Protest Reports

On April 11, 2022, the B.R.E.A.D. (Building Respect, Equality and Dignity) organization held its third rally in support of affordable housing at the Washington Gladden Social Justice Park. The action called for the city of Columbus and county of Franklin to set up over $100 million in housing funds to help build more housing options that would be available for families with less than $150,000 of annual income. The action was a dress rehearsal for the May 10, 2022 Nehemiah Action at the Ohio Expo Center, 6 p.m., where the 2022 BREAD campaigns for a city identification program, fair housing, group violence intervention, and environmental justice will be presented to city and county elected officials by over 3,000 BREAD members. 

On April 11, 2022, the B.R.E.A.D. (Building Respect, Equality and Dignity) organization held its third rally in support of affordable housing at the Washington Gladden Social Justice Park. The action called for the city of Columbus and county of Franklin to set up over $100 million in housing funds to help build more housing options that would be available for families with less than $150,000 of annual income. The action was a dress rehearsal for the May 10, 2022 Nehemiah Action at the Ohio Expo Center, 6 p.m., where the 2022 BREAD campaigns for a city identification program, fair housing, group violence intervention, and environmental justice will be presented to city and county elected officials by over 3,000 BREAD members. 

Ohio’s first-ever “Day of Empathy” – part of a nationwide effort first initiated by CNN’s Van Jones – took place Thursday, March 31 in the Ohio Statehouse atrium. The event attracted a who’s who of Columbus activists who challenged the community to seek criminal justice transformation for the betterment of all. Participants demanded more empathy from police, and at the same time, towards those suffering from trauma, like heroin addicts.

“Our game plan is to create positive change and a new vision for the great state of Ohio. To be the nation’s leader in reducing violence, crime, poverty, hungry, addiction, and trauma, and broken families by creating equity in Ohio, as well as strengthen relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve,” said De-Escalate Ohio’s Cynthia Brown, who created and hosted the event.

Something lawless, heartbreaking, and cruel happened last night in Columbus. In open defiance of the Ohio Constitution and the Ohio Supreme Court, a majority of the GOP members of the Commission plotted to jettison the work of the bipartisan, independent mapmakers and—just hours before the deadline—switched in and officially adopted a set of maps based on General Assembly maps previously struck down by the Court.

Yes votes were Sen. Pres. Huffman, Speaker Cupp, Gov. DeWine, Secretary of State LaRose; Auditor Faber abstained; Sen. Sykes and Minority Leader Russo voted no.

Dozens of Ohio General Electric workers protested Wednesday, March 23, about job cuts recently announced that impact nearly 200 local workers in the Central Ohio region.

On February 26, 1987, President Ronald Reagan officially declared Proclamation 5613 making March National Disabilities Awareness Month. 

Proclamation 5613 called for understanding, instilling confidence, and opportunities to help those with disabilities to live productive and fulfilling lives.

I think inclusiveness benefits individuals with disabilities as well as the rest of our society.

A functioning organism as a society ensures all people have a healthy existence.

I worked as a provider for the Franklin County department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (MRDD) until Franklin County MRDD switched to a company called Boundless in 2016. I worked with Boundless until 2020.

A provider goes into the homes of the developmentally disabled. A provider works with social, and life skills from a recommended individual service plan. A provider drives a person with Autism or Down syndrome to work, school, recreation centers, the grocery, and other places where a individual might visit.

If students cannot rely on their university to pay them a living wage and provide good working conditions, what do they do? This is the question many student workers are asking themselves at Ohio State University (OSU). While tuition, housing, food, and transportation costs continue to rise, wages for student workers employed by OSU remain stagnant. It is apparent to them that it is time to fight back.

On Friday January 21st, in collaboration with student workers, Students for a Democratic Society at Ohio State (SDSOSU) and Young Democratic Socialists at Ohio State (YDSOSU) held a protest to raise demands towards the university that student workers desperately need. They included a $15-an-hour minimum wage, free parking for student workers, paid sick leave, holiday pay, more frequent and higher raises, and higher work hour limits for international and DACA (a federal program to protect immigrant youth from deportation) students.

Imam Mohamed Hassan Adam had been a leader in the Somali Muslim community of Columbus, Ohio and also in the interfaith community of Columbus, Ohio. He had been an imam at Masjid Abu Hurairah Mosque on the Northeast Side of Columbus and a prominent member of the local Muslim and Somali communities.

He had been reported missing on 12-23-2021; his body was found the following day [12-24-2021]. His death has been ruled a homicide but official information about the cause of his death has not yet been released.

Several hundred of us gathered yesterday [12-31-2021] outside of the First Congregational Church [and next to the Washington Gladden Social Justice Park]; we then marched to Columbus City Hall for a rally with many different speakers.

On Wednesday morning (Dec. 8, 2021), a joint coalition of Ohio advocacy groups, including the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, Ohio Environmental Council, and the Council of American Islamic Relations-Ohio, rallied for fair maps in front of the Ohio Supreme Court following oral arguments in the three lawsuits filed against Ohio’s illegal, partisan, and extremely gerrymandered maps. The three challenges to the maps are Ohio Organizing Collaborative v. Ohio Redistricting Commission, Bria Bennett v. Ohio Redistricting Commission, and League of Women Voters of Ohio v. Ohio Redistricting Commission. The rally predominantly featured Black and Muslim plaintiffs and advocates, whose communities will be denied fair representation due to the illegal legislative maps. 

Tucson, Arizona (AZ) — On the morning of November 23, 2021, Hia Ced, Tohono, and Akimel O’odham peoples and local community members held a press conference in front of the AZ State Office Building in support of Hia Ced and Tohono O’odham land and water protector, Amber Lee Ortega. The community denounced the recent ruling by Judge Leslie A. Bowman to not allow the federal Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (RFRA) as a defense for Amber Ortega.

Ms. Ortega is currently facing federal misdemeanor charges for the action she took on September 9, 2020 to stop border wall construction near the O’odham sacred site of A’al Vappia- Quitobaquito Springs. Last Thursday’s ruling will not permit the testimony of Ms. Ortega and the expert testimony of O’odham elder, Lorraine Eiler to be used in the case. They both testified on the immense religious significance of Hia Ced O’odham sacred sites and burial grounds destroyed by border wall construction, which also threatens the springs.