Black South Euclid, Ohio Judge Gayle Williams-Beyers fights alleged racism by White city officials of the Cleveland suburb, and the White police chief, whom she says used racially offensive language to try to intimidate her, the police chief saying in a meeting with the judge, some council members and other city officials over a court ruling by the judge that they did not like that "I'm not here to lynch the judge"....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest

South Euclid Municipal Court Judge Gayle Williams -Beyers, the city judge of eight years and the first Black woman to be elected to the South Euclid bench

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief. A former biology teacher with no felony record, Coleman is a legal, political and investigative reporter who trained at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio for 17 years, covering the 2008 presidential election with 26 articles, an election that saw Barack Obama elected the nation's first Black president

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper 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.

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio-South Euclid Municipal Court Judge Gayle Williams Byers, a Democrat and  former assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor, and the first Black female elected to the court in the middle class Cleveland suburb, is speaking out against what she says has been nothing but ongoing racism in her eight years on the bench. 

The judge of South Euclid since 2012, Williams-Beyers, 45, told reporters this week that she is fed-up with what she says is likely systemic racism against her at the hands of some non-Black South Euclid officials, the mayor, some city council members, and the city's police chief.

In spite of the ongoing controversy, she was reelected to the South Euclid bench in 2017 over at large councilman Marty Gelfand, and won with 60 percent of the vote to his 40 percent.

Her fight for racial equality in her own city comes as the country is up in arms and protesting over the killing by Minneapolis police last month of George Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old Black man,  protesting that is coupled with calls by Black leaders and Civil Rights organizations to eradicate racism and for systemic changes in policing nationwide.

The city of South Euclid has some 21,000 residents.

It is roughly 48 percent White, and 43 percent Black.

The median household income is $57,000.

And while South Euclid's population is  racially diverse, Democratic Mayor Georgine Welo, and the police chief, city law director and five of the seven city council members are White, and White folks practically run everything in the city.

Just six months after taking office the Black judge was summoned to a meeting with Police Chief Ken Neittert, Law Director Michael Lograsso, and some members of city council, all of them allegedly upset over her ruling in a particular case. 

Chief Niegert obviously exacerbated the problem with racially insensitive language at the meeting, the chief saying that "I’m not here to lynch the judge."

Judge Williams-Byers took offense to the word lynch and says it was the beginning of a long ordeal characterize by racial overtones and harassment of her as a woman, a Black, and the first Black female judge in a largely White suburban community. 

She says they even installed cameras in the jury room with out her prior knowledge to allegedly spy on jurors, invade their privacy, and to taint the jury deliberation process. 

Williams-Beyers has had no problem suing the city in the general division common pleas court of Cuyahoga County as well as in the Ohio Supreme Court, the judge arguing that the court budget approved by city council is not enough to operate her court, at least one lawsuit resulting in a compromise and a three percent increase in the court budget. 

City council says some $20,000 in trips taken by the judge on the city's dime for seminars and other court related costs are unnecessary,  though the judge says such trips are routine by judges in other cities in the county and that city council and her critics  on the issue are simply being picky. 

Williams-Beyers is ambitious and lost the Democratic primary this year for a seat on the 8th District Court of Appeals, coming in second in a crowded field to Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Emaneulla Groves, who is also Black, and also a female. 

Cuyahoga County, with Cleveland as its largest city, is 29 percent Black, and a Democratic stronghold. 

Asked by 
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com if her sentences are, in her view, too harsh, Judge Williams -Byers said, "no," and that, "I am a fair judge."

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper 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.