Human Rights
Immigrant Mauritanians in the US like to debate what Ohio city has the largest Mauritanian community in the US, and while Columbus won out not too long ago, a growing number are calling Cincinnati home.
Nevertheless, Mauritanians are still being deported back to Mauritania – a northwest African nation once ruled by colonial France – with a Moorish government that has been arresting, torturing, and extorting Black Mauritanians for decades, all state-sponsored human rights abuses, and the reason they’ve settled in the US in the first place.
This new video from FWD.US exposes the apartheid state in Mauritania. Several Ohioans are featured in the piece.
Mental health, suicides and addiction were serious problems before the pandemic, and the fallout threw gas on a raging fire.
Thankfully, the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS), with help from the federal government, rolled out ‘988’ back in July, a nationwide suicide and crisis lifeline. Ohioans in all 88 counties can now call or text 988 for free 24/7 crisis support.
“Mental health is just as important as physical health,” said Gov. Mike DeWine back in July.
“The 988 program is the front door into Ohio’s behavioral healthcare response,” stated OhioMHAS in a press release.
This mental health hotline, which was previously the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, fielded nearly 80,000 calls from Ohioans in 12 months prior to the 988 roll out. OhioMHAS is predicting 988 could receive 200,000 calls from Ohioans for its first year.
The August Free Press Second Saturday Cyber-Salon had the theme “Health, Housing and Hope - building a multiracial national movement.” It was on Zoom and live on Facebook.
Watch the salon video here.
Free Press Board member Mark Stansbery facilitated the salon, and introduced the first speaker, Bob Krasen of the Single-Payer Action Network (SPAN-Ohio). Bob talked about US legislation that would pay 100% of cost of full health care for everyone – HR 1976, Senate Bill 4204 – Medicare for All. The legislation has been held up because of powerful lobbyists, mostly Big Pharma and insurance companies, added Dr. Alice Faryna, also of SPAN-Ohio.
Full-time Kroger store employees in Central Ohio who are also members of United Food and Commercial Workers Union 1059 (UFCW) overwhelmingly voted “no” this week to a new three-year contract.
No doubt this is another victory for the working class of Central Ohio, as the Free Press spoke to over a dozen local Kroger employees and all agreed this is the first time in at least two decades a contract has been sent back to the bargaining table demanding higher pay, more benefits, and – most importantly – more respect.
Earlier this week local Kroger employees were telling the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS.org) that the three-year deal was “abysmal” or “woefully inadequate,” and that the UFCW “has sold out to Kroger.”
Disturbing is how this labor story will probably be told by only WSWS.org and the Free Press because the rest of the local media is sold out to the Cincinnati-based Kroger ad dollar.
In 2022, Columbus City Council and Mayor Ginther seated a Charter Review Commission, the first since 2014, for the purpose of reviewing the Charter and making recommendations for potential revisions. Their last meeting was this week, and per Charter requirements, recommendations from the Commission are due to City Council by July 10.
Any amendments to the Charter would require a vote of City Council and the approval of Columbus voters during a future election.
The Columbus City Charter, originally adopted by voters in 1914, outlines the fundamental rights, powers and responsibilities of the citizens and their elected municipal officials. The Charter was last amended via ballot in 2020 to create a civilian police review board and in 2018 to create district representation for City Council.
The need has not been greater to help the homeless, especially during the pandemic and recent clearing of homeless camps, such as the one at Heer Park on the City’s far South Side. With rents rising, and the cost of living going up due to inflation, the mission of The Open Shelter is “To Stay Behind With Those Left Behind,” all while serving the homeless and marginally housed in Central Ohio, as affordable housing is a scarcity for those who are living in poverty.
On June 23, The Open Shelter had an open house at their new location on Parsons Avenue. There were remarks made by local dignitaries, as well as Shelter Staff and Board Members. The new facility, according to The Open Shelter’s website serves as a “hub for (the Shelter’s) Outreach Services, which are desperately needed” for the homeless and marginally housed in the community.
The first step of the intake process, as the Open Shelter’s Resource Development Coordinator Harry Yeprem Jr. explained while giving a tour of the new facility, is to serve a person with a warm meal that is prepared in the kitchen before being given an orientation and introduction to the Open Shelter’s services.
Joe Motil, former Columbus City Council candidate and longtime community advocate who has begun circulating petitions to run for Mayor in the 2023 May primary election stated that, “I attended the city’s promise to bulldoze the homeless camp at Heer Park this morning at around 8:00am. When I turned west onto Williams Road you would have thought there was another homicide or violent crime committed due to the heavy police presence. There was a combined nine police cruisers and paddy wagons on Williams Road alone. As I approached the parking lot to the south, I saw eight more cruisers nearby and two more parked on a service road just south of the camp. We are talking about 20 police vehicles and probably 25-30 police officers. Seriously? I haven’t seen this much police presence since the protesting in downtown Columbus in 2020.”
Joe Motil, former Columbus City Council candidate and longtime community advocate who has begun circulating petitions to run for Mayor in the 2023 Mayoral primary election calls for an immediate public hearing and investigation into AEP’s claim that their decision to shut off power was to protect the power grid and prevent longer power outages.
Watch salon video
The salon was available on Facebook Live as well.
The theme for the June 2022 Free Press Second Saturday Cyber-Salon was Peace and Democracy: Do We Have Either? And the inspiration for some of the discussion was the 40th anniversary of the 1982 peace march in New York City, the largest march of its kind in US history.
Free Press Board member Mark Stansbery facilitated the salon from the Columbus Arts Festival.