Pictured are Ohio 13th Congressional District Congresswoman Emilia Sykes of Akron,  Akron police shooting victim Jayland Walker, and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland

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Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

Staff article

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Ohio 13th Congressional District Congresswoman Emilia Sykes, an Akron Democrat and one of three Black women in the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio, has officially requested a Department of Justice investigation into the patterns and practices of the Akron Police Department. The request from the federal lawmaker comes hardly a week after a Summit County grand jury refused to indict eight Akron cops who gunned down 25-year old Jayland Walker shooting 94 bullets as he ran away from police on foot.

“I write today on behalf of the people of Ohio’s 13th congressional district urging the United States Department of Justice to investigate the death of Mr. Jayland Walker, a young Black man killed by eight officers employed by the Akron Police Department on June 27, 2022," wrote Rep. Sykes in a letter on Monday to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The letter goes on to say that "I request that the Department of Justice (DOJ) use its authority pursuant to 34 U.S.C. § 12601 (formerly codified at 42 U.S.C. § 14141) to initiate an investigation into the patterns and practices of the Akron Police Department (APD) in order to enhance public safety and the community’s trust in our sworn officers.”

A trained attorney herself and former minority leader of the Ohio House of Representatives who won a seat in Congress via the midterm elections, Sykes, 37, is the youngest of Ohio's five-member Democratic Congressional Delegation, which also includes U.S. Reps. Joyce Beatty of Columbus, Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, and Shontel Brown of Warrensville Hts., and U.S. Sen Sherrod Brown of Cleveland But she is no less assertive and said also in her letter to Garland that he needs to step in to make sure that what happened to Jayland Walker does not happen to others.

"I am confident you share our ultimate objective of ensuring that the citizens of our nation have confidence in their law enforcement agencies and that you will facilitate solutions-based tools and practices necessary to keep law enforcement safe and accountable and protect our communities so that we never have to be in this situation again," the congresswoman's letter reads.

Sykes told the attorney general in her letter that the office of the DOJ  has investigated numerous police departments across the country and that "the gravity of recent events regarding Jayland Walker has shown it is past time for an independent third party to facilitate a discussion to help mediate disputes and place the community on a path to reconciliation and healing.”

A largely White, majority female county grand jury issued what is called a no bill last Monday after determining that the shooting death was justified and that an indictment on criminal charges was not warranted.The tragic killing by police of the young Black man from Akron who had no criminal record has drawn national attention to the city of roughly 200,000 residents that is some 30 miles southeast of Cleveland and the hometown of NBA megastar and Los Angeles Laker LeBron James.

The police shooting incident in question occurred following a car and foot chase and traffic stop in June of 2022. No gun was found on Walker's person but police say they later found a gun in his car, and that he allegedly shot at them before jumping out of the car and taking off on foot.

Rep Sykes gave an emotional presentation at a press conference held last week by the Walker family and their attorneys, and community leaders and activists. She called for calm and branded the grand jury decision unjust and routine for Black America. And she questioned how Walker could be gunned down execution style while running away from the police and without any weapon and not one of the involved cops is criminally prosecuted.

"We've seen this time and time again and now it's in our community of Akron," the congresswoman said at last week's televised press conference.

Though controversial, last week's grand jury decision has not caused the racial unrest that followed Walker's shooting death last summer. Akron Public Schools, however, were closed the day after the county grand jury chose not to indict police and so were classes at University of Akron. Also, six people were arrested in a protest after the grand jury decision, the first of several protests held in Akron by activists, who also convinced a judge to issue a temporary order precluding lethal force after they sued for being tear gassed and pepper sprayed for picketing.

Here's what police and city officials say led up to the police shooting death of Jayland Walker, much of it at odds with what attorneys for the Walker family say allegedly happened

According to the Akron Police Department, at about 12:30 a.m. on June 27, police in Akron attempted to stop Walker for an unspecified traffic violation. Walker did not stop and a chase ensued. The pursuing officers say gunfire came from the vehicle less than a minute into the chase. After several minutes, Walker exited the highway and the chase continued along city streets.

