Latest news with #OhioLegislativeBlackCaucus
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ohio lawmakers are trying once again to remove slavery from state's constitution
Juneteenth flag. (Getty images) Ohio Democratic lawmakers want to eradicate slavery from the Ohio Constitution. State Reps. Dontavius Jarrells, D-Columbus, and Veronica Sims, D-Akron, are working on a joint resolution that would remove slavery from the state's foundational document. 'This isn't political,' Jarrells said Wednesday during an Ohio Legislative Black Caucus press conference. 'This isn't personal. This is a moral overdue journey to change our constitution once and for all. Other states have already done it. We simply want Ohio to live up to this promise of freedom.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for being convicted of a crime. The Ohio Constitution currently says 'There shall be no slavery in this state; nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime.' Seven states have removed the slavery loophole from their constitution — Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska, according to the Abolish Slavery National Network. 'I submit that slavery and or involuntary servitude in any shape, form or fashion, should be disembodied from the sacred pages of the founding document of our great state,' Sims said. 'It is time to remove any exception under any circumstances, slavery is a vile, despicable imposition upon another human being.' This is not the first time there have been legislative attempts in Ohio to remove slavery from the state's constitution. Jarrells had a bipartisan joint resolution that was unable to get out of committee during the last General Assembly. A Senate Joint Resolution was also unsuccessful back in 2020. If the House and Senate pass the new joint resolution, it would go to the statewide ballot for the voters to decide. Wednesday's press conference was hosted by members of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus in honor of Juneteenth, a federal holiday Thursday remembering the end of slavery in the United States on June 19, 1865 — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. 'Juneteenth signifies the end of slavery, and it's a time to celebrate,' said State Rep. Terrence Upchurch, D-Cleveland. 'Although we are proud of the progress we have made, that does not negate the fact that there are still several challenges Black Ohioans face across the state. People are still struggling with finding housing, healthy foods, good paying jobs, satisfactory education, fair treatment in the justice system, and so much more.' Jarrells introduced House Bill 306 last month, also known as the Enact the Hate Crime Act. 'It empowers victims with real civil remedies and gives law enforcement clear, enforceable tools to hold perpetrators accountable,' he said. 'This bill says that every single person in this state deserves to live without fear, and if you are targeted for who you are, this state will stand with you.' State Rep. Darnell T. Brewer, D-Cleveland, talked about recent gun legislation he is working on. 'Gun violence is devastating our communities,' he said. 'We can no longer afford to be silent or inactive.' Black youth are 11 times more likely to die from firearm homicide than their white peers, according to Brady: United Against Gun Violence. Brewer said he plans on introducing a resolution to encourage responsible gun ownership by promoting safe storage practices to prevent children from accessing guns and a resolution on safe firearm storage education. 'Gun violence is not just an emergency,' he said. 'It's a daily reality.' Infant mortality, when a child dies before their first birthday, is higher for Black babies compared to white babies. The national infant mortality rate is 5.5 per 1,000 live births for babies and 10.9 for Black babies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The infant mortality rate for Ohio Black babies in 2022 was 13.4 per 1,000 live births. 'Why do we stop caring about babies after they're born?' State Rep. Derrick Hall, D-Akron, asked. State Rep. Ismail Mohamed, D-Columbus, talked about House Bill 281, a bill that would withhold Medicaid funding from hospitals that do not cooperate with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. State Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Twp., introduced the bill last month. 'What this bill does is essentially force medical providers to choose between honoring your oath as medical providers or complying with the state's political agenda,' Mohamed said. 'It will discourage immigrant communities from seeking life saving treatment care out of fear.' Mohamed also talked about House Bill 1, a piece of legislation that would place restrictions on foreign ownership of land. State Reps. Angie King, R-Celina, and Roy Klopfenstein, R-Haviland, introduced the bill earlier this year. 'It is arbitrary,' Mohamed said. 'It is discriminatory in its face, and will negatively impact economic development in the state of Ohio.' Follow Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on Bluesky. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
GOP bill to ban DEI, faculty strikes in public higher ed headed to governor
Mar. 26—The Ohio Senate put finishing touches on a controversial campus reform bill Wednesday that would ban diversity, equity or inclusion initiatives and faculty strikes on public college campuses. The 20-to-11 vote, marked by strong Republican support and unanimous Democratic dissent, sends Senate Bill 1 to the desk of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a conservative who has indicated to reporters that he'll likely sign the bill into law, though he wants to review it first. DeWine has 10 business days to make his decision. If enacted, S.B. 1 would: — Ban diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on public college and university campuses and force current DEI initiatives to close, despite offering no definition of what actually constitutes a "DEI" initiative; — Allow the state to withhold funds for non-compliance with the bill; — Require universities to "Affirm and declare that the state institution will not encourage, discourage, require or forbid students, faculty, or administrators to endorse, assent to, or publicly express a given ideology, political stance, or view of a social policy, nor will the institution require students to do any of those things to obtain an undergraduate or post-graduate degree"; — Require students to take a state-designed American civics or history class before being awarded a bachelor's degree; — Automatically eliminate any university degree program that awards fewer than five degrees per year on a three-year rolling average; — Prohibit full-time university faculty from striking; — Require state training for university trustees and reduce trustee terms from nine years to six. Democrats, who have long known S.B. 1 would eventually be confirmed by the legislature, spent much of Wednesday urging DeWine to veto the bill. At a press conference organized by the Democrat-only Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, Columbus-area high school student Michele Huang said the idea of DEI has been "misconstrued beyond comprehension." "What DEI is actually doing, as a student and as a student of color, is facilitating the conversations that need to be had in our public school system," she said. She said her high school's DEI efforts have helped students learn from diverse viewpoints and perspectives. Under S.B. 1, schools would be blocked from establishing any new DEI scholarships and be required to close down their DEI offices and discontinue mandatory DEI training or orientations. "They're helping us have conversations that we need to be having because we can't have them otherwise," Huang said. "In current society, our political issues have become much more social and much more vitriolic, and it's hard to have these conversations in normal spaces." Dayton Unit NAACP President Derrick Foward, who also spoke at the Democratic press conference, told this outlet that he expects the dismantling of DEI initiatives in Ohio to take away opportunities for Black youth and push diverse Ohioans to seek higher education in other states. Republicans, on the other hand, continued to frame S.B. 1 as a much-needed shift for higher ed. Clark County Sen. Kyle Koehler, R-Springfield, called it a "quantum leap" forward. "Parents and students will now have a more comfortable feeling that their public institution of higher learning will foster an environment of open and free expression for everyone," Koehler said. He rebuffed a Democratic argument that S.B. 1 promotes the opposite of diversity, equity and inclusion and noted that he merely believes in a different path to achieve those standards on public college campuses. Sen. Michelle Reynolds, R-Canal Winchester, spoke on the Senate floor specifically to address Ohioans who are concerned that ending DEI will turn back the clock on racial progress. "It's not about exclusion. It's about inclusion that transcends labels, because DEI has become a system that sorts us. It sorts us by race, by gender and by identity, creating a culture where we are defined by our categories instead of our characters," Reynolds said. "That's not real inclusion. That's division with good intentions." ------ For more stories like this, sign up for our Ohio Politics newsletter. It's free, curated, and delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday evening. Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
