"Brave Women Cleveland International Women's Day March"Join us for our International Women's Day march in Cleveland, March 8, 2026, 2-4pm Market Square Park-led by Women's March Cleveland. National Day of Action!!!
Speakers announced for Cleveland's March 8, 2026 International Women's Day March, 2-4pm, Market Square Park...By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader
CLEVELAND, OHIO- Speakers have been announced for the 10th Annual International Women's Day march in Cleveland, which is from 2-4pm at Market Square Park near downtown Cleveland, a sister march to a national day of action promoted by the National Women's March in Washington, D.C. The theme of the march is "Brave Women Free America Cleveland", and it will be led by Women's March Cleveland, which has organized the International Women's Day march in Cleveland since the first march in 2017.
Speakers include state Senator Nickie Antonio, who is also the minority leader of the Ohio Senate, Maple Heights Mayor Annette Blackwell, Cleveland Ward 8 Councilwoman Stephanie Howse Jones (all three pictured above),Ohio State School Board of Education Member Delores Gray Ford, Eugene Miller, Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chairman David Brock, activists Lee Thompson of Refuse Fascism and Don Bryant of Peace Action, and more...
Women's March National has since called for marches to include opposition to President Trump's war on Iran, citing the killing of Iranian school children and lack of authorization from Congress.
Organizers say that while women's rights are paramount, the major premise of Cleveland's march, and marches countrywide, is standing against the divisive, illegal, and unconstitutional policies of President Donald Trump and his administration. Also at issue, activists say, are attempts by Republican elected officials in Ohio to roll back a win on Issue 1, which Ohio voters approved at the ballot box in November 2023 in enshrining the right to access to abortion in the Ohio Constitution.
Activists to march in Cleveland on March 8, 2026 for International Women's Day, led by Women's March Cleveland...By Clevelandurbannews.com,Ohio's Black digital news leader
CLEVELAND, OHIO-Led by Women's March Cleveland, greater Cleveland activist women and their supporters will take to the streets in mass on Sun., March 8, 2026 to march on International Women's Day as part of a national day of action. It is the tenth year following Cleveland's first International Women's Day march in 2017. Women's March National has since called for marches to include opposition to President Trump's war on Iran, citing the killing of Iranian school children and lack of authorization from Congress.
The event will begin at Market Square Park near downtown Cleveland at 2pm with a rally and speeches, followed by a 30-minute march before marchers return to Market Square.
Organizers say that while women's rights are paramount, the major premise of Cleveland's march, and marches countrywide, is standing against the divisive, illegal, and unconstitutional policies of President Donald Trump and his administration. Also at issue, activists say, are attempts by Republican elected officials in Ohio to roll back a win on Issue 1, which Ohio voters approved at the ballot box in November 2023 in enshrining the right to access to abortion in the Ohio Constitution.
Event organizers for Cleveland's March 8, 2026 march are Women's March Cleveland head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, Alysa Cooper Moskey, Sierra Mason, and Alfred Porter Jr. of Black on Black Crime Inc. and the Black Man's Army.
"We will march this year on International Women's Day in Cleveland to address the many issues impacting women in Northeast Ohio and around the country, from ICE murders to violence against women, and the attack on SNAP benefits, reproductive rights, and civil rights," said Women's March Cleveland head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman. "
"This is a movement, not a moment," Coleman said."And community activists will continue to fight in the trenches as grassroots activists until justice prevails."
Stay tuned for more upcoming information on the aforementioned event, including event speakers.
Activists to march in Cleveland on March 8, 2026 for International Women's Day, led by Women's March Cleveland...By Clevelandurbannews.com,Ohio's Black digital news leader
CLEVELAND, OHIO-Led by Women's March Cleveland, greater Cleveland activist women and their supporters will take to the streets in mass on Sun., March 8, 2026 to march on International Women's Day as part of a national day of action. It is the tenth year following Cleveland's first International Women's Day march in 2017. Women's March National has since called for marches to include opposition to President Trump's war on Iran, citing the killing of Iranian school children and lack of authorization from Congress.
The event will begin at Market Square Park near downtown Cleveland at 2pm with a rally and speeches, followed by a 30-minute march before marchers return to Market Square.
Organizers say that while women's rights are paramount, the major premise of Cleveland's march, and marches countrywide, is standing against the divisive, illegal, and unconstitutional policies of President Donald Trump and his administration. Also at issue, activists say, are attempts by Republican elected officials in Ohio to roll back a win on Issue 1, which Ohio voters approved at the ballot box in November 2023 in enshrining the right to access to abortion in the Ohio Constitution.
Event organizers for Cleveland's March 8, 2026 march are Women's March Cleveland head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, Alysa Cooper Moskey, Sierra Mason, and Alfred Porter Jr. of Black on Black Crime Inc. and the Black Man's Army.
"We will march this year on International Women's Day in Cleveland to address the many issues impacting women in Northeast Ohio and around the country, from ICE murders to violence against women, and the attack on SNAP benefits, reproductive rights, and civil rights," said Women's March Cleveland head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman. "
"This is a movement, not a moment," Coleman said."And community activists will continue to fight in the trenches as grassroots activists until justice prevails."
