Protest Reports
The family, friends and allies of Donovan Lewis converged on Columbus Police headquarters Friday, September 2 to protest his murder. Chants of "No justice, no peace!" and calls for firing Columbus police officer Ricky Anderson, who killed hte unarmed 20-year-old Lewis in his bed when delivering a warrant in the middle of the night, were interpersed with shouts of "Say his name!" "Donovan Lewis."
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 states, “On the eve of the 59th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s 'I Have a Dream Speech' an act of civil disobedience took place in the front yards of Council President Shannon Hardin, City Attorney Zach Klein and Councilwoman Shayla Favor’s homes. Reverend Gary Witte and I peacefully protested the failure of city policy to address our rising homeless crisis in Columbus. We established camp in the front yard of Mr. Hardin’s far east side home. Three other advocates for the homeless camped in the front yard of City Attorney Zach Klein and two others at the residence of Councilwoman Shayla Favor.”
"Shannon Hardin is a graduate of Morehouse College. This is the same college that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. attended and graduated, and where he practiced his skills as a champion of civil of civil rights and civil disobedience. It appears that Hardin finds Dr. King’s faith, philosophy and acts of civil disobedience unlawful and distasteful.”
Columbus teachers are now on strike. In an overwhelming showing of solidarity and determination, 94 percent of members of the Columbus Education Association (CEA), the union that represents over 4,500 teachers and staff of Columbus City schools, voted in favor of a strike during a dramatic mass meeting of CEA members held Sunday night. Thus, after many months of failed negotiations with the Columbus Board of Education, the strike officially commenced at 12:01 AM on Monday, August 22. This is the first time teachers in Columbus City Schools have gone on strike since 1975.
Nearly 100 Ohioans across race, place, and income rallied at the Statehouse Saturday to keep up the fight for fair maps
The OOC rally included national and statewide faith leaders, young Ohioans, formerly incarcerated people and their families, and voting rights advocates
The coalition urged Black, brown, young, and formerly incarcerated Ohioans to vote during the midterms to fight back against political extremism in Ohio
On Saturday, August 6, on the 57th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, a multiracial coalition led by the Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC) joined together outside the Ohio Statehouse to protect Ohioans’ freedom to vote and keep up the fight for fair district maps. The nearly 100+ person rally included faith leaders, college students, formerly incarcerated Ohioans and their families, and voting rights advocates from all over Ohio.
“Ohio’s nine of the top ten warmest and eight of its top ten wettest years have all occurred since 1990,” said OSU’s Vice President of Agricultural Administration, Cathann Kress.
Kress was speaking at OSU’s Earth Day event back in April, aptly named “Time to Act on Climate Change.”
“Climate is not just about the environment, it’s about everything,” continued Kress.
The year 2022 is on track to be one of the state’s hottest and wettest. Ohio’s farmers are witnessing this firsthand as they run state’s $90 billion farming industry. The Ohio Farm Bureau says higher average nighttime temperatures and more intense rains results in more agricultural bugs and fungus, among other challenges.
During the OSU Earth Day event, Kress introduced the recipient of the 2022 Chadwick Award for “an outstanding character who has boldly chosen to speak for the trees.”
The July Free Press Second Saturday Cyber-Salon had the theme “Roe v Wade and Supreme Court Decisions.”
Watch the salon video here.
Free Press Board member Mark Stansbery facilitated the salon, starting off with a photo of the Supreme Court falling down.
Mark introduced the first speaker Ted Glick, progressive activist and author of Burglar for Peace: Lessons Learned in the Catholic Left's Resistance to the Vietnam War and 21st Century Revolution, Through Higher Love, Racial Justice and Democratic Cooperation.
Ted believes that there are four significant US Supreme Court decisions we should be organizing around:
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 attended today’s Little Turtle “Thumbs Down” save the Turtle event. Mr. Motil was approached by Little Turtle community leaders in March of 2021 to assist them in fighting this corrupt and unethical roadway project and has been at their side ever since.
Motil says, “It’s heartbreaking to witness the destruction of this grand boulevard that has stood here for over 50 years when Little Turtle became Central Ohio’s first planned housing development. And it is all being wasted for the benefit of a developer who used his money and political influence to fatten his bank account.”
On Wednesday, April 20, members of Ohio Youth for Climate Justice and Sunrise Columbus disrupted The Ohio State University’s 2022 signature Earth Day event: “Time to Act on Climate Change” at the Ohio Union’s US Bank Conference Theater.
Organizers dropped banners and led chants when President Johnson, a planned speaker and award recipient at the event, began her speech.
The students demanded that OSU completely divest from fossil fuel companies immediately and reinvest the money into the Columbus community.
“It’s time for President Johnson to address the realities of the crisis and leverage her power to tangibly act on climate change,” said Catherine Adams, a student organizer and a freshman at OSU. “We have tried asking nicely. We have tried to meet with President Johnson, but she continues to make empty promises rather than sitting down with us and working towards real solutions for our community.”
Tuesday, April 19, Jewish leaders from central Ohio along with interfaith and secular allies gathered in front of the Columbus office of Chase Bank to demand that Chase Bank take immediate action to end their investments in polluting fossil fuels. Emphasizing the urgency of the moment and lifting up the symbols of Passover, community leaders proclaimed the plagues that fossil fuel Pharoahs – coal, oil and gas companies – have inflicted on us. They held up matzah to demonstrate the urgency needed to confront the climate crisis and urged Chase Bank to ‘move their dough’ out of polluting fossil fuels.