International Women's Day March Cleveland was March 8, 2022 with keynote speakers Morgan Harper, Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Cheryl Stephens, and activist Cheryl Lessin.... Head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman led the rally and march.....By Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com. Ohio's Black digital news leader

 

Pictured from left: 2020 International Women's Day March Cleveland keynote speakers U.S. Senate candidate Morgan Harper, Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Cheryl Stephens, a former Cleveland Heights mayor and the lieutenant governor candidate on the gubernatorial ticket of former Democratic Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, and activist Cheryl Lessin, and International Women's Day March Cleveland head organizer and activist Kathy Wray Coleman

 

Cleveland women and their supporters march on International Women's Day on March 8, 2022, the sixth annual march that was led by head organizer and Cleveland activist Kathy Wray Coleman 

  Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Led by Cleveland activist and head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, who also leads Women's March Cleveland and the Imperial Women Coalition, greater Cleveland women and their supporters rallied and marched on Tues, March 8 to celebrate International Women Day, a 6th annual event that was held on Market Square in the Ohio City neighborhood across from the Westside Market. Keynote speakers were Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Morgan Harper, a Columbus-based attorney and progressive activist who worked under then D.C. consumer watch dog Richard Cordray when Barack Obama was president, Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Cheryl Stephens, a former Cleveland Heights Mayor and the lieutenant governor candidate on the gubernatorial ticket of former Democratic Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, and activist Cheryl Lessin of Refusefacism and Rise Up for Abortion Rights

The theme of this year's march in Cleveland, and internationally, was #Stand Against Bias.

Last year's keynote speakers for the rally in Cleveland were Whaley and state Rep. Emilia Sykes, who is a former minority leader in the Ohio House of Representatives out of Akron who is running for Congress this year in Ohio's 13th congressional district. Ohio 11th Congressional District  Congresswoman Shontel Brown,  then a candidate for the seat in a crowded primary that includes former Ohio senator Nina Turner, was also among the speakers last year. 

"We are pleased to have had two Black women, one a superior candidate for the U.S. Senate in Morgan Harper, and the other a worthy lieutenant governor candidate and county elected official in Cheryl Stephens, as well as longtime activist fighter Cheryl Lessin as our keynote speakers this year in Cleveland on March 8 for International Women's Day March Cleveland as we continue to fight for the reproductive, Civil and other rights for women internationally," said Coleman at the rally.

Also at issue, said Coleman, among so many other concerns relative to women's rights, is violence against women, and racism, sexism, voting rights, unnecessary war on women in Ukraine and other places in the world like Ethiopia, and the widespread miseducation of Black girls in our European-led institutions of learning."

Other event speakers were Cuyahoga County executive candidate Tariq Shabazz, who talked about what he would do for women and Black people if elected, and activist Dorothy Walwyn of Father's Lives Matter, who spoke up for domestic violence victims in Cleveland, and Black women in general.

During her keynote speech at Tuesday's rally, Morgan Harper stressed that she is the only U.S. Senate candidate in the U.S. senate race in Ohio this year who has been consistently outspoken in her support of abortion access, and Councilwoman Stephens, a Cleveland Heights Democrat and the only elected official to speak said she is honored to run for lieutenant governor on the gubernatorial ticket of Nan Whaley and to be one of the three keynote speakers chosen by activist women to speak in Cleveland on International Women's Day.

Activist Cheryl Lessin, the last to speak of the three keynote speakers, spoke at length on legislation statewide and nationally that denies women abortion access, and the importance of preserving Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal nationwide.

Led by activist Alfred Porter Jr of Black on Black Crime Inc., those at the rally and march also prayed for all of the fallen Black and other women of Cleveland who have died because of heinous violence, including the 11 Black women murdered on Imperial Avenue on the city's east side by serial killer Anthony Sowell, who died in prison last year while on death row.

Events were held across the world on March 8 to celebrate International Women's Day, a day of civil awareness for women worldwide that is designed to combat sex and race discrimination and promote women's rights. The purpose is also to recognize the accomplishments of women, and to push for public policies across the board for women and girls, organizers said.

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