the short end at roughly $587.

Republican lawmakers, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the U.S. Senate, and House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are demanding $200 and $600 respectively in unemployment benefits to unemployed Americans.

And no compromise is in reach, pundits have said, Republicans of whom control the U.S. Senate, and Democrats, the House of Representatives, the upcoming November election, in which Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will face off, a showdown on whether Democrats will take control over the Senate.

The president's order also hands out aid around evictions, payroll taxes and student loans, very little though as experts, some of them skeptical about the president's motives, and his stimulus package in general, saying it does little to hasten the impending eviction crisis that disproportionately impacts people of color, Black people in particular.

Layoffs relative to the pandemic have hit the Black community hard in service occupations such as hospitality, food service, health care and retail, lower paying jobs that keep Blacks in poverty

Work-at-home virtual jobs during the pandemic are also less attainable for Blacks.

The Department of Labor reports that Whites have jobs that permit them to work at home more frequently than Blacks, unemployment in the Black community nearly double that of Whites, if not higher in some instances.

The unemployment rate has skyrocketed since the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S in early March, Blacks unemployed at nearly 17 percent, and Whites 14 percent, and Black at 20 percent and Whites 17 percent during the height of the pandemic in April, those figures considered faulty under the Trump administration with Black unemployment rates disproportionate high , and at nearly 27 percent by some accounts.

Nonetheless, it is a stark difference from the good ole days when the nationwide unemployment rate, in May of 2019, was at 3.6 percent.

Ohio has reported more than 102,000 confirmed cases and 3,673 deaths as the nation faces a re-spiking of the virus.

The deadly virus for which there is no vaccine has spread to all 50 states and Washington, D.C. and the nation has nearly 5 million reported cases and some 163,000 people dead, worldwide figures showing that there are 20 million cases globally and roughly 737,000 deaths.

More than 55 million Americans remain out of work due to the crippling pandemic.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 11 August 2020 21:09

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Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb announces his 9 nominations for Cleveland Community Police Commission, including students and a retired judge...View the bios of the nominees here...Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

Ohio: US Sen Sherrod Brown failed to effectively court Black Cleveland voters, Black leaders in his loss to Bernie Moreno on Tuesday.... He acted like another Richard Cordray, a Cleveland elected official said...By Clevelandurbannews.com,

2024 general election results, nationally, in Ohio, and in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland...Trump wins for president, Bernie Moreno beats incumbent Sherrod Brown for U.S. Senate seat, the 3 Democrats for the Ohio Supreme Court lose....Common Pl

Cleveland holds Nov 2, 2024 rally and march for reproductive and civil rights... Hundreds attend...Women's March Cleveland comments...By Clevelandurbannews.com. Ohio's Black digital news leader

Cleveland to host Nov 2, 2024 women's march for reproductive and civil rights at noon at Market Square Park in Ohio City....Women's March Cleveland comments.... By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

Greater Cleveland RTA legal notice of public hearing on Nov 19 and Dec 3, 2024 on proposed Fiscal Year 2025 tax budget announced.... By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's leader in Black digital news...archives

Ohio's JD Vance backtracks on national abortion ban issue during CBS News Vice Presidential Debate in New York....By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

Ohio Congresswoman Emilia Sykes announces a half million dollars to the University of Akron to support crime victims, women of color....By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

Harris-Waltz campaign Reproductive Freedom Tour Bus stops in Cleveland and is met by supporters, U.S. Reps Shontel Brown, Joyce Beatty and Emilia Sykes....Women's March Cleveland head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman comments, and thanks them.

Breaking: County sheriff guns down judge in his chambers

Second likely assassination attempt made against Donald Trump, the FBI says.... By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

Cleveland Browns win their first game of the season against the Jacksonville Jaguars....By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

VP Kamala Harris wins the first presidential debate over Trump hands down....By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

Ohio Congresswoman Emilia Sykes issues statement on preliminary court injunction against Ohio's abortion pill restrictions...Sykes said that she will continue fighting to protect reproductive freedoms for women in Ohio’s 13th congressional district

Zack Reed, Black Women's PAC respond to the picket on Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's home by White activists, and the associated mainstream media coverage.....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

Updated: Black children at risk for lack of resources as Cleveland's public schools to reopen online for first 9 weeks of the 2020-2021 academic school year, the school district of which is under mayoral control per state law-.By editor Kathy Coleman

Joe Biden appears with vice presidential running mate Kamala Harris for their 1st joint campaign press conference, Harris the first Black woman to compete on a major party presidential ticket in America-Harris said that America is in trouble under Trump

Putin announces that Russia will begin coronavirus vaccinations in October with the vaccine available to other countries in November....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com,

Joe Biden chooses Kamala Harris as his running mate to run for vice president, Harris the first Black woman to run on a major party presidential ticket in America...By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com /Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

Governor DeWine accepts Trump' s federal unemployment benefits package for Ohioans during the coronavirus pandemic as employment factors nationwide remain dim in the Black community, the U.S Department of Labor reports....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman

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