Black women celebrate, network around electoral successes

Just about fifty years ago, Nina Simone released To Be Young, Gifted and Black, a powerful, majestic ode to joy written in memory of her friend, Lorraine Hansberry, author of the Broadway smash, Raisin in the Sun, who died prematurely in 1965 at the tender age of 34.

The song was aimed at young people but it quickly electrified generations of black people of every age who were in the midst of discovering, internalizing and then proclaiming that Black was beautiful. It quickly became kind of a new national anthem for black Americans, one that lifted every voice that sung it, echoing the fervent joy and fierce determination of people who had nearly exhausted themselves in the Sixties bursting holes in America’s Berlin Wall of segregation, discrimination, and humiliation.

South Euclid councilwoman Ruth Gray, president of
National Congress of Black Women Cleveland chapter,
welcomes attendees, flanked by Kim Brown of  the
Black Women's Commission of Cuyahoga County
and county councilwoman Yvonne Conwell.

That sort of energy was in the house last night as more than 150 people assembled on the first floor of an old mansion in University Circle to celebrate a wave of electoral victories by black women candidates in local municipalities this past November.

Maple Hts. Mayor Annette Blackwell and
Essence Doucet of Shaker Hts. were on
hand to congratulate new public officials

Celebrated last night for their recent successful election campaigns were new city council members Davida Russell of Cleveland Hts., Shayla Davis  of Garfield Hts., Dana Anderson of Maple Hts., Cassandra Nelson & Kim Thomas of Richmond Hts., and Juanita Gowdy of East Cleveland, along with Ashley Thomas and Nichelle Daniels, each elected to the Garfield Hts. Board of Education. 

The event was initially planned as a post-election celebration for National Congress of Black Women members. However, a second group, the Black Women’s Commission of Cuyahoga County, signed up as co-sponsor, expanding the list of honorees. Other newly elected officials celebrated were Carmella Williams of Shaker Hts. City Council, village council members Cynthia Beard and Geavona Greene of Highland Hills, and Nakeshia Nickerson and Vivian Walker of Woodmere, and Stephanie Stedmire-Walls, East Cleveland school board.

Newly elected officials honored by Cleveland chapter of National Congress of Black Women [L to R]: Front row, Cassandra Nelson (white jacket)), Cynthia Beard, and Nichelle Daniels. Back Row: Aiyana Hamilton [representing Ashley Thomas], Kim Thomas, Carmella Williams, Juanita Gowdy, Shayla Davis, Dana Henderson, Davida Russell.

Two black women — June Taylor of Beachwood and Gigi Traore of Newburgh Hts. — were elected to their respective seats for the first time, although each had been serving by appointment to this year.

Members of Cleveland chapter, National Congress of Black Women

Many of the women in attendance had never met, a reflection of the county's byzantine political subdivisions. They were coming together from several of the many suburbs that ring Cleveland from north to east to south. This seemed to contribute to the sense of excitement the gathering held. The typical barriers that work against cooperation — differences in community, occupation, generation, social status, appearance, etc. — were minimized in the evening's enthusiasm. 

Leslie White-Wilson and Ray Freeman
share networking moment. White-Wilson
was elected 11th Congressional Delegate
to Democratic National Convention earlier
this month. Freeman is a member of the
Warrnesville Hts. school board, and the
National School Boards Association.

Several of the women in attendance appeared to draw inspiration from the reception's vibe. An attorney in the room was overheard saying that she would continue to run until she was elected judge. A Shaker Hts. data analyst said that while she has always paid close attention to state and national elections, she now realized the importance of local elections, vowing to become more involved.

The NCBW was founded in 1984 by Shirley Chisholm and C. Delores Tucker and has grown to more than 100 chapters. A local NCBW officer said that the Cleveland chapter, in only its fourth year, has already become the nation’s largest chapter with 63 members. South Euclid councilwoman Ruth Gray is chapter president, and county councilwoman Yvonne Conwell of Cleveland is first vice president.

The organization has an IRS 501c(3) tax exemption that requires it to be nonpartisan, a fact Gray acknowledged even as she gave a shout out to Shontel Brown, chairwoman of the local Democratic Party.  A spokeswoman said the group’s emphasis is on empowering black women in their respective communities, voter registration and education, and scholarship aid.

Following the introduction of each newly minted public official and the scrimmage of enthusiastic picture takers as they stood a front room of what is now part of Hawken School’s urban campus, attendees continued in cordial celebration, not just of the recent ballot successes, but in their newly discovered sorority of strength.

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Fudge fumbles again in local judicial endorsement process

Congresswoman's endorsements carrying less and less weight

Almost two years ago to the day, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge attempted an “ill-conceived and ineptly concealed private maneuver” to shape the outcome of the local Democratic Party judicial endorsement process. The botched effort to secure endorsements for two black women candidates, which we reported on here, brought to the surface the uneasy racial tensions that infects so much of local Democratic politics.

