By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief,  Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online New Blog.Com, Ohio's No 1 and No 2 online Black newspapers (www.clevelandurbannews.com) Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Community activists protested  against Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and city council at E. 124th St and Superior Ave. in Cleveland Friday afternoon in response to a disproportionate abundance of  red light traffic ticket cameras on the predominantly Black east side of the majority Black major metropolitan city. They say it is  unconstitutional , particularly since more than 69 percent of the traffic tickets are issued to young Black people, and  that the cameras, as situated throughout the city, represent racial profiling and the arbitrary and capricious abuse of power against the Black community by Jackson, the City of Cleveland, and Cleveland City Council.

"We have to protest on this,'" said Community Activist Art McKoy, who leads Black on Black Crime Inc and who led the rally on Friday, one attended by various groups including the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, which is led by Community Activist Don Bryant.

Activists said that they will discuss the issue, among others, at 6 pm forum with Cleveland Mayoral Candidate Ken Lanci on Thursday, May 30, at Lil Africa in Cleveland, 6816 Superior Ave. For more information on the event contact Imperial Women at 216-659-0473.

Next to Boston Cleveland is the second most segregated city among major metropolitan cities nationwide. It is roughly 58 percent Black and is divided along racial lines by the Cuyahoga River with Blacks primarily residing on the east side and Whites dominating the west side of town.

Currently the cameras that snap alleged speeders are at 51 Cleveland intersections, 35 on the east side and 16 on the west side of the city. But Cleveland Jackson and a majority of the nine Blacks on the 18 member city council want more on the east side to stop crime, though opponents say it is really nothing but a spy technique and a cover up for police allegedly not doing their jobs.

Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell, who chairs city council's safety committee and has not spoken out against no Blacks on the mayor's law enforcement leadership team and numerous other crime-related issue including rapes and murders of Black women and the gunning down by police of unarmed Black people in droves, introduced new legislation to harass the Black community further for 26 more red light cameras on the east side and only 16 on the west side.

That proposed legislation is now a city ordinance or city law as 15 council members, enough for a majority, voted in agreement of it at a city council meeting last week.

Find below the intersections of the 42 more red light cameras that Cleveland City Council voted on last week to erect at intersections throughout the city, a city that CNN reports as having double the crime rate of other major American cities.

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 newspapers

Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473

Pictured above (with White shirt collar) is Cleveland Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell, who chairs Cleveland City Council's safety committee, and who introduced legislation for 42 more red light traffic ticket cameras that city council passed last week, most on the majority Black east side of the city. Conwell is also under fire for being quiet about no Blacks on Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's law enforcement leadership team, the rape and murders of Black women, and the gunning down of unarmed Blacks and others by Cleveland police.  Pictured next to Conwell and wearing a beard is Mayor Frank Jackson, who allegedly pushed Conwell to introduce the legislation for more traffic cameras in the city's Black community after some White west side council persons said no about an abundance of more cameras in their communities.

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Community activists protested against Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and city council at E. 124th St and Superior Ave. in Cleveland Friday afternoon in response to a disproportionate abundance of red light traffic ticket cameras on the predominantly Black east side of the majority Black major metropolitan city. They say it is  unconstitutional, particularly since more than 69 percent of the traffic tickets are issued to Black people, and that the cameras, as situated throughout the city, and more so in areas where Blacks reside, represent racial profiling and the arbitrary and capricious abuse of power against the Black community by Jackson, the City of Cleveland, and Cleveland City Council. (Editor's Note: Read more at the end of this article for the 42 locations where more traffic cameras will go up at street intersections in Cleveland as a result of legislation passed by Cleveland City Council last week).

While the Ohio Supreme Court has said that traffic cameras in Ohio are legal under the Ohio Constitution, no litigation has been pursued under the legal argument that when the cameras are disproportionately situated in the Black community it is an unconstitutional violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment since Black people are members of a protected class. Activists say that these kinds of questions can be addressed through federal lawsuits filed on behalf of impacted Blacks and their families by the NAACP and that the Cleveland Chapter NAACP should take on these kinds of cases regardless of any relationship it might have with the city's Black mayor. Mayor Jackson, though, also controls the city schools under state law, and the careers and purse strings of some very powerful people.

