so sad

We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.
— Jawaharlal Nehru

In the past two weeks, Northeast Ohio residents have been devastated by the loss of two incredible women.

Fannie Lewis was a Cleveland City Council representative. She was feisty and incredible. She ran for City Council and won 29 years ago at the age of 54. The reason she ran was because she was tired of seeing her community being destroyed. These were some of the things that she believed and drove her to do her job:

• "You must plan your battles. Not everything is worth a fight, but if it is, fight hard. But don't let anybody pull you into a fight you don't want to fight"
• "If good things aren't coming in, it means you aren't giving any out."
• "Nothing supplied by Satan will ever last. Nothing supplied by God will ever fade away"
• "Never run away from a problem. Problems can run faster than any of us, and they'll always be there to greet us when we get to the next stop."
• "Negativity is like static on a telephone line. It interferes with your success and doesn't accomplish anything"
• "You can't stop someone from disliking you. They're allowed. But that doesn't mean you have to dislike them"
• "You're not going to lose unless you become negative."

When Fannie first came to Cleveland she had a deep-seeded hatred for white people. She saw things in Memphis and heard stories that made her hatred consume her. But due to the unlikely help of reputed gangster, Mickey Rini, she learned that her prejudice was unfounded.

When she was assigned to work for the Democratic Party at the Alta House in Little Italy, Mickey introduced her to his friends in Murray Hill as his friend and she has never forgotten his kindness.

She learned "The foot on the neck keeping a person down is the problem - not the color of the foot" She now believes there is no reason to discriminate and has created many strong friendships with white people and works side by side with whoever is willing to help her. "If help comes in a brown paper bag in a dog's mouth - you take it."

She was instrumental in getting the Ohio voucher program up and rolling. It took her 17 years but she succeeded. For her efforts, many Cleveland City students are able to go to the school of their choice. If you are interested, here is a great article about her.

Mrs. Lewis died on August 11, 2008.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

And yesterday, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, an Ohio congresswoman, passed away at the age of 58. Stephanie was such an incredible force. She was a black woman who stood up with Hillary Clinton even when many of the other black politicians were pushing her to back Barack Obama. She stood her ground and wouldn't switch her loyalty until Hillary dropped out of the race. She had been a prosecutor and a judge who refused to allow herself to be manipulated. An article about Stephanie can be found here.

While I not always agreed with everything she said and did, I had to admire the fact that she, like Fannie, were so strong and positive in their beliefs. Both of them came from poor backgrounds and succeeded due to their own determination and strength of character.

The cost to the community of the loss of these two women is incalculable.