Black activists, organizers shut out of John Lewis "Good Trouble" rally planned in Cleveland by suburbanites call for a unified and diverse coalition that includes Black leaders, organizers... By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Nationwide "Good Trouble" rallies are planned for Thurs., July 17, 2025  to commemorate the legacy and the death date of the late Congressman John Lewis and Black-led groups of Cleveland, Ohio say Black activists and organizers are being shut out by White-led suburban groups with help from the mainstream media and others. The activists say this goes against the unity standard set by Lewis, a revered and respected congressman and Civil Rights advocate from Atlanta, Georgia who died on July 17, 2020. Lewis coined the term "Good Trouble" during his time in Congress.

"We call for a unified, diverse, and inclusive coalition for any "Good Trouble" rallies in Cleveland, a largely Black major American city," said Black activist and organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, who leads the Cleveland-based groups Women's March Cleveland and Imperial Women Coalition, which fight for women's rights and against violence against women. 

Activist Alfred Porter Jr. of Black on Black Crime Inc. said "It's a shame that in 2025 Blacks are still excluded."

Coleman said that White-led groups, with favorable help from slick, anti-Black Cleveland officials, reserve Market Square Park in Cleveland at a whim where most rallies and marches occur and Black-led groups are told to stay away, essentially. "The people behind the activity do not even live in the city of Cleveland," Coleman said, "and are suburbanites."

Billed as a continuation of nationwide "Hands off" rallies held April 5, Coleman said that "Hands off" events subordinated Blacks, too, and that Cleveland's mainstream media often pushes them in what she says is "outright discrimination against Black activists and organizers, and Black people in general." She added that "if we start picketing these people with our good trouble they might get the message."

Coleman said that Black activists were once told by a White-led group that they "want too many Blacks to speak at events and that they talk too Black."

This is a continuing story. 

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com are the most-read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio. Tel. 216-659-0473. Email-editor@clevelandurbannews.com