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CLEVELAND, Ohio- As part of the “Connecting the Dots between Race and Health,” a project of Ideastream Public Media funded by the Dr. Donald J. Goodman and Ruth Weber Goodman Philanthropic Fund of the Cleveland Foundation, the Greater Cleveland Association of Black Journalists (GCLEABJ) is hosting a town hall-style forum to bring awareness to the recent resolutions by the city of Cleveland as well as Cuyahoga County declaring racism as a public health crisis.

The free and open-to-the-public event will be held at the East Cleveland Public Library on Sat, April 30, 2022 from 10:30 a.m to noon. Light refreshments will be served.

“The Greater Cleveland Association of Black Journalists thought this was a very important topic for us to address as we are always concerned about the health of our community, especially during a pandemic that is disproportionately impacting African Americans,” said Kevin "Chill" Heard, president of Greater Cleveland Association of Black Journalists.

Yvonka Hall, executive director of the Black Health Coalition, along with GCLEABJ members Rhonda Crowder and Stephanie Phelps will moderate the discussion between a panel consisting of an elected official, hospital administrator, healthcare provider, community advocates and patient. Cleveland Ward 7 Councilwoman Stephanie Howse, Tiffany Short, who is the director of Culture and Organizational Effectiveness at MetroHealth, Jasmin Long, chief executive officer, Birthing Beautiful Communities, SeMia Bray of Black Environmental Leaders, Dr. James Brown, and Vicki Dansby, a cancer survivor, are among the confirmed panelists.

“We must be innovative and find solutions to the current drivers of disparities,” said Hall. “We cannot talk about racism as a public health crisis and do nothing to address the inequalities in education, employment, housing and health. Changing our outcomes starts with accountability and action.”

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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COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Equal Districts Coalition, a group of over 30 Ohio advocacy organizations and labor unions engaged in the redistricting process, released a statement on Wednesday after a panel of federal judges chose to leave decisions regarding Ohio's State House and Senate redistricting process to the Ohio Supreme Court for the time being.

"Today, Ohio voters won yet another round of the redistricting fight as a panel of federal judges rightfully chose to leave decisions involving Ohio's constitution and Ohio's legislative districts up to Ohio's highest court for the time being," said Katy Shanahan, a representative from the Equal Districts Coalition who earned both her law degree and graduate degrees from The Ohio State University, where she wrote a thesis on redistricting and which entity draws the fairest maps.

The Ohio Supreme Court on last Thursday struck down state House and Senate redistricting maps approved by the seven-member Republican-dominated Ohio Redistricting Commission for the fourth time in under three months, ruling 4-3 that the maps are unconstitutional and that they violate anti-gerrymandering rules approved seven-years-ago by Ohio voters.  The discrepancy has caused a delay in the election of Ohio lawmakers, which will not be on the May 3 primary ballot in Ohio, an almost unprecedented measure in the history of voting in Ohio.

The court said that the maps are not much different than the previously three submitted sets of maps and that, again, they fail to pass constitutional muster. Simply put, the court said that the maps are drawn to make it easier for Republican candidates in Ohio state House and Senate district races to win office over Democrats, both the House and Senate currently controlled by Republicans.

The court ordered the commission, which includes Gov Mike DeWine, House Speaker Robert Cupp, auditor Keith Faber, and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, to approve yet another set of maps by a May 6 deadline. And it denied requests by the League of Women Voters of Ohio and other plaintiffs who filed suit against the commission for failing to abide by the court’s orders to demonstrate why it should not be held in contempt of court.

The Equal District Coalition said that the decision by the federal judicial panel not to intervene gives Republicans another chance to come up with fair and legal maps.

The Equal Districts Coalition is the largest redistricting coalition in Ohio, with over 30 member organizations. It includes the Ohio State Conference of the NAACP, Ohio Organizing Collaborative, OAPSE/AFSCME, Ohio Farmers Union, AFSCME Ohio Council 8, the Ohio Environmental Council, Innovation Ohio, the Ohio Student Association, OFUPAC, ProgressOhio, All On the Line-Ohio, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, Ohio Council of Churches, NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, URGE – Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, LEAD Ohio, the Ohio Women's Alliance, the Ohio Federation of Teachers, Ohio Education Association, CAIR-Ohio, Campus Vote Project, For Our Future Ohio, Ohio Unity Coalition, Equality Ohio, The Freedom Bloc, and more.