Eventually, Walker's car slowed down, and while the car was still moving, Walker exited from the passenger's side, wearing a ski mask, and ran towards a nearby parking lot. Officers chased Walker and attempted to stop him with a stun gun but were not successful. After about ten seconds of chasing Walker, eight police officers opened fire for six or seven seconds, shooting approximately 94 rounds. Police said that it appeared Walker was turning towards them, and they believed he was armed and "moving into a firing position, a claim the Walker family attorneys dispute.

Following the shooting, Walker was put in handcuffs by police and was found with his hands cuffed behind his back when EMTs arrived on the scene. According to police, officers attempted to administer first aid to Walker after he was shot Walker was pronounced dead at the scene. Police claim that a wedding band was found in Walker's car and that Walker may have been acting erratically because he had just lost his fiance in an unrelated car accident Community activists and the Walker family attorneys dispute such assertions and contend that they are nothing but a cover up for a police shooting gone wrong, and that the entire scenario is indicative of a lack of police training and excessive force.

The medical examiner observed 60 wounds on Walker's body, with some uncertainty based on entrance and exit wounds.No firearm was found on Walker's body.The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Walker's death a homicide.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com the most read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

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Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

Staff article

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday blocked in full a decision by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk out of Amarillo, Texas issued on April 7 that had invalidated the Food and Drug Administration’s longtime approval of mifepristone, the nation's most widely used abortion pill  It was a win for abortion proponents and women and means women can still obtain mifepristone by mail, use it at home, and use it up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy as litigation ensues in the lower court. The generic version of the drug, made by GenBioPro, will also continue to be available pursuant to the court ruling.

"We won for now," said Women's March Cleveland head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman. "And it has certainly been a fight and will continue to be a fight until abortion is legal for all women across this land."

Two of the nine justices — conservatives Clarence Thomas, the court's only Black justice, and Samuel Alito — said they would have let part of Kacsmaryk's ruling take effect.

Kacsmaryk's  trial court ruling was appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, and the justices agreed to step in after that federal appeals court, via a divided three-judge panel, put the lower court ruling on hold but kept in place several provisions of the judge's order, including restrictions on distributing the pill to patients by mail, which was a major sticking point for abortion supporters.

What Friday's ruling also means in a legal sense is that pharmacies like Walgreens that would not sell the pill for fear of litigation can do so more comfortably, at least for now.  Women's advocates and community activists were already taking to the streets to fight for the survival of the abortion pill.

Led by Women's March Cleveland, protesters shut down traffic for about an hour on Chester Avenue at East 101st Street on Cleveland's east side near Walgreens on Saturday, April 15, 2023 as part of a national demonstration in cities across the country called by Women's March National to advocate for abortion rights and to call out Walgreens for refusing to sell the abortion pill. Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell and state Rep Juanita Brent, also vice chair of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, joined the protesters as did workers seeking signatures over the weekend for a potential abortion ballot initiative in Ohio. Cleveland Channel 3 News of WKYC and the Call and Post Newspaper were among the media that covered the event.

Other groups assisting with the rally include RiseUp4Abortion Rights Cleveland.

At first some motorists broke through the protest line on the busy Chester Avenue as protesters chanted "No justice, no peace," My body, my choice," and a host of other chants but ultimately drivers took another street route and Cleveland police later stepped up to guide them in another direction.

Cleveland's sister rally was from noon-2 pm at 10001 Chester Avenue at Walgreens pharmacy by design because Walgreens is under fire for refusing to sell the abortion pill in Ohio and some 19 other states where GOP officials have threatened litigation. Community activists said they were rallying for reproductive rights and against  While a Washington State federal judge subsequently issued a counter ruling in support of the abortion pill, women's rights advocates say that they took to the streets last weekend to fight for reproductive and Civil Rights for women and to try to stem the tide of attacks on women's reproductive rights.

The two countering abortion pill rulings come on the heels last summer of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade and relegate the authority to either restrict or outright outlaw abortion to the country's respective state legislatures, most of them Republican- dominated general assemblies.

