The human condition includes a vast array of unavoidable misfortunes. But what about the preventable ones? Shouldn’t the United States provide for the basic needs of its people?

Such questions get distinctly short shrift in the dominant political narratives. When someone can’t make ends meet and suffers dire consequences, the mainstream default is to see a failing individual rather than a failing system. Even when elected leaders decry inequity, they typically do more to mystify than clarify what has caused it.

While “income inequality” is now a familiar phrase, media coverage and political rhetoric routinely disconnect victims from their victimizers. Human-interest stories and speechifying might lament or deplore common predicaments, but their storylines rarely connect the destructive effects of economic insecurity with how corporate power plunders social resources and fleeces the working class. Yet the results are extremely far-reaching.

This Wednesday, October 22, a coalition of organizations working to better public safety in Ohio led by Ohio Families Unite Against Police Brutality and OFUPAC will host an O22 2025 Memorial Press Conference inside the Ladies Gallery at the Ohio Statehouse. October 22 is the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality, and this year we will use our collective voice to honor the more than 1200 Ohioans whose lives have been cut short by police brutality in the state since 2000. Out of Ohio's 88 counties, 78 are home to families with loved ones killed by police brutality.

This year’s O22 memorial event will take place inside the Ladies Gallery of the Ohio Statehouse from 10:30am-noon. Speakers will include families who have lost loved ones to police violence, and State Representative Darnell Brewer (OH-22), who will be introducing new legislation.

Speakers will share more about their loved ones while highlighting legislative solutions to strengthen our public safety systems. OFUPAC will also release their new policy brief, titled How We End Community Violence in Ohio. 

At the Newark Octagon, the Major Standstill is fading away. When the moon rises at its astronomically northernmost point on the eastern horizon every 18 to 19 years and pauses before returning southward. Aligning with or “framing” this lunar event, of course, are the corridor walls of this Native American-built earthwork.  

Tuesday, October 21 - various times and sites

Across central Ohio, thousands of people will gather for one reason — to connect.

When we sit down, listen, and share our stories, something incredible happens: community grows stronger.

Pull up a chair, bring your curiosity, and get ready to be part of an unforgettable day of conversations.

Amid this epic battle against fascism and in the wake of Oct. 18, the largest protest in US history, I wanted to take a moment to remember and celebrate the life of a friend and comrade who died recently - Bruce Bostick.

My deepest condolences go out to Bruce's family. Others have written about him, and I'm sure his family, friends, and comrades will continue to share memories.

I got to know Bruce right out of college when I joined the CPUSA and was a community organizer in Cleveland, Ohio. Bruce, a Midwesterner through and through, was radicalized by his involvement in the anti-Vietnam War movement. In the early 1970s, he was already a young, experienced trade union activist at US Steel in Lorain, OH, and one of the leaders of the growing rank and file movement that was trying to transform the United Steelworkers of America into a fighting union. That movement played an important role in changing the USWA and the AFL-CIO.