Pictured are former Ohio congresswoman Mary Rise Oakar and 11th congressional district candidate Nina Turner, a Cleveland Democrat

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CLEVELAND, OHIO – Former Congresswoman, Mary Rose Oakar (OH-20) has announced her endorsement of Nina Turner in Ohio's 11th Congressional District primary. Her enthusiastic support comes on the heels of the Cleveland Plain Dealer's endorsement and following a flood of corporate and dark money interests into the Democratic primary.

The PD editorial board said via its endorsement, which was published in Sunday's print edition and at Cleveland.com, the online affiliate of the PD, that Turner, 54, and whom the Plain Dealer also endorsed for last year's special primary election to replace Fudge, is the better candidate and that "we endorsed Nina Turner last year, and do so again this year."

A former Ohio senator and former Cleveland councilwoman, Turner faces current Congresswoman Shontel Brown as the May 3 Democratic primary nears.

Oakar was unwavering in her support of Turner

"Nina is a leader and that's what we need in greater Cleveland, a fighter for the people who is committed to lifting working families," said Oakar. "Nina will be tough and she will care, not just go along to get along. Nina Turner is the most qualified and capable person we can send to Congress. I would love to have her as my Congresswoman. I will be proud to have her represent me and my family."

Turner expressed her gratitude for Oakar's support, stating "Rep. Oakar's longstanding work and dedication to our district's working families is truly remarkable. I am humbled to have her continued support."

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

CLEVELAND, Ohio –The editorial board of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper, has endorsed former Ohio senator and Bernie Sanders surrogate Nina Turner in the Democratic primary for the race between Turner and current Congresswoman Shontel Brown in Ohio's largely Black 11th congressional district, which includes Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County. The primary election is Tues., May 3.

Brown, of Warrensville Hts, the former county councilwoman and chair of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, defeated Turner, her closet opponent in the crowded 2021 special primary, by 4,269 votes and is now the incumbent in the seat formerly held by Marcia L. Fudge, who is now  President Joe Biden's secretary of housing and urban development. (Elizabeth Sullivan is the director of the newspaper's editorial board, the audio of the endorsement interview of  which is available in full at the end of the PD story).

The editorial board said via its endorsement, which was published in Sunday's print edition and at Cleveland.com, the online affiliate of the PD, that Turner, 54 and a Cleveland resident, and whom the Plain Dealer also endorsed for last year's special primary election to replace Fudge, is the better candidate and that "we endorsed Nina Turner last year, and do so again this year."

Turner, says the editorial, "has the passion, experience, toughness and out-of-the-box thinking to give Cleveland a powerful, socially committed and independent congressional voice, much in the spirit of the late U.S. Rep. Lou Stokes, who successfully fought for this majority minority congressional district."

Also a Civil Rights attorney, Stokes was Ohio's first Black congress person. He retired from Congress in 1998  after serving 15 terms in the House of Representatives, and died in 2015. His younger brother and only sibling, the late car B. Stokes, was the first black mayor of Cleveland, and of a major American city.

The Turner campaign quickly embraced the endorsement and said in a press release on Monday that if she wins the congressional seat and is sent to Washington she will fight for poor people and the middle class.

"I am grateful to have the endorsement of my hometown paper yet again," said Turner. "As the editorial board noted, greater Cleveland must have a representative with the vision and tenacity to tackle the systemic issues that have long plagued our communities. The reasons I ran last time are the same that motivate me today – Congress needs an agenda that centers the poor, the working poor and the barely middle class. My run for Congress isn't about any one person. It is part of bringing Cleveland into the bigger fight against the powerful interests that are stopping progress."

In large part the politically divisive congressional race in the heavily Democratic 11th congressional district is seen as a contest between Brown and the progressive Turner, who is also a former Cleveland Ward 1 councilwoman, and between the moderate and progressive factions of the Democratic Party.

Both of them had a long list of endorsements for last year's special primary election that Brown, 46, won, including labor unions, mayors, congress people, and city, county and state lawmakers. Among others, Turner was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has endorsed her again this year, U.S. Rep Alexandra Ocasio-Cortex of New York, and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, who has since retired as mayor. Six of Ohio state lawmakers out of the greater Cleveland area also supported her. Brown's endorsements included Columbus Congressman Joyce Beatty, Hillary Clinton and U.S. House Minority Whip Rep James Clyburn of South Carolina.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news in Ohio. 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.