Activist women, particularly of greater Cleveland, and Cleveland, a largely Black major American city, say that fascist judges like Kacsmaryk should keep their hands off abortion medication mIifepriston and other FDA approved reproductive medications. To date more than 14 states have criminalized abortion, including Ohio. Per its state legislature it has a six-week abortion ban that is on hold after a court ruling that is being challenged by state attorney general Dave Yost, a Republican.

Women's March Cleveland organizers say that absent major public outcry such a decision in Texas would likely be upheld by the same conservative-leaning Supreme Court that overturned Roe v Wade and that given that medication abortions make up more than half of all abortions in the country such a ban would be catastrophic. To the contrary, pro-life supporters say their cause is viable too. Nonetheless, it is clear that the fight for abortion access in America is ongoing, and contentious at best.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio- Newcomer Justin Bibb (pictured), a former Barack Obama intern and progressive who won the Cleveland nonpartisan runoff election for mayor in November of 2021 over then Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley to become the city's fourth Black mayor and its second youngest behind former mayor Dennis Kucinich, gave his second State of the City address on Wednesday evening from a podium in the auditorium at East Technical High School, a forum hosted by the City Club that drew hundreds.

The issues the 35-year-old Black mayor addressed ranged from the pandemic to the costly renovation of the West Side Market, public and student safety, lead poisoning, economic growth, and the selection process for the next Cleveland schools CEO to replace outgoing CEO Eric Gordon. He praised Gordon for his 11 years of service as CEO as the Cleveland schools will welcome a new CEO in coming weeks under the leadership of the mayor, who controls the city schools and appoints school board members per state law.

The mayor much anticipated address focused on safety, education and educational policy and was a bit different from his first State of the City Address where he took a ceremonial oath of office during an invited-guests-only inauguration ceremony held  at the Public Hall Auditorium and prominent dignitaries were on hand to support him like  11th Congressional District Congresswoman Shontel Brown But his speech had similarities to last year's  address.

“We can achieve a safer, more equitable, healthier Cleveland,” the mayor said last year relative to his first state of the city address. “We can be the Cleveland that young people move back to because there are good jobs, safe streets, good schools, quality grocery stores, good healthcare. We don’t just have to dream about Cleveland, we can and will work toward that goal every minute of every single day.”

On Wednesday during his speech the mayor again said that safety remains paramount and a major goal of his administration.

“To become a safer city, we must invest in violence prevention and reduction and address the root cause of violence,” he said, adding that even with a shortage of some 200 police officers safer streets are a priority as is  “data-driven policing” that can be effectively achieved only when all stakeholders are at the table

He highlighted a $10 million investment into a violence prevention endowment fund that came about via American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) monies and said that Cleveland cannot progress until crime is substantially lowered and people feel safe in their school communities and students are safe in school and when they are coming going to school And the mayor said he will continue to support the business community, including a multi-million dollar project to revitalize the West Side Market that has some city council members griping that the price tag is too high.

As to the pandemic, the mayor said that Cleveland will regroup and recoup, and he discussed the impact that COVID-19 has had on students and their mental health. he also said that education will remain a key focus throughout his tenure as mayor

In spite of never holding office before, Bibb, a Democrat, was the top vote-getter in a seven-way primary in 2021  He ran on the political platform of decreasing crime and reforming the city's troubled police department. Armed with endorsements from key people like former mayors Michael R. White and Jane Campbell, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, he went on to win the Cleveland nonpartisan prinary election over then council president Kevin Kelley, a former White west side councilman and now common pleas judge who placed second

With the wisdom of campaign manager Ryan Puente, the former executive director of the Cuyahoga County Democratic party who is now the mayor's chief of governmental affairs, Bibb won the November general election with a whopping 63 percent of the vote compared to Kelley's 37 percent, even though Kelley had been endorsed by Bibb's predecessor, four term former mayor Jackson and a handful of other city council persons, including Black councilpersons Blaine Griffin, who is now the city council president, Kevin Bishop and Kevin Conwell. It was an upset of large magnitudes, and a mandate by voters, Black voters in particular.

