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It is entirely within the realm of possibility that hundreds of thousands of people have seen the amazing work of Ernest Withers, but didn’t know it. He was one of the most talented and prolific photographers of the modern-day freedom movement. A number of his images–including those of Martin Luther King, Jr., riding on an integrated bus in Montgomery, and the photo of Mose Wright, the extremely brave uncle of Emmett Till defiantly pointing his finger at the white man who kidnaped and killed the teenager–are beyond iconic. But Withers had a secret identity. A native black southerner, he was simultaneously an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in that same movement.

The event will be held October 2, 2021, 1-3 PM at The Linden Branch of the Columbus Metro. Library (2223 Cleveland Ave.) Click here to RSVP.
Residents, Business Leaders, And Elected Officials Come Together To Discuss Clean Energy Jobs, Public Health, And Environmental Justice
At a time when clean energy projects are developing across the state, Columbus Stand Up! and the Ohio Climate Justice Fund will host a community conversation in the Linden neighborhood of Columbus to discuss ways to advance an equitable clean future for everyone in Ohio. 

Ohio’s elected Republicans at all levels of government fail the public. It worsens rather than improves. They act against public health and safety; imitate reactionary policies in other states, often unrelated to Ohio; act unconstitutionally; misrepresent basic facts; and contradict the needs and wishes of their constituents. From free speech to voting rights and basic Covid protocols, they violate the law and common sense. While they consider themselves conservatives, they are actually right-wing radicals who violate the traditional respect for others and support for limited government (not wildly “banning” all they oppose). 

First, Republican state legislators create a public health crisis. They refuse to obey the state’s mask mandate or practice social distancing. They vote to override the governor’s and public health officials’ orders despite lacking expertise or any commitment to the public interest or general welfare. They expand gun “rights” while restricting abortion rights, ignoring experts’ testimony, federal and state laws, and the U.S. Constitution.  

The Free Press recently spoke with several drug addicted community members near the sprawling Wedgewood Village apartment community not far from Westgate on Columbus’ west side. Within our community you can score a bag of “fenty” or illicit fentanyl for $10, they told us. Ten dollars is the price of death in Columbus and beyond.

Now comes the gut-punch revelation: the people sworn to protect us were the ones (allegedly) pumping massive amounts of illicit fentanyl into the community. Earlier this week, the FBI arrested two Columbus police narcotics officers assigned to the Division’s cartel unit – Marco Merino, 44, and John Kotchkoski, 33.

This past summer, Merino dealt roughly 7 kilograms of fentanyl into Columbus, which was first given to him by Kotchkoski – this according to U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Ohio. Also this summer and spring, Merino is alleged to have helped deal 27 kilograms of cocaine into the community.

When people hear the word “radiation" they most likely think of the horrible human and environmental devastation of Hiroshima, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl or Fukushima, and they are correct to think that. Scientists and the data have confirmed that exposure to radiation causes cancer and death—quickly or slowly, depending on the exposure and accumulation.

Yet, in Ohio and other oil/gas producing states like Pennsylvania, Texas and Oklahoma, when the industry’s radioactive waste products are discussed, they are portrayed and classified as harmless by drillers and government officials. Thanks to investigative journalists, to scientific researchers not paid for by the industry, and especially to concerned community members, we now have more unbiased information to propose legislation for the protection of all people of Ohio and the natural environment. Records have been uncovered that the oil and gas industry has known for decades how dangerous this waste really is (America's Radioactive Secret).

Saturday, October 2, 2021, 12:00 PM
Location: Ohio Statehouse, 1 Capitol Square, Columbus. 

Exclusive for the Columbus Free Press

Thousands of angry protesters filled Mexico City’s Paseo de la Reforma boulevard, marching more than two miles to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the disappearance of 43 education students from a rural teacher’s college in 2014.

National anger over the forced disappearances revived days before the September 26th anniversary. Among President Manuel Andrés López Obrador’s most prominent campaign promises when he was a candidate in the 2018 elections was a swift solution to the disappearances and stern sentences for the guilty. Yet now, half way through the six year term, he announced a meager advance.

Moreover, the pledged commitments to education, youth, teachers, employment, and nearly all other social ills have gone unmet — most of them even suffering severe cutbacks. Most repulsive is the rising number of feminicides (murdered women) in an administration that flaunts itself as center-left, populist, progressive, etc.

Background

I read that on July 4, 1977, the Imperial Wizard, Dale R. Reusch of Lodi, Ohio led a Klan rally on the steps of the Ohio Statehouse. There were protestors and a fight broke out. I’d like to talk to one of the men arrested. He knows what I know, that the Ku Klux Klan was alive and well in Columbus in the 1970s. I met Klan members that night. I saw how many white men gather to express their hate, to show the city how strong they are. It was like a movie I accidentally walked into.

On September 17, three Ohio civic organizations and six individual Ohioans filed suit in the Supreme Court of Ohio, seeking to block the state general assembly plan adopted by the Ohio Redistricting Commission on September 16 and require the commission to draw new districts. The plaintiffs argue that the new plan’s maps violate the prohibition against partisan gerrymandering and voters’ equal protection and associational rights under the Ohio constitution. 

Thursday, September 30 at 6pm EDT
UPDATES on what's happening in Missouri, Ohio and Oklahoma, featuring Lauren Sobchak, Organizer with Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Yesterday the organization delivered your petitions to help stop next week's scheduled execution of Ernest Johnson. Also joining us, Allison Cohen from Ohioans to Stop Executions. Register Here.