Local
Dr. Bob Fitrakis and Dan-o Dougan know everybody wants a box of chocolates and a long-stemmed rose as they play Stupid Cupid songs.
Listen live at 11pm Fridays, February 6 and 13, and Mondays at 10am January 9 and 16, streaming at wgrn.org or on the radio at 91.9FM
and
Mondays at 2pm streaming January 9 and 16 at wcrsfm.org or on the radio at 92.7 or 98.3FM
“Ohio Is Home for All” reads a new, robin's egg blue digital billboard in Akron, featuring faces of people of all races, ages, and ethnicities. According to the Ohio Immigrant Alliance and Elizabeth Zaleski, the billboard’s sponsor, all people who choose to make Ohio their home, raise their families and build good lives here, are welcome in the Buckeye State.
“Ours is a message of welcome and inclusion,” said Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. “Immigrants are part of Ohio’s past, present, and future. The current federal government may see it differently, but most of them don’t live in Ohio. They don’t represent the opinion of millions of people here. We don’t need politicians who teach us to hate our neighbors. We need politicians who understand that every contribution matters and we are all part of one community.”
Elizabeth Zaleski is a book editor who lives in Akron. Concerned about current anti-immigrant policies, she reached out to OIA to partner on this billboard, which will be up through the month of February.
There are more activists events in the Free Press Calendar
Friday, February 6, 3pm
Liberation Center, 1004 Parsons Ave.
This article first appeared online here.
PBS has just launched Black and Jewish America, a four-week miniseries that examines the political and historical ties between African Americans and Jewish Americans.
For those who want to examine the topic further, a new documentary directed by Ilana Trachtman is a good place to start. Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round tells the fascinating story of a 1960 protest that unexpectedly created cross-cultural ties.
The protest centered on Glen Echo Amusement Park, which once served as a recreation destination for families in the Washington, D.C. area. Offering rides, snacks and a giant pool, it had everything parents needed to keep their kids entertained on hot summer days.
The only problem: You had to be White to enter. Children from local Black neighborhoods could only watch the fun from outside the gates.
The anti-ICE protestor who was arrested by Columbus police believes an obstructing official business charge was filed separately after the night of the incident.
He’s also been offered a plea deal. Prosecutors will drop the initial charges filed against him if he pleads guilty to obstructing official business, according to his public defender.
Kevin Logan, a northwest side activist and former foster kid, was arrested by Columbus police at the hotel ICE was staying at in the days leading up to Christmas.
What makes the obstruction of official business charge alarming is it could be based on how he was protesting ICE – very vociferously and enthusiastically to say the least. He utilized a bullhorn on the first two nights protesting.
Thursday, February 5, 5pm
Columbus Liberation Center, 1004 Parsons Ave.
Help build for the February 7 protests to demand ICE out of Ohio! Defend and expand protected status!
On Sunday, February 1 there were two vigils for Alex Pretti, Renee Good and other victims of ICE terror -- one at Weinland Park and one at the VA hospital in Columbus.
Wednesday, February 4, 12-1pm
Ohio Statehouse Rotunda, 1 Capitol Square
There will be a litany, prayers, and songs. Participants’ thoughts, poems, prayers, and songs welcome. General and handicapped parking may be available under the statehouse. Even when the sign says FULL, there may handicapped parking available; please ask attendants.
On a bitter cold street corner nurses, union workers, musicians, and other folks gathered to remember the life of Veterans Administration (VA) Intensive Care Unit nurse and American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3669 Union member Alex Pretti and mother of three, writer, and musician Renee Good.
Pretti and Good were murdered in separate incidents by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis last month. Both were participating in peaceful protests against ICE violence in the city at the time of their murders.
In response, the Ohio AFL-CIO organized a vigil across from the Chalmers P. Wylie Ambulatory Care VA hospital in Whitehall.
Jason Perlman, Political Director of the Ohio AFL-CIO was among those who spoke: “Tonight, we honor the lives of our union brother, Alex Pretti, Renee Good, Keith Porter, Jr. and the countless names we don’t know who have died in these for-profit, so-called detention centers. Columbus, do we believe our own eyes? Do we know what we saw? Two citizens were gunned down because they chose love over fear.”
In facing off against repression and standing firm against growing autocracy in one place or another, there’s a weird and powerful de facto alliance taking shape that’s worth learning more about: Boomers and Gen Z are at the frontlines.
With the caveat that any survey that is more self-selected than random, The Economist reported a scholarly effort by several researchers at the American University on protestors. They polled 7500 “people who signed up for the ‘Free America Walkout,’ a national protest that took place on January 20th.” Here’s what they found:
“…84 percent of respondents were female, three-quarters were college-educated, and that the media age was 71. Some 99 percent of these aging boomers, said they were supporting nonviolent civil disobedience, and 65 percent of them said they would be willing to take part themselves.”
This conservative journal notes that Republicans have absolutely noticed this phenomenon. They have a name for it: AWFULS, for affluent white female urban liberals.