Activist Donna Brown Says She Supports Demand By Imperial Women For Cleveland Mayor To Fire Police Chief, Law Director, Chief Prosecutor, Etc.

Posted Friday, November 27, 2009
(National and Cleveland, Ohio Area News)

From the Metro Desk of The Determiner Weekly and The
Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog and Media Network

Community Activist Donna Brown, who will lead a march on city hall around the Imperial Ave murders on Monday, Nov, 30, says she wholeheartedly supports a demand by The Imperial Women and other grassroots organizations for Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson to fire Chief of Police Michael McGrath, Law Director Robert Triozzi, Safety Director Martin Flask and Chief Prosecutor Victor Perez.

"I am behind the Imperial Women in this," said Brown, a frequent critic of the mayor.

The newly formed Imperial W omen's group, along with Peace in the Hood, The People's Forum, The Cleveland Chapter of The New Black Panther Party, The Carl Stokes Brigade, The Lucasville Uprising Freedom Network, and The Divine Victory MGO, rallied on Imperial Ave. Tuesday night in Cleveland, Oh. in front of the home of alleged serial killer Anthony Sowell, seeking the aforementioned dismissals.

The demand for Jackson to initiate the firings follows the failure by Triozzi and Perez to prosecute Sowell in 2008 on behalf of the city following a complaint of attempted rape by a Black woman, and after finding blood and evidence of a struggle around her complaint at the scene of his Imperial Ave. home where the remains of 11 Black women were found earlier this month. Five of the 11 murdered women went missing thereafter.

A convicted sex offender who served 15 years in prison Sowell is currently in custody on charges of rape, kidnapping, assault and murder. City officials claim they lacked evidence and a witness to prosecute Sowell in 2008, a claim that grassroots groups and Civil Rights organizations dispute, particularly since the duo had a Black female journalist maliciously prosecuted in May of this year on an erroneous charge of resisting arrest, even though sole White male arresting deputy sheriff Gerald Pace did not accuse her of it or testify at trial or otherwise.

"They maliciously prosecuted a Black journalist without either an accusation from the arresting officer or evidence but let an alleged serial killer go with clear evidence," said Kathy Wray Coleman, a local journalist and community activist. "My data show that the alleged malfeasance goes deeper than the Imperial Eleven and we have got to stop these educated thugs in high places, whom I will not name right now, from destroying the Black community. I cannot rest knowing the extent of the corruption which I believe is commensurate to what was depicted in the 1997 movie L.A. Confidential, a fictitious scenario that deals with the unprecedented corruption in the L.A. Police Department, Law Department, and with top city officials."

Coleman said also that some of the women killed allegedly by Sowell on Imperial Ave. "knew too much."

"Some were mere victims, and others had a database that they allegedly wanted to keep secret, just like I do," she said. She went on to say that she has been arrested repeatedly without probable cause, harassed by Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough for Triozzi and others, administered a knockout drug, and held naked in a jail cell supervised by a disgruntled male before being released without charges at the hands of Retired Lorain Municipal Court Judge Gustalo Nunez and others. She says further that she is being either harassed or threatened by Middleburg Heights police, Middleburg Heights Prosecutor Peter Hull and Berea Municipal Court Judge Mark Comstock, an affiliate of Nunez, who often replaces him as a visiting judge on the bench per the assignment of Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer. Still, she says that she will not be deterred in her fight for equal opportunity and equal justice for women, the Black community, and others.

Don Bryant, a founding member of The People's Forum, said that Brown advised him today that she supports The Imperial Women and its demand for the firings by Jackson of Mcgrath, Triozzi, Perez and Flask.

"She said she is behind The Imperial Women and she backs the group's request for the firings, and I believe her," said Bryant.

The Imperial Women were prepared to tackle the issue at the rally on Monday, saying it is important for women and grassroots organizations to stand tall and hold authorities accountable around the Imperial Ave. murders and otherwise. At issue is Brown's alleged comment that she did not want the men, none of whom or Black, to be fired, a claim she now denies