Stay tuned for more upcoming information on the aforementioned event, including event speakers.
Ohio Congresswoman Emilia Sykes denounces President Trump for launching a military strike against Iran without congressional approval, says its unconstitutional and reckless, and Trump is acting like a dictator...By Clevelandurbannews.com
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ohio 13th Congressional District Congresswoman Emilia Sykes (OH-13), an Akron Democrat and one of three Black women in congress from Ohio, is denouncing President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu's collaborative military attack and war on Iran, Trump promising during his State of the Union address Tuesday night that the U.S. will do anything possible to stop what he says is Iran's nuclear weapons program.
Sykes says Trump is acting like a dictator and must get congressional approval to launch a war against Iran. Over 200 casualties have been reported thus far, coupled with hundreds of injuries to others.
"Once again, President Trump has launched illegal military strikes on a foreign country without congressional authorization. These attacks escalate tensions in the Middle East, put American service members at risk, and endanger civilians in Iran," said Rep. Sykes."The Iranian government is brutal and oppressive, and the Iranian people deserve safety and freedom. But military action without clear objectives or a legal mandate is reckless and unconstitutional."
Sykes went on to say that "at a time when American families are facing economic challenges at home, we should not be asked to bear the costs of another open‑ended conflict. Congress must be briefed immediately and assert its constitutional responsibility before this escalates further."
Below is more background on the Israeli and U.S. military strike on Iran on Feb. 28, 2026.
IRAN'S LEADERS TARGETED: Israel targeted Iranian political and military leaders, two U.S. officials told NBC News, while the U.S. aimed to take out Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs. Trump announced on his Truth Social website that Iranian President Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among those killed.
TRUMP URGES REGIME CHANGE: Trump urged Iranians to “take over your government” when the strikes are over. “The hour of your freedom is at hand,” he said.
DEATH TOLL: The Iranian Red Crescent said that more than 200 people have been killed and roughly 700 others have been injured following the attacks.
IRAN RETALIATION: Iran responded by firing missiles at Israel as well as at U.S. bases across the region in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, sending ripples across the Middle East.
Kathy Wray Coleman is a longtime Cleveland journalist, blogger, and digital and investigative reporter, and a seasoned community activist and community organizer.
Feb 2026: A Black History Moment From ClevelandUrbanNews.Com: Barack Obama is the first Black President, and Michelle Obama the country's first Black first lady..Kamala Harris is the first Black vice president of America...
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher. Coleman is a Black Cleveland activist, community organizer and digital and social media journalist who trained at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio for 17 years. Tel: (216) 659-0473 Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher. Coleman is a Black Cleveland activist, community organizer and digital and social media journalist who trained at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio, for 17 years. Tel: (216) 659-0473 Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio- February 2026 is Black History Month, so let's talk a little bit about Black history. Do we really know the true history of the plight of African Americans and their African ancestors?
We know without reservation that former president Barack Obama is the first Black president of the United States of America, and Michelle Obama is the first Black first lady. And we know that Former Vice President Kamala Harris is the first Black vice president in the U.S., Lloyd Austin is the nation's first Black secretary of defense and Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Biden appointee, is the first Black female U.S. Supreme Court justice.
Closer to home, we recognize and remember some of the true greats that have touched the lives of Clevelanders. They include the late Carl B. Stokes, the first Black mayor of a major American city, whom Cleveland voters elected in 1967. Stokes later held the post under former president Bill Clinton of U.S. Ambassador to Seychelles and was a Cleveland Municipal Court judge. His older brother, the late Louis Stokes, was the first Black congressman from Ohio and led the 11th congressional district until his retirement in 1998.
The late Stephanie Tubbs Jones, of Cleveland, was the first Black Cuyahoga County prosecutor. She followed Stokes to Congress and was the first Black woman in Congress from Ohio.
But how much do we really know about Black history, particularly since eurocentric-curricula dominate teaching in elementary and secondary schools across the country, and in our institutions of higher learning?
History reveals that Black people were enslaved initially by Black people in Africa and then sold to be brought to America for further slavery to work our fields and to perform other subservient measures. But remember that it was White men who brought our ancestors to America in chains.
The aftermath of those chains still plagues the Black community in various ways, including through high unemployment, disproportionate incarcerations of Black men and women, and underfunded public school districts that serve the majority Black and poor children, among other systemic problems.
Blacks have long contributed to the greatness of America.
The first Black person killed in a major American war was a Black man named Crispus Attucks, who died in the Revolutionary War. Hundreds of Black soldiers were among the casualties at Bunker Hill.
Blacks were at one time, if not even now in some situations, counted as 3/5 of a person. And while the slavery of Blacks is not mentioned in the Constitution, it is implicated under the Fourth Amendment, which demands equal protection under the law for members of a protected class like Black people and women.
President Abraham Lincoln’s executive order of the Emancipation Proclamation did not start the American Civil War, but it helped to end it. President Lincoln was a Republican, as was Civil Rights activist and historian Frederick Douglas.
