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House Session Ends With Emotional Comments On Racism

Rep. Stephanie Howse (D-Cleveland) speaks about racism and protestors on the Ohio House floor on June 4, 2020.
Ohio Channel
Rep. Stephanie Howse (D-Cleveland) speaks about racism and protestors on the Ohio House floor on June 4, 2020.

As more than a hundred protestors chanted and demonstrated outside the Statehouse, the Ohio House held a voting session that concluded with some passionate comments about the killing of George Floyd and the bigger issues that’s raised.

Rep. Stephanie Howse (D-Cleveland) is the president of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, and one of the two sponsors of a resolution to declare racism a public health crisis. Ohio would be the first state to pass such a resolution, though similar ones have been passed in cities.

Howse grew emotional as she asked her Republican colleagues to talk to the protestors and listen to them.

“This pain – some of you all will never understand it. But I am asking you to take a step back and have a conversation," Howse said through tears.

Republicans hold a 61-38 majority in the House. Eighteen Democrats make up the OLBC.

Rep. Thomas West (D-Canton) also spoke, saying some legislators have asked him what to do and what to say about what's been happening. "The state is waiting for us to come together on this very moment to address this issue of race and race relations," he said.

Their comments were followed by Rep. Haraz Ghanbari (R-Perrysburg), thanking them for their remarks and saying he'd "begun that dialogue" with some protestors and had also met with faith leaders too. He also praised the Ohio Highway Patrol for talking with protestors as well.

And Rep. Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville) concluded, saying "we're going to have partisan divides" but "we don't want that to establish us to not be able to have conversations". And he suggested lawmakers get together both in their offices and outside them when they're in Columbus for session so "we're not just hearing, but we're also listening."

After session, House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) told reporters he thinks there’s a desire to solve the problems that protestors are highlighting.

“The vast majority of the members in this chamber want to get those things done," Householder said. "Some of them, I think they want to get them done. I think they’re a little shy. They aren’t exactly sure how to approach it.”

But he did not commit to moving Howse's resolution, saying some things in it have been dealt with in this session or are pending in the Senate, including priority bills that he and other Republicans have said they've worked on with Democrats.

House Majority Leader Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati) referenced those priority bills earlier in the week in a Twitter exchange that began with a tweet that "the Majority will not be bullied into passing resolutions that haven't received a hearing yet".

That got a response from Minority Leader Emilia Sykes (D-Akron), who said: "we’re just asking you to declare #racismisapublichealthcrisis& join in solidarity with the Black Ohioans you represent."

While Howse said she's hopeful about the resolution's chances, one of her Republican colleagues criticized the proposal on Facebook. Rep. Nino Vitale (R-Urbana) has been critical of the state's response to COVID-19, and Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton in particular.

He posted a photo of the OLBC and wrote on June 2: "Given that the resolution aims to assert that racism is a public health crisis affecting our entire community and the state of Ohio, one could surmise the Ohio Director of Health, Amy Acton, would oversee this effort as well, with potentially no legislative oversight."

In response to a comment to his post, Vitale wrote, "I am darker than MOST of the people in this picture."

When asked about that on "The Sound of Ideas" on WCPN/ideastream,  Howse said, "That's real ignorance....our focus and energy has to be on people we can partner with." And she added, "He's not with us at this moment."

Copyright 2020 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.
Karen Kasler
Contact Karen at 614/578-6375 or at kkasler@statehousenews.org.