"We have to protest on this,'" said Community Activist Art McKoy, who leads Black on Black Crime Inc and who led the rally on Friday at the intersection where one of traffic cameras will soon go up, a protest attended by various groups including the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, which is led by Community Activist Don Bryant.

Activists said that they will discuss the issue, among others, at 6 pm forum with Cleveland Mayoral Candidate Ken Lanci on Thursday, May 30, at Lil Africa in Cleveland, 6816 Superior Ave. For more information on the event contact Imperial Women at 216-659-0473.

Next to Boston Cleveland is the second most segregated city among major metropolitan cities nationwide. It is roughly 58 percent Black and is divided along racial lines by the Cuyahoga River with Blacks primarily residing on the east side and Whites dominating the west side of town.

Currently the cameras that take snap shops of alleged speeders for tickets at $125 an episode are at 51 Cleveland intersections, 35 on the east side and 16 on the west side of the city. But Jackson and a majority of the nine Blacks on the 18 member city council want a disproportionate number of more cameras on the east side to stop crime they say, though opponents say it is really nothing but a way to get more money by spy techniques and that the cameras are a cover up for police allegedly not doing their jobs.

The west side council persons, all of whom are White, balked, so in order to meet the revenue criteria that the cameras will likely bring to the city coffers more cameras, which amounts to more money, were allegedly slated by Jackson, who is Black,  and Cleveland City Council President Martin Sweeney, who is White,  for the east side.

Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell, who chairs city council's safety committee and has not spoken out against no Blacks on the mayor's law enforcement leadership team, the  rapes and murders of Black women, and the gunning down by police of unarmed Black people in droves, introduced new legislation for the 42 new traffic cameras, 26 on the east side and only 16 on the west side. And this is addition to the 51 already in place that target the Black community.

That proposed legislation is now a city ordinance or city law as 15 council members, enough out of the 18 for a majority, passed  it at a city council meeting last week.

Read below to find the intersections of the 42 more traffic cameras that Cleveland City Council voted on last week to erect at intersections throughout the city, a city that CNN reports as having double the crime rate of other major American cities.

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 newspapers

Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Funeral services for Gloria Makeda Judkins Cade, 88, of East Cleveland, OH, who died on May 15  at the Fairfax Nursing Home in Cleveland after a long illness, will be held on Saturday, May 25 at Pernel Jones Funeral Home in Cleveland, 7120 Cedar Ave., with a wake at 9:00 am and the funeral at 9:30 am.

Speakers at the funeral services include Black women activists Cleveland Ward 6 Councilwoman Mamie Mitchell, Genevieve Mitchell of the Carl Stokes Brigade and Cleveland Chapter NAACP, and local journalist Kathy Wray Coleman of the Imperial Women.

Mrs. Cade was a respected wife, mother, educator, community activist, radio personality, business woman and advocate for women and the Black community .She was the recipient of many commendation awards, including a recent community service award from the Fairfax Business Association of Cleveland.

Until falling ill three years ago, she hosted a popular radio talk show on WERE1300 AM Radio Station in Cleveland titled “Black Women Talk,” a program offered after she spearheaded a successful fight for free public access to radio and television for the Black community in Cleveland and greater Cleveland on cable television and numerous radio stations, including WERE and WJMO 1490 AM. That fight for public media access for Blacks and others, also led by Community Activist Talbert Jennings, 92, of the grassroots groups the Carl Stokes Brigade, began with the Northcoast Cable television franchise, which is now Time Warner.

Since her absence from the media forum Blacks have lost the level of public access in radio and cable television in Cleveland and greater Cleveland that she tirelessly fought for.

05.15.13 - Ohio State Sen. Shirley A. Smith  (pictured) To Hold Workforce Re-Entry Training & Clinic (Her Columbus, Oh. Statehouse Telephone Number Is 216-466-4857)

Cleveland, Ohio – Today, Thursday, May 23, state Sen. Shirley A. Smith (D-21) will hold a full day of events from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM at the Wolstein Center (2000 Prospect Avenue Cleveland, OH 44115) on the campus of Cleveland State University related to workforce re-entry for ex-offenders. The event will feature workshops surrounding records expungement and the Certificate of Qualification for Employment (CQE), provisions of law that became effective with the passage of Senate Bill 337 last year.