CLEVELAND, Ohio-The Carl Stokes Brigade will hold its 16th Annual Grave Site Commemoration services for the late Carl B. Stokes (pictured), the first Black mayor of a major metropolitan city, on Sun. April 22 from 3:00-5:00 pm at  Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland, 12316 Euclid Ave.

The event is free and open to the public, and the contact for the ceremony is Marva Patterson at 216-334-7013.

Led by David Patterson with other long term affiliates such as former Brigade president and prior Cleveland School Board Member Genevieve Mitchell, Bert Jennings, Donnie Pastard, Terri Tolefree, George Edwards and opera singer Clarence Marshall, the Brigade is a grassroots entity that says its mission is to fight for the little people of Cuyahoga County and elsewhere, and for changes in public policy for the betterment of the greater Cleveland community.

Grassroots spokesperson Judy Martin has announced two community rallies on tomorrow, Sat April 21.

For more information contact Martin at 216-990-0679

The first rally and march is sponsored by the Oppressed People's Nation, Black on Black Crime and the East Cleveland Police Department under the theme of stop the violence and begins at East Cleveland City Hall, 14340 Euclid Ave., at 11:00 am. It will end at Shaw High School with a performance by the Shaw High School Marching Band.

The second rally is for missing Cleveland west side teen Amanda Berry (pictured) and will be held  at the corner of 110th St and Lorain Ave in Cleveland. It is sponsored by Berry's family,  Survivors/Victims of Tragedy  in cooperation with a host of other grassroots factions concerned about missing children across the city regardless of race, ethnicity or gender.

(Editor's note: Read in the below article the names of the 13 Obama delegates to the Democratic National Convention from Ohio's 11th Congressional District, an article also with comments from President Barack Obama,  Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson Press Secretary Andrea Taylor, State Sen. Nina Turner, State Rep. John Barnes Jr., Cuyahoga County Councilman Julian Rogers, Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Vice Chairperson Blaine Griffin, Community Organizer Larry Bresler, and Meredith Turner, a regional representative from the office of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown).

CLEVELAND, Ohio-The 13 delegates for Obama to this year's Democratic National Convention from Ohio's predominantly Black 11th Congressional District, which is led by Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D-11), are majority female and all Black, and they will add more color and diversity to Ohio's majority White and largely male convention delegation of its now 18 congressional districts. And the president was in town on Wed., landing  by plane in Cleveland at its international airport to holler at Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and other supporters before heading to an afternoon speech at Lorain County Community College.

CLEVELAND, Ohio- U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge and the Cleveland Chapter of the NAACP announced a call for the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Sandford, FL. police department and its chief of police surrounding the murder of slain teenager Travon Martin and the failure of law enforcement authorities to initially charge volunteer neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman at a rally and remembrance program for Martin held Sun afternoon at Second New Hope Baptist Church in Cleveland that drew over 500 people.