(Editor's Note: The press conference and rally have been changed to Thursday, May 9 at 5 pm at The Chateau Mansion in East Cleveland, 13124 Euclid Ave, Contact 216-659-0473 for more information. Women are asked to wear Black to the rally. The rally begins at 5 pm with a 5:30 pm press conference)
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com, Ohio's No 1 and No 2 online Black news venue
Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473
CLEVELAND, Ohio- In the wake of the release from captivity of Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight 32, alive and safe, from a residential home on Cleveland's west side on Monday after more that nine years missing, and the rape and murders earlier this year of Jazmine Trotter, 20, and Christine Malone, 43, on the city's east side , to the 11 Black women whose remains were uncovered in late 2009 at the Imperial Ave home of since convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell, community activists are speaking out. The Imperial Women, The Federation of Women, The Carl Stokes Brigade, Black on Black Crime Inc., The Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, Ohio Family Rights, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, The Oppressed People's Nation and other community activists groups will hold a press conference and support rally for women. The event is open to the public and will be held Thursday, May 9 at 5:00 pm at the Chateau Mansion in East Cleveland, 13124 Euclid Ave. Police are not invited, organizers said. For more information contact The Imperial Women at 216-659-0473.
The purpose of the gathering, organizers said, is to bring awareness to the abduction, rape and murders of women and children in Cleveland from the abductions of DeJesus, Berry and Knight, to the 11 Black women strangled and murdered by Sowell, who is now on death row, to the recent unsolved rape and murders of Trotter and Malone. Activists will also assess whether Cleveland police and other authorities have done as much as possible to protect women and children from abduction, rape and murder, and have complied with new city and police policies adopted in 2009 in conjunction with The Imperial Avenue Murders relative to missing persons reports and a host of other requirements. Those requirements are set forth in 27 recommendations issued by a 3-member commission appointed by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackso
Speakers or attendees for the May 8 meeting include family members of Christine Malone, who was found rapped and murdered in Cleveland earlier this year, Cleveland Attorney Edele Passalacquala, Cleveland Ward 6 Councilwoman Mamie Mitchell, Chateau Mansion Owner Betty Mahone of the Federation of Women, East Cleveland Senior Spokesman Charles E. Bibb Sr., Art McKoy of Black on Black Crime Inc., Denise Taylor of Black on Black Crime Inc. and The Cleveland Chapter of The New Black Panther Party, Kathy Wray Coleman of The Imperial Women, Don Bryant of The Greater Ceveland Immigrant Support Network, Frances Caldwell of The Cleveland African-American Museum and The Imperial Women, Al Porter of Black on Black Crime Inc., Mary Keith of Ohio Communities United, Amy Hurd, Dionne Thomas Carmichael, Donnie Pastard, Ada Averyhart (all four of the Carl Stokes Brigade), A Representative of The Cleveland Black Contractor's Group, Roz McAllister of Ohio Family Rights, The Imperial Women, and The National Organization for Parental Equality, Betty Simpson of The Imperial Women, Mary Seawright of the Imperial Women, Willie Stokes of The Imperial Women, Valerie Robinson of Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor and The Imperial Women, Dr. Stewart Robinson of Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor and The Imperial Women, Ernest Smith of The Oppressed People's Nation, and Community Activist Donna Walker Brown, who is also a candidate this year for Cleveland City Council in Ward 10.
Cleveland Urban News.Com
