Jo Freeman's Republican Convention Diaries: Cleveland’s Other Gatherings

Jo Freeman's Republican Convention Diary: Cleveland’s Other Gatherings

When the PPJC reconvened on Saturday in the classroom section of the church, their numbers were reduced to about 200, of which about ten percent were black. Many were wearing Bernie t-shirts. On Sunday they met across town, because the church was needed for Sunday services. Numbers were down to 75, of whom only a few were black. Featured speakers were Rev. Lennox Yearwood, head of the Hip-Hop Caucus and Medea Benjamin, a founder of the women's peace group CodePink, both of Washington, D.C.

At 4:00 on Sunday afternoon, about 200 people gathered about 3 miles from downtown Cleveland to hear speakers from a truck parked on the street proclaiming the Worker’s World Party’s presidential ticket of Monica Moorehead and Lamont Lilly. They didn't have a permit, according to the Cleveland police who arrived shortly thereafter.

However, both the police officers and organizers agreed that there should be a peaceful march through downtown Cleveland. WWP organizers had planned to march on the sidewalk and stop for the lights, but the police gave them two lanes in the street with no stopping. In a walk of almost three miles, their numbers expanded to 500 marchers and declined to about 150 at the end, while the number of cops continued to grow to several dozen, mostly on bicycles.

Following a banner reading "Shut Down Trump and the RNC" the marchers included a dozen "Ladies of Liberty" who were CodePinkers dressed in pink, four from the black bloc of Akron, OH, clothed in black from head to toe and wearing the plastic masks that became famous during the Occupy protests in 2011-12, lots of Black Lives Matter signs, mostly carried by whites, one banner on weed (Marijuana) and one young man in a red shirt that said CCCP, which is Cyrillic for USSR. Some things never end.

About 100 feet behind all the others were a dozen RCPers, proudly wearing their black t-shirts, holding a large banner with the faces of blacks shot by the police saying "Stop murder by police."

Overheated cops wearing black uniforms with bulletproof vests used their bikes to enforce turns. Once the marchers passed, they raced down the sidewalk to get ahead of them and block out the next turn. The only danger in the entire march was to the hapless pedestrians on the sidewalk when the cops wanted to pass.

About 150 people were left when the march ended at tall iron fences where Republican party-goers were trying to enter for the traditional delegate-media party on the lake shore. The cops let them rally for a while, then brought in horses to move them back up the street, where they dispersed. As the sun went down, the street was left to the partygoers with tickets for the food and entertainment on the other side of the fence. The RNCers and the STOP RNCers barely saw each other.

Editor's Note

Book Discussion on Cleveland in the Gilded Age
Dan Ruminski, co-author of Cleveland in the Gilded Age: A Stroll Down Millionaires' Row, talked about the lives of influential millionaires in Cleveland, Ohio, during the Gilded Age.

C-SPAN's Local Content Vehicles (LCVs) made a stop in their '2016 LCV Cities Tour' in Cleveland, Ohio, from May 21-27 to feature the history and literary life of the community. Working with the Charter cable local affiliate, they visited literary and historic sites where local historians, authors, and civic leaders were interviewed. The history segments air on American History TV (AHTV) on C-SPAN3 and the literary events/non-fiction author segments air on Book TV on C-SPAN2.

Pages: 1 · 2

News and Issues, History, Culture Watch, Politics, Government, Travel, Senior Women Web, Articles, Sightings, Book Reviews, Jo Freeman, Authors, What's New Add comments

Jo Freeman's Republican Convention Diary: Cleveland’s Other Gatherings

More Articles