U.S. Rep Marcia Fudge to lead annual Labor Day Parade in Cleveland, a tradition of the largely Black 11th congressional district community started by former congressman Louis Stokes, Ohio's first Black congressman.....A former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Fudge is one of two Blacks in congress from Ohio....By associate publisher and editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog
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| Ohio 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus who is also a past national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief |
Sponsored by the 11th Congressional District Community Caucus, the event, which draws thousands each year, comes as the 2020 election nears and Ohio remains a pivotal state, and Cleveland a pivotal city with some 385,000 people, most of them Black.
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| Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson |
Most of the politicians who turn up for the festivities are Democrats.
A few Republicans are regular attendees too, including Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Joan Synenberg and some Republican members of County Council.
All 17 members of Cleveland City Council are Democrats, and they regularly show up too.
With the 2020 election less than a year and a half away Fudge, who became better known after last year considering a bid against Rep. Pelosi for House Speaker, will certainly make her policy stances clear by those that come to support her, elected officials, unions, women advocates, activists, and mainly Blacks from her largely Black congressional district.
Always there are Black fraternities and sororities, Fudge a past national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., and currently the most powerful Black Democrat in the state of Ohio.
This will be the 48th year of the festivities and the parade will proceed down Kinsman Avenue to Luke Easter Park where participants can expect vendors, food trucks, political speeches, entertainment and the battle of the bands.
It began with a small picnic after Carl B. Stokes was elected mayor in 1967, the first Black mayor of Cleveland and of a major American city.
It expanded from a parade to a parade and picnic in 1971 when the late Congressman Louis Stokes, as representative for the then 21st congressional district, and the first Black congressman from Ohio, instituted the tradition of holding the event on an annual basis.
Stokes, who was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1968, grew up in Cleveland's Outhwaite housing projects with his brother Carl, his only sibling, both of them raised by a single mother after their father Carl died when the congressman was 3.
The one time 21st congressional district turned the 11th congressional district, a district that largely includes the majority Black east side of Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County, and a Black pocket of Akron and staggering suburbs of neighboring Summit County.
Both Cuyahoga County and Summit County are Democratic strongholds, and Black top echelon elected officials and state legislators of those counties are Democrats.
The annual parade was started by the Stokes brothers, George Forbes, a part time Cleveland attorney, former longtime city council president and former longtime president of the Cleveland NAACP, and the late Arnold Pinkney of greater Cleveland, a political strategist who ran the first of Jackson's two unsuccessful campaigns for president.
It came about to showcase the political power of Blacks in greater Cleveland, and to provide a forum for candidates to campaign and lobby voters, mainly Democrats.
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| George Forbes, a former long tine president of Cleveland City Council, and a former longtime president of the Cleveland NAACP |
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| From left standing: The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the late political strategist Arnold Pinkney, the late Carl. B. Stokes, a former Cleveland judge and the first Black mayor of Cleveland and of a major American city, and (sitting) the late congressman Louis Stokes, the first Black congressperson from Ohio |
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| The late former Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Cleveland |
A former Warrensville Heights mayor, Fudge replaced Tubbs Jones after her untimely death in 2008 at the age of 58, and has since been repeatedly reelected by voters of the 11th congressional district.
CLICK HER TO READ KATHY WRAY COLEMAN'S ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEW WITH THE LATE FORMER OHIO CONGRESSWOMAN STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES, HER LAST MAJOR INTERVIEW BEFORE HER DEATH
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. 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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