Pictured are United States President Barack Obama (wearing grey suit, blue tie and no eye glasses), U.S. Federal District Court Judge Solomon Oliver (wearing grey suit, blue tie and eye glasses), U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson (wearing beard)
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 3.5 million views on Google Plus alone. Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com |
Cleveland Urban News.Com, via editor Kathy Wray Coleman, interviewed now president Barack Obama one-on-one. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
Cleveland Urban News.Com-Cleveland, Ohio-Greater Cleveland community activists will attend, as watch dogs, the status conference on the consent decree for police reforms between the City of Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice from 3 pm-4 pm on Friday, Jan. 6 in Courtroom 19 A of overseer and Federal District Court of the Northern District of Ohio Chief Judge Solomon Oliver, who is Black.
The address is Carl B. Stokes United States Court House, 801 West Superior Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44113.
The consent degree follows an extensive investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice under then U.S. attorney general Eric Holder that found systemic problems in the largely White Cleveland Police Department, including abuses of Black people, children and the mentally ill, illegal taser usage, and gross disrespect of innocent people in general.
Cleveland is led by three-term Black mayor Frank Jackson, who is up for re-election this year and has not said whether he will embark upon an historic fourth term.
Activists are concerned as to consent decrees nationwide as President Barack Obama officially leaves office on Jan. 20 and U.S Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Holder's successor, leaves her role as attorney general under Obama, the country's first Black president. They do not want them watered down under a Donald Trump administration, and fear that that can easily happen.
President-elect Trump is under fire for nominating U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, a conservative Republican out of Alabama with a record that the national NAACP says is hostile to Blacks and Civil Rights gains, as U.S. attorney general.
Cleveland's consent decree for police reforms also follows racial unrest as to the Cleveland police 137 shots killing of unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell in 2012 and the killing, also by Cleveland police, of 12-year-old Tamir Rice and Tanisha Anderson in 2014.
Others erroneously killed by Cleveland police in the last five years include Daniel Ficker, who was White, rapper Kenneth Smith, and Brandon Jones.
Also at issue for community activists is a proposed 'city policy' that would give Cleveland police authority to arbitrarily send people to mental institutions at traffic stops and otherwise, and in the absence of a court order or recommendation from a trained mental health professional. And the proposed policy would occur as such even if the subject does not pose harm to himself or herself, or others.
"We will be there as community watch dogs and we hope that the Black community is not subordinated relative to the process becuase we have suffered enough," said Cleveland activist Kathy Wray Coleman, who leads the Imperial Women Coalition.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 3.5 million views on Google Plus alone. Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com |