Pictured is convicted serial killer Anthony SowellCLEVELAND, Ohio- The families of the 11 Black women murdered on Imperial Avenue by convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell basically stayed away from a phony groundbreaking ceremony for a memorial held on Wednesday by the Mount Pleasant Ministerial Alliance, a group of Black male Mount Pleasant preachers. And community activists and victims of crimes family members picketed the event, calling it a diversion to take away from the fact that poor Black women are getting raped and murdered in Cleveland in large numbers and nothing significant is being done. (Editor's note: Wednesday marked the fifth anniversary of the day on October 29, 2009 that the remains of what would ultimately become 11 women were removed from Sowell's home on Imperial Avenue on Cleveland's largely Black east side. Sowell murdered six of the 11 women after Cleveland police had arrested him in 2008 on a rape complaint and released him anyway, and after going to his home and, according to a CNN news story, smelling death and seeing blood)
Pushed by police and the predominately White mainstream media, particularly Cleveland Channel 5 news television station, the gathering, an October flower memorial on the site of Sowell's since demolished home, drew about 75 people and only three of the Imperial Avenue families. It was led by the Rev Jimmy Gates, a convicted felon who went to prison for stealing money as a city employee and then found God when he was released.
Gates and the Rev Eugene Ward, a convicted wife beater, had threatened activists women saying initially that they could not sat foot at the scene. Some activists did show up to the ceremony but were told they could not speak.
Channel 5 had told activists before the event that they were not going to cover any rally on violence against women and ran a story lying and saying the preachers had raised some $35,000 for a $200,000 memorial. This is though only some $2,000 has been raised to date, sources say, coupled with some city council members saying that they would give some public funds to the endeavor continent upon the inevitable $200,000 goal being reached.
Some activists said that they support a reasonably priced memorial but not in the manner in which the Black preachers, none of whom were in the trenches over the past five years over the murders, are pursuing the initiative, which activists said could very easily result in kickbacks.
One city council member, speaking on condition anonymity, told Cleveland Urban News.Com that a memorial is unlikely and that the city funds at issue need to be used for rape kits, foreclosures, to fix up neighborhoods, and to feed poor people waiting for their next meal.
"It was dog and pony show to cover up the fact that the city is unfair and violence against women is being ignored," said Laura Cowan of today's event.
Cowan is a domestic violence survivor and founder of the Laura Cowan Foundation.
Imperial Women Coalition Leader Kathy Wray Coleman led the rally, which also included activists leaders such as Bill Swain of Revolution Books, Don Bryant of the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, the Rev Pamela Pinkney-Butts, Dr Stewart and Valerie Robinson of Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, and Cowan.
The family members of murder victim Christine Malone, killed in 2013 with her killer at large, were there too, among others.
Fourth District Police Commander Deon McCaulley, who is Black, harassed the activists, threatening arrests and said that they could not march on the sidewalk near the event or use a bull horn because the preachers were using microphones.
Before the rally community activist Art McKoy had allegedly harassed some of the activists women and had allegedly asked his police friends to arrest Coleman if she appeared at the rally.
"Commander McCaulley violated our constitutional right under the First Amendment to peacefully assemble free from harassment and intimidation and we are looking now at our legal options," said Coleman."We call for his immediate resignation because the real issue is to protect police negligence around the Imperial Avenue Murders and otherwise and to cover up the fact that poor Black women are getting murdered in large numbers in Cleveland and city officials are doing nothing about the ongoing problem."
A former marine who served 15 years in prison for attempted rape before the serial murders, Sowell, 55, was convicted in 2011 by a Cuyahoga County jury of 82 of 83 counts, including multiple counts of aggravated murder of the 11 women that he murdered at his since demolished home on Imperial Ave in Cleveland, Ohio, and the rape of three other Black women. The coward of a serial killer begged for his life before he was sentenced to death by county judge Dick Ambrose. He sits on death row while his convictions are on appeal before the Ohio Supreme Court and his appellate lawyers are seeking either a new trial or that his convictions are overturned.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com), by phone at 216-659-0493 and by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com
