Full Name
Jonathan Beard
Recent Articles by Author
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Vote Yes on Issue 9: Looking at Reform Through the Eyes of Black Community Leaders
Columbus voters are looking at two ballot issues to change Columbus City Council’s structure on the November 2026 ballot. While Council is now being attacked for submitting a counterproposal to the citizen ballot initiative, council was in fact responding directly and appropriately to protect the…
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Columbus, Ohio Black Community Leaders request Columbus City Council to act on Voting Rights issues created by citizen petition
Leaders in the Black community of Columbus, Ohio, who support a change to the Columbus City Charter to move to true district representation have filed an urgent request for council action, to City Council President Shannon Hardin.In a letter dated March 26, 2026, the group of Black community elders…
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Columbus City Council format gets the smackdown from civil rights law experts: Columbus Black elected officials comfortable with racially discriminatory elections
Columbus City Council members opened up their emails on November 20 to find a letter from Leah Aden, Senior Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (the “LDF”) calling for their attention. The LDF, which President Obama once called “simply the best civil rights law firm in American history,” sent…
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Bamboozling Black Folk: The Silent Conspiracy to Maintain Columbus’s Discriminatory At-Large City Council Elections
Columbus Oligarchy and Franklin County Democratic Politicians Defend Our Racially Biased System – Embracing Racial Superiority as “The Columbus Way”
In recognition of Black History Month, as Board Chair of The Columbus Free Press, I explore the racist origins and dubious legality of Columbus’s at-…