, 
Pictured are Federal District Court Judge Solomon Oliver, Cleveland Ward 15 Councilman Matt Zone,and 12-year-old Tamir Rice, whom Cleveland police negligently gunned down in 2014
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog. Tel: 2160 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, Ohio-Judge Solomon Oliver Jr., a former chief judge and a seasoned and distinguished Black judge who sits on the federal bench of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland, is the keynote speaker for an open-to-the-public community program on Sept. 17 at the Jerry Sue Thornton Building on the campus of Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) in Cleveland, an event hosted by Cleveland Ward 15 Councilman Matt Zone that will recognize community partners associated with the Cleveland Community Police Commission, and outgoing members of the commission (For more information contact the Community Police Commission at (216) 505- 5920 or info@clecpc.org).
Oliver, 72, is a former president Bill Clinton appointee and has been on the federal bench since 1994.
Zone is chair of the safety committee for the 17-member Cleveland City Council and Oliver oversees the court-monitored consent decree for police reforms between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice, a consent decree reached following high profile Cleveland police killings of unarmed Blacks, including Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell, whom 13 non- Black Cleveland cops gunned down in 2012 while shooting 137 bullets, and the celebrated police killings in 2014 of Tanisha Anderson and 12-year-old Tamir Rice.
The 13-member Cleveland Police Commission, recommended by a panel and appointed by Mayor Frank Jackson, is mandated under the consent decree and includes members such as former lieutenant governor Lee Fisher, criminal defense attorney Gordon Friedman, Black Shield President Richard Jackson Sr., and Jeff Follmer, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association.
Jackson is the city's third Black mayor, and is currently serving a historic fourth term.
Led by Executive Director Jason Goddrick, the police commission's role, in part, is to provide input as to police reform measures and to help foster positive police-community relations.
Ten of the 13 commission members, who are volunteers and serve four-year terms, are completing their terms and 10 more will be appointed this year, the deadline for applications of which was Aug 30.
Applicants for the commission must either live or work in the city.
Judge Oliver was born in Bessemer, Alabama.
He received a bachelor of arts degree from College of Wooster in 1969 and a law degree from New York University School of Law in 1972.
He earned a master of arts from Case Western Reserve University in 1974.
From 1972 to 1975, he was an assistant professor at the College of Wooster then clerked for Judge William H. Hastie of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1975 to 1976.
Immediately following his clerkship, he worked as an assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, becoming the chief of the civil division in 1978, and in 1982, chief of the appellate division.
He left the Department of Justice to enter private practice in Wooster, Ohio from 1982 to 1994 and continued to serve as a special assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of Ohio from 1982 to 1985. During this time, he also served as a professor of law at the Cleveland State University Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
Judge Oliver has served with distinction on the federal bench for 25 years. (History on Judge Oliver by wikipedia.com)
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog, both also top in Black digital news in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Coleman is an experienced Black political reporter who covered the 2008 presidential election for the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio and the presidential elections in 2012 and 2016 As to the one-on-one interview by Coleman with Obama CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