But if you thought the Congresswoman would be deterred from long distance interference, you were sadly mistaken. Last month she endorsed five candidates for county judgeships.

Despite there being several competent black women candidates, including two sitting municipal court judges, all five candidates Fudge chose to endorse are white.

U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge chairing hearing on
voting rights at Cuyahoga Community College
on April 25, 2019

Not a single one of the Congresswoman’s choices won the endorsement of the party’s Executive Committee.

What does this mean? For starters, it says that Fudge, who has represented Ohio’s storied 11^th District since 2008, wields astonishingly little influence within party ranks. Her choices gain little benefit from her announced support, and those who run against her candidates do so without political cost.

Our highest ranking elected official is essentially impotent when it comes to advancing our political interests.

This is a disastrous state of affairs for the black community. The political weakness of our Congressperson may not be apparent if one looks only at the election returns every two years. But after this year’s Census, Congressional districts will be expanded and redrawn, and there are lots of factors at play that could mean that the 11^th District seat may no longer continue as a safe preserve of black representation.

Signs of discontent are beginning to emerge within the District over the current state of affairs. The Cleveland NAACP recently joined forces with two political action groups to organize the Unified Endorsement/Ratings Process [UERP]. The three groups plan to vet candidates based on specific criteria of special import to the black community. Judicial candidates will be examined, for example, for their understanding of cultural competency, their appreciation of implicit bias, and their commitment to systemic reform.

The focus this year will be on judicial candidates, expanding over time to include legislative and executive races on local, county, state and national levels. The process launches this week with interviews scheduled for tonight and tomorrow from 5p-9p at the Harvard Community Center, 18240 Harvard Ave. [44128].

This initiative arose out of concerns that the judge4yourself.com process, while well-regarded, nonetheless had some flaws best addressed by this new process. A representative of GPAC, which is comprised largely of activists and clergy, and is a NAACP partner in the UERP process, says its work will complement, not displace, judge4yourself.

The third partner in this new effort, FIINPAC [Formerly Incarcerated Individuals Necessary Political Action Committee], has distinguished itself in years past with some productive voter registration efforts.

A unique feature of the UERP process is that while the NAACP will limit itself to rating candidates, FIINPAC and GPAC intend to endorse candidates and to extend campaign support to those it endorses.

Signs of Clergy Unrest

A more ominous indication that Congresswoman Fudge could be out of step with her constituency arose yesterday when she appeared at the weekly meeting of United Pastors in Mission. UPM, originally formed as an association of young activist pastors, has now matured into a collective of some political sophistication, with regular programming that has become part of the bipartisan campaign circuit for state and local public officials.

Fudge was there to tout her slate of judicial candidates but got pushback from several clergy members on at least two counts. Attendees wanted to know why she did not endorse Joy Kennedy, a well-qualified black attorney, for Domestic Relations judge. Fudge’s answer seemed to indicate surprise that Kennedy had remained in the race.

More problematic for Fudge by far was her avowed support for Gabriella Rosalina, whose father, Basil Russo, gained local renown as a ward leader and city councilman representing Little Italy, eventually rising to majority leader. before becoming a judge, first in Common Pleas, and then the Court of Appeals. Along the way, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor 1979.

Russo has long been a formidable ballot name county wide. Basil’s brother is chief judge of Probate Court. But another brother, Frank, tarnished the family name when he resigned as County Auditor in 2010 after pleading guilty as a ringleader in the county corruption scandal.

Basil has been pulling out all the stops to get his daughter the nomination, making contributions and pledges of financial support left and right, along with calling in old political favors. Some combination of these efforts was apparently enough to win Fudge’s support, along with that of 14 out of 17 Cleveland city councilmen.

Candidate Rosalina, however, has an undistinguished record as an attorney and is clearly uncomfortable on the campaign trail. She was the proverbial doe in headlights when seeking the party’s endorsement last month, which went to her opponent, Lisa Forbes, by such a surprisingly wide margin that Basil reportedly felt double-crossed.

The sense that Rosalina is an inferior candidate and that Forbes handily won the party endorsement led some UPM members to question Fudge’s game plan.

Part of the Congresswoman’s problem is the absence of any discernible criteria for what it takes to win her blessing.

An opaque process, resulting in an announcement of support without an accompanying rationale, followed by the proffer of zero resources beyond perhaps a played out radio commercial, and no consequence for ignoring or contravening the endorsement, have reduced a once-prized 11^th District endorsement to little more than a trinket.

The extreme political weakness of the black community has been developing for several years. As we head to Black History Month we’ll talk about why that is and what the future may hold.

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