Cleveland activists, others to rally June 9, 5:15 pm, steps of City Hall in support of Cleveland's consent decree for police reforms...Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leaders

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.  

THIS EVENT WILL BE ON THE STEPS OF CLEVELAND CITY HALL:

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Activists and others will rally Wed, June 9, 2021 at 5:15 pm on the steps of Cleveland City Hall, 601 Lakeside Ave in downtown Cleveland, Ohio to call for the city's court monitored consent decree for police reforms to remain intact.

Event contact phone numbers are Black on Black Crime Inc. at (216) 804-7462 and Imperial Women Coalition at (216) 659-0473. In addition to Black on Black Crime Inc and Imperial Women Coalition, other affiliated activist groups are Cleveland Peace Action, Black Man's Army, and the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network.

Masks are requested for this open-to-the-public peaceful rally.

"Community activists will rally to demand that the consent decree for police reforms stays in place and if anything, that it is expanded," said activist Alfred Porter Jr., president of Black on Black Crime Inc., and one of the organizers of the upcoming rally, and who will lead the rally.

Activist organizers for Wednesday's rally have released the following statement by Black on Black Crime Inc., Imperial Women Coalition, Oppressed People's Nation, Black Man's Army, and more:

We are rallying to call for Cleveland's court monitored consent decree for police reforms with the U.S. Department of Justice that was instituted in 2015 behind several excessive force police killings of unarmed Black people and problems in the city's largely White police department to stay intact.

It serves in part to secure court monitored changes in the city's troubled police department, substantive and progressive changes in fact.

Led by police union president Jeff Follmer, the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association held a press conference on June 3, 2021 and called for an end to the consent decree.

This would not be good for the community as police reforms have yet to materialize in the largely Black and impoverished city of Cleveland, or nationwide for that matter. The police union wants business as usual to the detriment of Cleveland's at risk Black community. And until the relationship with police and the Black community is enhanced and police stop arbitrarily gunning down Black people with impunity and qualified immunity we need a monitoring mechanism like the consent decree to protect the Black community to the extent practicable.

The consent decree is to address and transcend excessive force and must also embrace a comprehensive approach relative to tackling systemic racism in policing and the disenfranchisement of the Black community regarding unfair and unethical police practices. Community activists say no way to dissolving the consent decree for police reforms as such reforms have yet to be met. Black Lives Matter. 

Though we realize that the police union has no authority to dismantle the consent decree between the city and federal government that is currently under the jurisdiction of the federal district court, we believe it is necessary for activists to publicly voice opposition to any efforts to do so to the harm of the community, the Black community in particular.

By community activists: Black On Black Crime Inc, Imperial Women Coalition, Black Man's Army, Oppressed People's Nation, and more.

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.