Jim Crow laws kept Blacks traditionally enslaved, and the Ku Klux Klan was started in part because racist Whites wanted to keep former slaves in line and were angry that slavery had ended in the official sense. The Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s served to stop the Jim Crow laws. King gave his life to better America, and the national holiday named in his honor, a holiday celebrated on the third Monday in January of each year, is well deserved.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson, with some saying he did so solely under threat of an override veto. Still, Johnson pushed the federal act through Congress, with help from Dr. King, and a host of others, including Civil Rights advocates and protesters, who were routinely beaten by police and brutally murdered.
What will children in our schools be taught this month about Black history? Will it be that Michael Jackson was a great man? How do we define greatness? Do we forgive flaws? Yes we can. Pop singer Michael Jackson knew his craft and was truly a great musician, loved worldwide.
Legendary singer Nat King Cole, boxing legend Muhammad Ali, poet Maya Angelou, Malcolm X, pop icon Michael Jackson, and the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr. are also among Black notables, as are the following:
-Native Clevelander Garrett A. Morgan invented the traffic light and gas mask
-George Crum was the inventor of the potato chip
-Frederick McKinley Jones invented the refrigeration unit for trucks
-Dr. Patricia Bath invented laser eye surgery for cataract removal
-Thomas L. Jennings invented dry-cleaning products
-Hiram Revels (R-MS) was the first Black in Congress as a U.S. senator
President Trump delivers 2026 State of the Union...Brags that he got rid of DEI as some Dems boycott speech and call him out for calling the Obamas' apes....By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher
WASHINGTON, D.C.- President Donald Trump addressed a joint and sometimes hostile chamber of Congress Tuesday night, delivering his first State of the Union since taking office in January of 2025 for a second non-consecutive term.
The president's speech came on the heels of a stinging U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down many of his actions on tariffs and sent him reeling against the Justices who decided against him, whom he has since branded "dumb and stupid."
The Republican president, whose disapproval rating on the economy is at 57%, according to some polls, appeared relaxed at 79 years old and opened his hour and 48 min. speech by saying America is back as Republican lawmakers chanted "USA," "USA."
Fewer people were there, and the response was starkly different from his address to a joint chamber of Congress in January of 2025, when angry Democrats began chanting and shouting, prompting House Speaker Mike Johnson to direct the Sgt. at Arms to "restore order." And some Democrats were escorted out of the chamber, while a few walked out in disgust.
This year, Democrats, a great many of them, boycotted the event in unison, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is the first Black in that role. Those who were there looked uncomfortable, some getting into a shouting match with the president at times, with Trump at one point saying the Democrats are no good and "crazy."
Rep. Al Green roamed the chamber with a protest sign that read "Black people are not apes," referencing Trump's previous controversial comment that Barack and Michelle Obama, who are Black, are apes, a comment deemed racist that went viral and upset the Dems.
Trump bragged about himself for most of his speech, and he took aim at the nation's most vulnerable, saying he and his fellow Republicans had properly targeted DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion)
"We ended DEI in America," the president said, adding that he had stopped Food Stamps, too, though the latter is simply not true.
He spent too much time, pundits said, on complimenting himself and others he had invited to attend, rather than focusing on any true and effective policy changes. While he recognized a range of people there, from the U.S. Men's Hockey Team for a gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics, to civilians and military personnel, none of those recognized were Black, possibly by design, critics said.
Some of the president's speech, which was boring at times, was laced with lies, pundits said afterwards, including what he said he would do in the future to improve America. It was disingenuous, they said, for Trump to take credit for improvements in some of the nation's cities that were done by local mayors, many of them Democrats and Black.
Other issues addressed by the president during his State of the Union on Tuesday night include:
New Tax Cuts: Called for additional personal and corporate tax cuts, likely through the budget reconciliation process.
Rate-Payer Protection Plan: Proposed that AI and tech companies pay higher electricity costs to prevent price spikes for residential customers living near large data centers.
Cost of Living: Highlighted efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs and touted the benefits of the "no tax on tips" policy.
Tariffs: Addressed the recent Supreme Court ruling that struck down some of his previous sweeping tariffs.
Mass Deportations:Touted the progress of his administration's "largest domestic deportation operation," but avoided the fallout in Minneapolis, where ICE gunned down the unarmed mother of three, Renee Goode.
Border Security: Highlighted what he says is a significant drop in illegal border crossings over the past year.
Crime: Discussed falling murder rates and overall efforts to reduce crime and drug overdoses.
Foreign Policy
Iran: Discussed potential military action or deals as the U.S. weighs strikes against the country's nuclear program.
Global Wins: Claimed success in brokering a ceasefire in Gaza, capturing Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, and increasing NATO defense spending.
China & Taiwan: Vowed to continue the "America First" stance on trade and technology competition.
Kathy Wray Coleman is a longtime Cleveland journalist, blogger, and digital and investigative reporter, and a seasoned community activist and community organizer.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com
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