The son of a social worker and Cleveland cop who grew up in Cleveland's Mt Pleasant neighborhood, Mayor Bibb is a former banker who holds a law degree from Case Western Reserve University. He interned for Barack Obama when Obama, who later became president, was a junior U.S. senator.

He ran a cleverly crafted grassroots campaign with the support of young progressives across racial lines who embraced his ideas and political stances.  He knocked on doors and met with small community groups across the city long before the primary election got underway, and it paid off in the end as it catapulted him to victory, and to City Hall.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL

Warren Morgan, who is Black, and Ricardo “Rocky” Torres, a Hispanic man, will be interviewed for the top position in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District on April 24 and 25 by Mayor Justin M. Bibb and by eight community panels that will include teachers, staff, parents, students, community partners and union and district leadership. Both of the finalists slated to be interviewed next week for the CEO position are credentialed.

A former CMSD administrator and student services assistant superintendent for Seattle Public Schools, Torres holds a Ph.D. in urban education from Cleveland State University. Also a former Cleveland schools administrator, Morgan, who is currently the chief academic officer for Indianapolis Public Schools and a former White House fellow under presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, has an E.d D. from the University of Illinois-Chicago

Whether the selection process for the schools CEO is legal in terms of  the mayor and eight panels usurping the role of a duly appointed board of education to help it choose the finalist remains to be seen.

While it sounds community oriented, it has legal implications, and people are now questioning how such panels came about, and why it was necessary to usurp the authority of the board of education, a nine-member largely White school board that consists of some suburbanites and corporate-types and is led by board president Anne E. Bingham, a  White woman who is vice president of First Federal Bank Lakewood. Others say that Bibb, 35 and Cleveland's fourth Black mayor, is a progressive mayor who has latitude under state law to craft his own rules for the selection of a CEO, within reason. They say  that it is time for a change, no matter how it comes about, a change that includes White folks no longer running a largely Black public school district in a majority Black major American city while Blacks are simultaneously subordinated.

Under Bibb's predecessor, former mayor Frank Jackson, the city's third Black mayor and its longest serving mayor, the school district's central office administrators have become increasingly White over the years, particularly during Jackson's last two terms.  In fact,  a former elected Cleveland school board member referred to central office employees and administrators in the district as "nearly lily White and collectively un-certified and unqualified to be over Black children."

Cleveland schools are under mayoral control per a state law that took effect in 1998 when Mike White, the city's second Black mayor, was mayor and the school district and the state of Ohio were released from the longstanding Cleveland schools desegregation case, a case officially titled Reed v Rhodes. Such law, which was sponsored by Republican state lawmakers, eliminated an elected school board and gave the city mayor the power to appoint school board members. Cleveland voters, via a ballot referendum, later sanctioned the mayoral control law (House Bill 269)  at the ballot box following a cleverly crafted referendum campaign pushed by district officials  and then mayor Jane Campbell, the city's first female mayor, and a White woman. Campbell lost reelection to the popular Jackson, then a city council president embraced by Black leaders and Black  clergy, and obviously Black voters who helped to keep him in office for four terms until he chose to retire in 2021.

How Mayor Bibb, who took office in January of 2022, became personally embroiled in the selection process for the school district's next CEO to replace the likable Eric Gordon, who is White and credentialed, is intriguing, sources have said. Also at issue are community panels that may or may not have authority under the law to choose the next CEO since they are, by design, composed of teachers, parents and staff members, a possible conflict of interest. This is coupled with the fact that it is the role of the board of education to hire a superintendent, or if the public school district like Cleveland's is under mayor control, a superintendent or a CEO. (Editor's note: Under the state law for mayoral control in Ohio the CEO does not have to be a certified superintendent, which is why the position is dubbed "CEO" and not "superintendent," and top level administrators at central office also do not have to be certified. This setup is unlike all other public school districts in Ohio, a scenario questioned as perpetuating a double standard in terms of qualified school district personnel or the lack thereof serving in impoverished largely Black public school districts that are more likely to be under mayoral control as compared to affluent predominately White school districts. However, CMSD principals and assistant principals, like teachers, must be certified pursuant to the mayoral control law ).

This is a continuing story per an ongoing investigation by Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.