Ohio Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D-11)

From the Metro Desk of the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog. Com and the Cleveland Urban News.Com (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

Ohio Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge(D-11), whose district includes parts of Cleveland and its eastern suburbs, said she supports a push by the Imperial Women for an investigation by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson as to the release of suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell from police custody on an attempted rape complaint where six of 11 women murdered on Imperial Ave in Cleveland were murdered thereafter.

"I support it said Fudge," in a meeting with about 25 members of the grassroots organization founded in 2009 around the tragedy where the remains of the 11 women were discovered at the Imperial Ave. home of Sowell, who is in custody and awaiting trial for June 6 on numerous counts of kidnapping, rape, aggravated murder and abuse of a corpse. "All I can do is ask Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson for it, but my powers are limited."

A congresswoman since 2008, Fudge opened her doors a second time to the Imperial Women, a diverse group seeking changes in public policy around the rape and murder of women, and one that has taken on other issues of public concern.

Yvonne Williams McNeil, the mother of slain Imperial Ave. victim Tishuna Culver, spoke briefly and thanked the congresswoman, her staff and the activists in attendance.

"I am here to support you, and thank you," she said.

Fudge also took issue with efforts by a judge appointed in Jan. to the Cleveland Municipal Court bench by outgoing Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland who is accused of harassing the group's leader by trying to sentence her for allegedly resisting an arrest initiated in 2008 because she was championing a bill to require that Ohio trial court judges are assigned and reassigned to cases by random draw for due process protections, which is expected to be introduced next week by State Rep. Bill Patmon (D-10), a Cleveland Democrat.

The catch with a sentencing attempt by Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Lynn McLaughlin Murray is that sole arresting White male Cuyahoga County Deputy Sheriff Gerald Pace did not accuse Imperial Women Leader Kathy Wray Coleman of resisting his arrest, did not testify as required via the Sixth Amendment and actually came to a May 2009 trial to support the 16-year journalist, who was exonerated on all charges for which she said she was illegally arrested, including aggravated disorderly conduct and obstruction of official business.

"I support you on that and will give a letter of support," Fudge told Coleman during the two-hour long meeting, who says part of the problem is the endorsement of McLaughlin Murray by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson for this year's judicial election and certain corrupt Black leaders and Black press people being paid by the mayor to push an illegal conviction because of her activism, journalism , scheduled rally before Sowell's upcoming trial, and articles by her previously published in the Call and Post Newspaper and currently on her blog as to racism and judicial malfeasance to the detriment of the Black community.

Also at the meeting were representatives of other grassroots groups including
Black on Black Crime, the People's Forum, Ohio Family Rights, the MLK Coalition, the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, People for the Fair Treatment of Joaquin Hicks, and People For the Preservation of Cleveland's African American Museum.

Others issues raised were attempts by Congress to reduce pell grant money for poor college students, complaints about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and housing issues impacting poor people, minorities, women and children, including proposed federal cuts to Section Eight programs.

Other participants at the meeting include Charles E. Bibb, Frances Caldwell, Thomas Kim Hill, Valerie Robinson, Stewart Robinson, Jean Whitte, Linda Jones, Betty Brown, Roz McAllister, Willie Stokes, Barbara Bickerstaff, Denise Hicks, Tina Bronaugh and Brett Jackson.

"Congress and not President Obama is behind the pell grant reduction proposal and I did not vote to fund the wars," said Fudge, to a question by Stewart Robinson on pell grants and one by Hill, who opposes America at war.

The activists talked about the need for Ohio Gov. John Kasich to appoint a representative number of Blacks and other minorities to boards and commissions, and briefly addressed the Cleveland schools transformation plan that would rank teacher seniority by merit. And they want what they say are bogus misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and obstruction of official business pending before Judge McLaughlin Murray against Destini Bronaugh, 19, dismissed. Bronaugh was arrested May 13 of last year in retaliation for a peaceful protest at Cleveland's Collinwood High School around teacher layoffs and school closings. She graduated last summer.

They also want Fudge to look into the harassment of innocent parents by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services and whether Blacks are being discriminated against by judges of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas as to criminal trials, such as that of Joaquin Hicks, now serving 61 years to life after a conviction for allegedly arranging a robbery at a downtown Cleveland night club that resulted in the murder of a Cleveland Clinic employee and the gun shot injury another, though Hicks was not convicted of the murder or shooting injury, and the case is on appeal.

The activists asked for financial support to help reopen Cleveland's African American Museum, a project pushed by museum executive director Caldwell and John Boyd, a precinct committeeman of Cleveland's Ward 6.

Fudge agreed that the Ohio State Legislature should comply with the Ohio Supreme Court's repeated mandates to revise its system of funding public education partially through property taxes. The Cleveland Municipal School District spends half the monies annually per child as the Perry Local School District with its nearby high tax revenue nuclear power plant, though the Ohio Department of Education mandates comparable performances by Ohio's poor children, a disproportionate number of whom are Black, on standardize test.

At the end of the meeting the grassroots factions thanked the congresswoman for her support, for being frank, and for permitting all participants the opportunity to talk, and upon gathering in a circle to pray they told Fudge that they would support her if she is mistreated relative to an upcoming redistricting by the Ohio State Legislature.

Ohio will lose at least one congressional seat due to the 2010 U.S. Census Report and the decision on the issue is expected momentarily.  A licensed attorney and mayor of Warrensville Hts. before joining congress, Fudge is the only Black congressperson from Ohio.

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Posted By Journalist Kathy Wray Coleman to

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