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Messaging Training, Part II

Details about event

Tuesday, January 11, 2022, 7:00 -8:3- PM

Messaging Training, Part II

Details about event

Tuesday, January 11, 2022, 7:00 -8:3- PM

Civilian Police Review Board off to a questionable start

Black woman on panel

Six months in, the Civilian Police Review Board has not yet begun their work.

Over twenty years after citizens of Columbus began asking for a civilian board to monitor the actions of the Columbus Division of Police, they overwhelmingly voted in favor of creating this body in November 2020. The first 11-member board was appointed by Mayor Andrew Ginther and approved by Columbus City Council in July of 2021. 

The Civilian Police Review Board or CPRB has two jobs: to hire and supervise an Inspector General (IG), and to serve as a standing administrative jury hearing cases investigated by the Inspector General.

Neither has happened yet.

At the first meeting of the CPRB in August 2021, Chair Janet Jackson expressed a hope that they would hire the IG by December. But during this month’s meeting (January 4, 2022) the topic was not on the agenda. Jackson, who was appointed Chair by Mayor Ginther, brought it up at the very end of the three-hour meeting, seemingly as an afterthought.

Human Trafficking Awareness Month

Holding hands

Human Trafficking is the worst kind of atrocity existing in Columbus, our nation, and world. It is a three-linked chain involving coercion, force, and fraud, and the victims can be of any age, social status, race, gender, or nationality.

It’s a multibillion-dollar industry and more than $30 billion is generated in the United States. Eighty percent of the victims are women and girls. Every 30 seconds someone is being trafficked. The world’s population is 8 billion. Experts report globally there are 30 to 50 million human trafficking victims.

How can this be?  

There has to be more than 50 million human beings trapped in the dark web of human trafficking. The facts are evident: human trafficking statistics are chronically under reported. 

Columbus is not immune – the numbers that are reported do not match. We have women from all over the nation who were brought here.

I would like to make this fact clear: NOT ONE of the human trafficking victims we work with wanted to be a prostitute!

ColumbusMediaInsider: Unknowns Fill Democratic Ticket, Somebodies Remain On Sidelines

Logo

An old political axiom is: "You can't beat somebody with nobody."

An Ohio political axiom is: "It is hard to win the first time around for statewide office. Ohioans vote for the familiar."

Considering the two axioms together, one can only conclude that Ohio Democrats are on the doomsday bus to hell in 2022.

Among the current Democratic lineup, only Jennifer Brunner of Columbus, who won for secretary of state in 2006 and Ohio Supreme Court justice in 2020, has run statewide. Brunner is vying for chief justice.

In a major change, candidates for the high court will carry a party designation next to their name on the general election ballot. The Republican-run Ohio legislature eliminated the non-partisan designation because Democrats have captured three of the seven judgeships in our otherwise GOP-dominated state. The GOP cannot redistrict statewide races like they are trying to do with congressional and state legislative districts, unless, of all places, the Ohio Supreme Court rules to the contrary.

"Who We Are: A Chronicle Of Racism In America"

Film being made

Interweaving lecture, personal anecdotes, interviews, and shocking revelations, the documentary "Who We Are: A Chronicle Of Racism In America" draws a stark timeline of anti-Black racism in the United States, from slavery to the modern myth of a post-racial America.

The main character is Jeffrey Robinson, a criminal defense lawyer in Seattle. Jeff is a storyteller who brings history to life, inviting American audiences of all races to view the history of racism in America, and the erasure of this history is a crime perpetrated on all of us. The ability to connect with almost any audience creates an electric atmosphere. The film choses New York’s Town Hall because of its anti-racist history and historical commitment to highlighting Black artists like Paul Robeson, Langston Hughes, Marian Anderson, and Billie Holiday, when many other doors were closed to them.

Busting Myths: Columbus, Ohio, searches to be a city: The myth of the Columbus Way

Harvey Graff

Columbus, Ohio, is the rare large U.S. city (14th most populous, second largest city in the Midwest, and third most populous state capital) that requires its state’s name for recognition. This is one sign of many that derive from the city’s identity crisis (as I have named it), its weakness as an urban place, and the failure of its major institutions and media. (“Columbus’ identity crisis and its media,” Columbus Underground, July 23, 2021.)

Here's a summary of the January Free Press Second Saturday Cyber-Salon

Black woman

Here’s a summary of the January 2022 Free Press Second Saturday Cyber-Salon that happened Saturday, January 8 at 7pm by Zoom.

Watch the video here.

Free Press Board member Mark Stansbery facilitated the salon on Zoom and streaming Live on Facebook. First, he drew attention to the fact that we have lost a beloved and brave leader, Desmond Tutu.

Mark introduced the first speaker, Maryam Sy, of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. The major project of that organization now is to Reunite Us – holding President Biden accountable for his promise to reunite families separated by our country’s immigration policies. Tell Biden to reunite all families! Submit a comment to the federal government there before Jan 24.

As Israel Plots Endgame in Occupied Golan, Bennett Must Remember Lessons of the Past

With Syria still embroiled in its own war, Israel has been actively rewriting the rule book regarding its conduct in this Arab country. Gone are the days of a potential return of the illegally occupied Golan Heights to Syrian sovereignty in exchange for peace, per the language of yesteryears. Now, Israel is set to double its illegal Jewish settler population in the Golan, while Israeli bombs continue to drop with a much higher frequency on various Syrian targets. 

Sign Fight for $15 and a Union's petition now to demand that ALL workers get paid sick time

McDonalds

I put on my McDonald's uniform to work during the pandemic last year — because if I didn't, I couldn't afford to eat. I worried every day: was today the day a customer or coworker would get me sick?
A lot of people are acting like COVID is over. It's not.
If this new variant does get me sick, I won't get sick leave. McDonald's and plenty of corporations like it expect me to come in, snowstorm or shine, sick or not, or I don't get paid. It's dangerous, it's irresponsible, and it's just wrong.

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