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Nineteen years ago, I graduated from the Ohio State University. As a somewhat lackluster student, I wasn’t able to pull things together to graduate on time and missed the big ceremony that used to be held on the Oval. Instead I was stuck with the rather grim winter quarter graduation at St. John Arena. Winter quarter graduation speakers were selected by the faculty, who unsurprisingly picked one of themselves.*

The speaker, whose name I unfortunately can’t remember, was a voice professor from the music school. His speech was a combination of talking, poetry and singing, with a soaring list of musical comparisons to an unstated something (i.e. calling down the defiant beauty of contralto Marian Anderson’s 1939 rendition of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” at the Lincoln Memorial). He didn’t bother to tie any of it into the idea of graduation, it just sort of rolled.

But one thing he said sort of stuck with me. He mentioned the power of Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog” before Elvis Presley “stole her song.” My first exposure to the concept of cultural appropriation.

Wed, Sept 4, 7-8:30pm
Bexley Public Library, 2411 E. Main St.
Screening portions of the documentary “Jews Step Forward.” The moral voices of bravery and justice that are depicted in “Jews Step Forward” will be followed by a discussion of the personal experiences of our members. Hosted by Jewish Voice for Peace Central Ohio. facebook.com/JVPCentralOhio.

This past September, Alabama governor Kay Ivey was found to have worn blackface while performing in a comedy sketch during her college years. Virginia governor Ralph Northam posed in blackface standing next to another college mate dressed as a Ku Klux Klan member in their 1984 yearbook. In 2013, David Sponheim, a Washington state mayoral candidate, wore blackface dressed as Barack Obama. In 2015, Bill Helton, another political candidate, this time in Oklahoma running for mayor, wore blackface in his drag performance.  

It would take more than my word limit to document all of the incidents of a politician being found out and called out for wearing blackface. Who are these people? They are white, male or female, Democrat or Republican, living in the North or South. They all apologize when found out to have this “spot” on their life. Some retire, step-down, but the majority of them apologize and keep on doing what they were doing in their political lives.  

When Donald Trump used to call out the “fake news” for being biased during the 2016 presidential election, it was a not-so-subtle way for him to appeal to Bernie Sanders’ supporters who felt the same pain. The blatant bias shown towards anyone who challenged the media’s favored candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016 was so obvious that CNN contributors were eventually busted for feeding debate questions to the Clinton campaign. Heck, The Washington Post ran sixteen negative articles on Sanders within a span of sixteen hours. So the notion that media outlets were potentially biased against Bernie or anyone else was not completely far-fetched.

Naturally, as the 2020 presidential race kicks off, the question now becomes with Sanders running again, will the media’s anti-Bernie bias still exist? After all, if these major news outlets simply favored Clinton in 2016, certainly they wouldn’t have any lasting ill-will towards Vermont’s senior senator, right? Unfortunately, the media has already answered this question with a resounding “hold my beer.”

This is where I would normally write some sort of introduction to college students that hopefully makes them want to learn about the city they live in.

Used Kids, and Embassy Skateboards to the north. Yao’s Chinese Bistro and Magnolia to the south.

Ok now we’ve said that. Kafe Kerouac, Cazuella’s, Dirty Dungarees. Ace of Cups closer north. The Westside  and Eastside probably have places you can have fun and meet people who went to the Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD).

Call me a small town nitwit, but I found myself walking to White Castle and Starbucks at Lane and High. I can remember when that area didn’t look like an area in New York that you might stop at while headed somewhere.

While making this walk, I noticed families moving their kids into campus living. I walked to Panda Express and saw people playing beer pong in the nearby houses.

The contrast between young humans and their families and slightly older young college students drinking made me think about the fact these college freshmen are nervous, excited and in the least moving into a new life.

Being shot by the police is sadly a leading cause of death for black males in this country, according to an August 2019 study by the Los Angeles Times. During a violent encounter with the police, black males are 2½ times more likely to die than white males.

