Event keynote speakers are state Rep. Stephanie Howse of Cleveland, whose speech will include a discussion on the dangers of "Stand Your Ground" legislation in Ohio and elsewhere to Black women and Black people, activist Genevieve Mitchell of Cleveland, and Cleveland Ward 14 Councilwoman Jasmin Santana.
Four of the publicly announced candidates for the 11th Congressional District congressional seat soon to be vacated by future HUD secretary Rep Marcia L Fudge, who has been nominated for the post by President-elect Joe Biden, will speak, namely County Councilwoman Shontel Brown, former state Rep John Barnes Jr. former state senator Nina Turner, and Lavern Jones Gore.
Brown, Barnes Jr, and Turner, a co-chair of Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign and a Sanders surrogate, are Democrats, and Jones Gore is a Republican.
Brown is also chair of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, the first woman to hold the post.
Organizers said they welcome and array of participants because women are the strongest voting bloc in the country.
"We welcome women and their supporters to the 5th annual Women's March Cleveland rally and march as this is a new era for women as we continue the fight against violence against women and for women's rights and civil and human rights, particularly for Black women of Cleveland, women of color, single mothers, and poor women," said Women's March Cleveland head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, a Black Cleveland activist and community organizer. "We do not intend to be subordinated relative to public policy measures that discriminate against women and this upcoming anniversary march is a coming together of women of greater Cleveland across racial, ethic, partisan, religious and socioeconomic lines during a pandemic and during a time of unprecedented political, racial and economic strife in this country."
State Rep Juanita Brent of Cleveland and state Sen Nickie Antonio of Lakewood, who have stood with greater Cleveland women and supported each and every women's march since the first march in 2017, will speak and give a history of the women's march in Cleveland since 2017 and legislative policies impacting Ohio women.
Other speakers include area clergy, educators Dr. Robin Simmons and Dr. Mary Rice of the Metro Cleveland Alliance of Black School Educators, who is also an East Cleveland School Board member, Dr. Bennanaye Brooks of the League of Women Voters Greater Cleveland Chapter, and community activists Delores Gray of the Brickhouse Wellness Empowerment Center, Lee Thompson of Refusefacism. org, Don Bryant of the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network and Peace Action, and Alfred Porter Jr. of Black on Black Crime. The MC for the event is Elaine Gohlstin of the Black Women's PAC of greater Cleveland. Cornavirus safety precautions are required, including face-masks and social distancing, organizers said.
On Jan 21, 2017, days after President Trump's inauguration, hundreds of thousands of women in Cleveland and across the country, led by the national women's march out of Washington D.C., took to the streets for the first women's march to march against President Trump's racist and anti-female rhetoric during the 2016 presidential campaign and to fight for women's rights in general, the largest single day protest in American history.
Women's March Cleveland has been consistent in hosting an anniversary women's march each January since the first women's march in January of 2017 where 15,000 women across Northeast Ohio took to the streets of downtown Cleveland to march.
Organizers this year say that the consensus is to go forward with the event so women can be heard and that Cleveland women who have been fighting since 2017 for a shakeup in Washington, D.C. and have won on that issue with a new president and vice president whose policies are more aligned with their goals.
"This march is needed and will be helpful to women and the community on getting the message out on women's issues," said Elaine Gohlstin, the mistress of ceremonies for the event and president of the Black Women's PAC of greater Cleveland.
A few of the speakers for Cleveland's Jan 23 anniversary march will speak at the end of the march, said organizers, and after the women and their supporters march across the Carnegie Bridge from the west side to the east side following the 1 pm Market Square rally.
Speeches will be limited to up to three minutes for each speaker, except for the keynote speakers, who will speak four minutes each, organizers said.
Coronavirus safety precautions are required , including face masks and social distancing.
Women will also salute the election of Kamala Harris as the country's first Black and first female vice president at the event and will denounce the failure by the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute the two White Cleveland cops involved in the deadly shooting of 12-year-of Tamir Rice in 2014.
Other event issues include public education, reproductive rights, immigration and legal system reform, Blacks lives, equal pay, climate change, the Violence Against Women's Act, and voting rights.
Additional matters will include opposition to pro-"Stand Your Ground" legislation in Ohio and elsewhere, racism, sexism, homophobia, excessive force against Black women, and disparities relative to Black and Latino women, and women in general as to the coronavirus pandemic.
Organizers said they will also push for more women to be represented in the science and technology fields at the upcoming rally and march.
Cleveland is a largely Black city of some 385,000 people that sits in the 29 percent Cuyahoga County, the second largest of Ohio's 88 counties and a Democratic stronghold
