Right to Lifers

Right to Life protesters praying, as they regularly do, in front of the Preterm Clinic on Shaker Boulevard in Cleveland on a cloudy Tuesday, October 28, 2014. They're reciting prayers about the "murders" taking place inside the clinic, ending with The Lord's Prayer. I note that they target minorities in their anti-abortion posters and leaflets, a cynical nod to this largely African-American neighborhood.

Hands Up, Don't Shoot

 Young man reciting a poem he wrote about being incarcerated.

 This drummer was joined by other musicians, their music adding strong punctuation to the chants and speeches.

 
Rally in downtown Cleveland Tuesday, October 22 organized by two groups, Puncture the Silence and the Stop Mass Incarceration Network. Picketers marched on a cloudy day from the women's prison to Public Square, where they rallied in protest of police brutality and killings, mass incarceration, attacks on immigrants and other social justice issues. Posters with photographs of people killed by police were displayed throughout the quadrant.

Leave Public Square Alone

This is Satinder P.S. Puri, a retired engineer who is protesting a planned $30-million makeover of Cleveland's Public Square.

Puri, who previously went on a hunger strike to protest the demolition of the historic John Marshall High School on Cleveland's west side, says the rerouting of traffic will cause significant delays, blocking of intersections, long lines, increased travel time for 18 bus routes and more than $1 million additional transit system operating costs. (John Marshall was demolished despite his efforts. A new John Marshall school is being erected in its place.)

 

The plan to close Ontario Street and narrow Superior Avenue to create more "green space" will also fundamentally change the "public" character of Public Square.

It's a lonely fight. Most people walk by apathetically. But he is committed. Fight on, Mr. Puri!

 

 (Photos: Top, Pamela Zoslov; Above, Mark Satola)