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Has any Ohio citizen-led amendment worked this hard, overcome so many hurdles, and faced such disingenuous opposition from their own state government to get its constitutional amendment in front of voters?
“No,” Cynthia Brown said bluntly to the Free Press. Brown is the energy and leadership behind the Ohio Coalition To End Qualified Immunity.
Wen it comes to changing the policy which shields Ohio law enforcement from civil litigation after violating the civil rights of those they’ve sworn to protect, the Ohio Coalition To End Qualified Immunity (OCTEQI) always knew the challenge would be daunting. Afterall, they were up against the GOP-besieged executive offices of the Ohio Statehouse, which rejected their amendment nine times, making them re-start the process from the beginning each and every time.
On April 19th, the 50501 movement mobilized for a National Day of community-focused Action. State and local groups across the nation rallied an estimated four million people to participate in marches, rallies, food drives, teach-ins, mutual aid pop-ups, voter registration events and more to best meet their communities' needs.
A Day of Community Solidarity
Despite reports of heightened police and federal presence at the events, We (the People) Dissent has compiled a list of over 900 events in about 850 cities that were part of the National Day of Action. In Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, California, and Hartford, Connecticut alone, over 6,500 pounds of non-perishable food, baby supplies, hygiene products and more were collected and donated to local food banks and mutual aid organizations by our organizing teams.
Good Café – a celiac safe restaurant – has joined a network of cafes in Central Ohio where customers can get their takeout drinks in stainless steel reusable cups.
On April 5th, the 50501 Movement joined forces with grassroots organizations across the country to help lead the largest single-day protest since the beginning of the Donald Trump’s disastrous regime. Over 5 million Americans participated in more than 1,000 demonstrations in all 50 states and Washington D.C., uniting to send the People’s Veto: Hands Off our democracy!
The Growing American People’s Movement
The magnitude of this protest exemplifies a thunderous resistance against the erosion of democratic norms and the quest for economic justice. Between Trump’s tantrum-induced tariffs, the hollowing out of necessary government services to line the pockets of anti-American billionaires and the silencing and kidnapping of legal residents, the American people have had enough. Now, they are making their voices heard and standing up for each other like never before.
Earlier this week on April 2, members of the Columbus branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) woke up expecting to participate in a long-delayed election. By 9am they were supposed to receive an email link. A link that would allow them to cast votes, decide leadership, and carry forward an institution with more than a century of movement memory.
But the link never came.
For hours, there was silence. Confusion circulated through inboxes, group chats, and whispered phone calls. Had the election been delayed again? Was there a glitch? Had someone forgotten to hit “send?”
It wasn’t until nearly noon – three full hours after voting was scheduled to begin – when members received an email from the NAACP’s national office. The message, sent twice, contained a memo from Ericka Cain, Vice President of Governance, Compliance and Training. It explained that a court had issued a temporary restraining order, halting the election.
AI and the Energy Sector
A onprofit electricity research and development organization, EPRI, https://www.epri.com/, announced a collaboration with Microsoft to develop and deploy AI solutions for the energy sector.
The OpenPower AI consortium will collaborate with energy companies globally in an effort to enhance grid reliability, improve workforce safety, advance forecasting and planning models and achieve real-time grid intelligence by using artificial intelligence. EPRI announced the launch of the OpenPower AI consortium at Nividia's GTC conference https://msites.epri.com/opai last month, stating that the effort hopes to drive the development and deployment of an OpenAI model tailored to the power sector.
The consortium will focus on three primary areas.
The first is to develop and maintain open-source AI models, data sets, libraries, as well as optimizing power sector specific challenges.
Right around the height of the COVID-19 global pandemic, I lost hope. I saw the worst of us on display during that time. I looked in horror upon the anti-vaxxing, anti-masking, privileged, blatantly racist, proudly ignorant population, and I lost hope. All of it. All my faith in humanity – right down the drain.
Before then, I didn’t realize how much I actually relied on that hope to get through life. It was only when I lost it that I missed it and realized it. I spent a few years in an emotional rock bottom. I withdrew, physically and emotionally, in disgust. I stayed in my bedroom, leaving it only to eat and to work. I cried a lot. I wept when I caught glimpses of people or performances that espoused hopefulness. (Such a performance was Melody Gardot’s music video for “From Paris With Love”. It’s made up of selfie-recorded videos from people all over the world during the pandemic. It’s worth watching. Melody Gardot - From Paris With Love (Official Music Video) (youtube.com))
With a heavy heart, the Ohio Student Association mourns for our universities. In the late afternoon of Friday, March 28, Governor Mike DeWine killed higher education in the state of Ohio by signing the universally detested Senate Bill 1–a bill that students and faculty alike have been fighting since its introduction as SB 83 in 2023.
This is a heartbreaking and devastating blow to the students and educators of Ohio. Our fight against SB 1’s passage concluded behind closed doors as our governor chose to cower to the pressure of partisan extremists. DeWine has sacrificed the future of Ohio’s higher education in exchange for culture war political points in the twilight hours of his final term.
University students are making their voices heard at The Ohio State University, amidst conversations surrounding the Trump administration’s dismantling of the Department of Education, and Ohio Senate Bill 1 which would overhaul higher education policies.
On Tuesday afternoon, OSU students took to the Oval, speaking out against the university’s preemptive compliance with both federal and state initiatives to rollback public education. They demanded that their right to a holistic and quality education not be infringed upon nor politicized, and that their constitutionally-protected civil liberties be respected.
Two demonstrations at the Ohio Statehouse March 22.