But what about here in Columbus?

Between 2013-2016 the Columbus Police shot and killed 24 people, 20 of them black. At the time, we were number one in the nation of the 15 largest cities in police killing blacks, per capita.

Columbus police use force disproportionately against minorities, said a report initiated by the Columbus Community Safety Advisory Commission as part of an evaluation of the city’s police training and procedures. Matrix Consulting Group issued the 330-page report.

In 2017, whites constituted 61 percent of Columbus’ population, yet were involved in only 26 percent of the police division’s use of force incidents. By contrast, the city’s black population was only 28 percent but the report states that “more than half” of the use of force victims were black.

Hot times, music, and hopefully sunny weather are on their way back to Olde Towne East as the 43rd Annual Hot Times Festival returns, with organizers hopeful for perfect weather after last year’s rain-shortened Festival.

The 43rd Annual Hot Times Festival will take place September 6 through 8 on the front lawn of the Columbus Health Department in Olde Towne East. Hot Times is truly a community festival that brings the community together celebrating art, music and honoring local community artists.

Friday evening of Hot Times was the only perfect day of the Festival last year, with picture-perfect weather to kick off the weekend. However, it was non-stop rain on the second day of the Festival in 2018 that cut the Festival short as the ground got saturated. The dance floor of the Main Street Stage fell victim to the muddy and saturated ground as festival goers braved the rain to enjoy the festival. While the acts on the Main Street Stage continued on as usual on Saturday as scheduled, capped off with a set by perennial Hot Times Headliner C.J. Chenier, the rain proved too much for the Festival to continue on Sunday.

There’s a mantra that Americans are the freest people in the world. The First Amendment guarantees our right to free speech, assembly and redress of grievances. The Republican-dominated Ohio State Senate opposes these basic principles and they memorialize their hatred of civil liberties in Senate Bill 33.

Known all over the nation as the “pipeline protest bill,” SB 33 criminalizes protest activities. This ALEC-based (American Legislative Exchange Council) bill already passed through nine state legislatures – and passed 24-8 in the Ohio Senate. Ohio State Senator Frank Hoagland (R-Mingo Junction), the man who introduced SB 33, is a member of ALEC.

The bill makes trespassing on “critical infrastructure” property different than regular trespassing and defines “critical” as pipelines, natural gas plants, other facilities and even property where a pipeline might someday be built. Protestors found in violation can face a third-degree felony that carries a prison sentence from three months to five years and increases of fines by the ten-fold – up to $100,000.

Now through September 2019
Join our online taco or beer challenge to raise funds for abortion access and immigrant / border justice! We will be fundraising for one of our favorite abortion funds, La Frontera Fund! They are located in the Rio Grande Valley and their day to day work is very much at the intersection of reproductive justice and immigrant justice.  We will also be fundraising for Solidarity with Edith Espinal. Edith has been a part of the Columbus, Ohio community for over 20 years and is currently forced to live in sanctuary because of cruel and unjust deportation policies. Edith's family and community intend to keep Edith home and hopefully set a precedent for how cases like hers are handled both in state and nationally!  More details about orgs we are uplifting during Taco and Beer Challenge coming soon! More information on Facebook. 

Sunday, September 1, 2019, 4:30 PM
There is NO place for apartheid, hatred, and oppression in Dayton and in the hearts of Daytonians. Come help us peacefully send this message.  Sunday, September 1, Christians United for Israel (CUFI) will be in Dayton to “honor” Israel. This is an anti-Semitic organization that supports the oppression and segregation of the Palestinian people. Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and the ongoing inhumane treatment of the Palestinian people is nothing to celebrate or honor!  Bring signs, posters, and yourselves so that we can peacefully show that we do not stand with oppression nor will we allow the inhumane treatment of Palestinian people to be justified in the name of ANY religion. Location: Dayton Courthouse Square, Dayton 45402.  Facebook.