Cleveland and all of Ohio's major cities will host March For Our Lives protests on June 11, 2022 against gun violence as part of a nationwide event, Cleveland's rally and march also to address women's reproductive rights as the Supreme Court prerpares to overturn Roe v. Wade this summer....By Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader
CLEVELAND, Ohio-March For Our Lives National, a gun control group founded behind the mass shooting at a school in Parkland, Florida in 2018 that left 17 dead and 17 injured is returning to Washington D.C. on Sat., June 11 for its second major march on gun control since 2018, the first march of which drew over a million people to the streets nationwide in protest.
The event, which will also include nearly 500 sister marches in major cities nationwide like Cleveland, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, New York, Louisville and Las Vegas, comes in the wake of the mass school shooting last month in Uvalde, Texas of two teachers and 19 school children at Robb Elementary School, and the mass murders of 10 Black people in a grocery store supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
Following the mass shooting in Buffalo, March For Our Lives National tweeted that "our country should have done everything in its power long before today to prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands. Instead, U.S. gun worship empowers this white supremacist violence."
Activists across the country are equally upset. They say something has to be done immediately by Congress and other public policy makers to curb gun violence nationally and in respective cities nationwide, particularly largely Black major American cities.
"We expect a large crowd in Cleveland as we fight against gun violence in our city and elsewhere and for the reproductive rights of Ohio women as Roe v Wade is slated to be overturned by the Supreme Court this summer and our Republican- dominated state legislature is gearing up for more attacks on the statutory and constitutional rights of women in this state," said Cleveland activist Kathy Wray Coleman, the head organizer for Cleveland's upcoming event.
Coleman said that while young activists will be at the forefront of Cleveland's rally and march, Women's March Cleveland organizers and other seasoned activists will stand with them in solidarity.
In addition to Cleveland, which is expected to have one of the largest marches in the country, Ohio will host marches Saturday in all of its major cities, also including Dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnati, as well as some smaller cities like Toledo and Wooster.
Cleveland and Women's March Cleveland will host Cleveland's event, a noon rally and march on the steps of Cleveland City Hall in Cleveland, Ohio at 601 Lakeside Ave at Willard Park to march for our lives and for reproductive rights (Click here to register on Facebook for the open-to-the-public Save Roe rally and march for our lives on June11 at noon on the steps of Cleveland City Hall. Click here to register for the event at mobilize us. Registration is optional).
The activist organizers hosting Cleveland's rally and march, mainly grassroots and largely Black organizers who have been in the trenches in Cleveland fight on an array of issues, say they will also stress voting at the event, and education and necessary public policy changes such as responsible gun legislation, and criminal justice reform.
Speakers for Cleveland's June 11 march and rally on the steps of City Hall include student activist Art McKoy Jr., Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Ohio Senator Nickie Antonio, former Ohio senator Nina Turner, Cleveland Councilman Joe Jones, Cuyahoga County Poet Laureate Honey Bell Bey, Democratic Lt Governor Candidate and Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Cheryl Stephens, Democratic Ohio Attorney General Nominee State Rep. Jeff Crossman, community activists Elaine Gohlstin, Delores Gray, Art McKoy and Alfred Porter Jr., other community activists, public school students of greater Cleveland, educators, Cleveland victims of gun violence and other crimes or their family members, Black clergy, Black greater Cleveland educators, and voting and Civil Rights advocates. Call head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman of Women's March Cleveland at 216-659-0473 for more information. Coleman said that at least 1,000 people are expected to attend that gathering.
The city has approved the permit for this event. In addition to Women's March Cleveland and March For Our Lives Cleveland, affiliated greater Cleveland organizations include the Imperial Women Coalition, International Women's Day March Cleveland, the Laura Cowan Foundation, Together We Rise, Black on Black Crime Inc., Refusefacism Ohio, Carl Stokes Brigade, Black Women's Political Action Committee of Ohio and greater Cleveland, Clevelandurbannews.com, the Cuyahoga County Democratic Women's Caucus, Brickhouse Wellness Center, Moms Demand Action, New Era Cleveland, National Congress of Black Women Greater Cleveland Chapter, Metro-Cleveland Alliance of Black School Educators and League of Women Voters Greater Cleveland Chapter. The rally will also briefly address Civil Rights and voting rights, and education and the legal system relative to disenfranchised groups.
According to a Supreme Court leak, the high court will likely issue its opinion in late June of 2022 in a Mississippi case that threatens Roe v Wade, the 1973 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal nationwide.
Organizers said that activists and the community shall stand together as one and fight for reproductive rights, an end to gun and other violence, and the future of the nation's children
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