Cleveland activists oppose Ohio Governor DeWine's order today for masks in public and at public demonstrations in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, six other Ohio counties as anti-free speech, unenforceable, unconstitutional, and stop-and-frisk....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest
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| Ohio GOP Governor Mike DeWine |
CLEVELAND, Ohio- Ohio Gov Mike DeWine today issued an executive order for face masks to be worn in public and in public places for seven of Ohio's 88 counties, including Cuyahoga, which includes Cleveland, a reversal of his order last week that such authority be relegated to local and county governments and a move that might conflict with legislation passed this week by city council in at least one Cleveland suburb in the county, Cleveland's City Council poised to also take up the now moot issue as well as the 11-member Cuyahoga County Council.
In Beachwood, an affluent Cleveland suburb, city council members adopted a wear-masks-in public ordinance earlier this week, but for indoor public venues only, DeWine's order going further and mandating masks for all outdoor activity of gatherings of more than 10 people and all indoor public places, including libraries, businesses, restaurants, and pools and recreation centers.
Children under 10-years-old, certain minors, and those with medical conditions are exempt.
Failure to comply is a misdemeanor, DeWine says.
The order will take effect at 6 pm on Wednesday.
Failure to comply is a misdemeanor, DeWine says.
The order will take effect at 6 pm on Wednesday.
The other counties subjected to the mandate per a color coating scheme by the governor on the severity of the pandemic are Huron, Trumbull, Montgomery, Hamilton, Franklin and Butler Counties, though the data on confirmed cases and deaths from the deadly virus have vacillated since the outbreak of the virus in early March, raising questions about which of Ohio's counties are severely affected by the pandemic.
DeWine said he chose the seven counties at issue as all were a code red public emergency at the third level of seriousness for the pandemic, a somewhat questionable method by which to decide whether to impose intrusive measures like mandating masks in outside public places, his critics say.
DeWine said he chose the seven counties at issue as all were a code red public emergency at the third level of seriousness for the pandemic, a somewhat questionable method by which to decide whether to impose intrusive measures like mandating masks in outside public places, his critics say.
Franklin County is the state's largest county, in front of Cuyahoga County.
It includes the capital city of Columbus, the state's largest city in front of Cleveland.
To date there are roughly 11.7 million confirmed or probable coronavirus cases worldwide, and some 540,000 deaths, 3 million of those confirmed cases in the U.S. alone, which has reported more than 133,000 deaths from the pandemic.
Ohio has reported some 59,000 confirmed cases to date, and more that 2,900 deaths.
This week Cuyahoga County has taken the lead in the most cases since the pandemic surfaced at 8,084 confirmed cases and 379 deaths.
Just last Sunday, Cleveland recorded 75 new coronavirus cases, the highest single day figure since the height of the pandemic in early April, figure that that day brought the total number of cases since the pandemic broke out in early March to 2,245 cases.
Sources say that DeWine, a former Ohio attorney general and prior U.S. senator, and a powerful member of the GOP in Ohio where Republicans hold all of the statewide offices except two seats on the Ohio Supreme Court held by Democrats, will, in fact , be sued over the measure by opposing forces.
DeWine, like Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, is not a lawmaker with such authority to take such action, independent of Ohio's state legislature, sources say, and data suggest.
Greater Cleveland activists say they oppose Dewine's order for face masks at public demonstrations in the county, and in general, and that the criminal implications for not complying create another problem for the Black community, which already does not trust police.
"I oppose it because it is nothing more to me than stop-and- frisk and we will picket if necessary on this issue," said longtime activist Alfred Porter Jr., who leads the greater Cleveland activist group Black on Black Crime Inc.
Stop-and-frisk, commonly known for its implementation and fallout effects in New York City, is the practice of police routinely detaining, questioning, and at times searching civilians and suspects on the street for weapons and other contraband, and often without probable cause or reasonable suspicion.
Activists said that even if police intrusion were narrowed regarding the controversial issue, it is still unconstitutional, they believe, to mandate such masks, and on several other grounds, including racial profiling government overreach and intrusion, and the targeting of select counties like the 29 percent Black Cuyahoga County. .
They say also that it is an invitation for police harassment and excessive force.
But activists acknowledge that face masks are needed to keep people as safe as possible from the pandemic and suggest that people wear them.
"I wear a mask and we recommend that others wear them too, but mandating them at public demonstrations is overkill, and a recipe for disaster," said Porter, both a community organizer and a greater Cleveland Black activist.
But activists acknowledge that face masks are needed to keep people as safe as possible from the pandemic and suggest that people wear them.
"I wear a mask and we recommend that others wear them too, but mandating them at public demonstrations is overkill, and a recipe for disaster," said Porter, both a community organizer and a greater Cleveland Black activist.
The majority Black city of Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice have been parties since 2015 to a consent decree for police reforms that follows a string of questionable excessive force killings by police since 2012 of unarmed Black people, including Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell in 2012 and Tanisha Anderson and 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014
How police officers will handle any mandated requirement for such masks remains to be seen as racial tensions remain high behind the Minneapolis police killing in May of unarmed Black man George Floyd, and the shooting death in March by Louisville Metro police of Breonna Taylor, Taylor also Black like Floyd.
Riots have broken out in cities nationwide behind Floyd's killing, including in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville, Atlanta, Los Angeles Oakland and Minneapolis itself.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
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