CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM- CLEVELAND, Ohio-Ohio 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat whose largely Black congressional district includes Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs, will lead the 46th Annual 11th Congressional District Caucus Parade and Festival on Labor Day in Cleveland on Monday, Sept. 4, 2017.

The theme of this year's gathering is "Empowering Our People," an opportune theme that comes as Civil Rights and Human Rights gains are dwindling away under a Trump administration and a relatively conservative United States Supreme Court.

It might not be as exciting as last year when Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who lost the in the general election to now president Donald Trump, was a special guest, but organizers say it should be thoroughly enjoyable.

The parade kicks off on Cleveland's largely Black east side at 10:30 am from East 149th Street and Kinsman Road and ends at Luke Easter Park where the picnic and festival will begin with political speeches and entertainment from various sources, including marching bands.

Vendors will be on hand also, as will political wannabe's in an election year for Cleveland mayor and all 17 up-for-grabs Cleveland City Council seats, which are among some elections for Cleveland judge seats and offices for mayor, city judge and others seats across Cuyahoga County.

The parade and festival were initiated 46 years ago by Democrat Louis Stokes, the late former congressman before Fudge and prior to the the late Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Fudge's predecessor and Stokes' successor.

A Civil Rights attorney and the older brother and only sibling of the late Carl B. Stokes, a former city judge, New York anchorman and the first Black mayor of the largely Black city of Cleveland and of a major American city,  Louis Stokes was the first Black congressperson from Ohio and Tubbs Jones, also a Democrat and former county prosecutor and prior common pleas judge,  was the first Black female congresswoman from Ohio.

Both Louis Stokes and Tubbs Jones will be remembered during a special ceremony at the Labor Day event on Monday, organizers said.

"It is important to carry on the tradition of Lou and Carl Stokes," said state Rep Bill Patmon, and a former city councilperson and mayoral candidate this year, among others, including incumbent mayor Frank Jackson, Councilmen Jeff Johnson and  Zack Reed, Tony Madalone, former East Cleveland mayor Eric Brewer, Dyrone Smith, Brandon Chrostowski, and Robert Kilo.

Patmon said that the legacies of the Stokes brothers are unmatchable, and that Jones and Fudge also have impeccable credentials, Fudge having led the Democratic National Convention in Philadephia last year, and like Louis Stokes, a former leader of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Rep. Fudge is also a former Warrensville Heights mayor and past national president of Delta Sigma Theta Inc., and one of two Blacks in congress from Ohio along with U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Columbus Democrat.

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