The Free Press is honoring Cynthia Brown of the Ohio Coalition To End Qualified Immunity with our annual “Libby” Award at a ceremony Thursday, November 9. Cynthia Brown is a regular speaker at the Free Press salons and championed as a Free Press Hero online. The Free Press honors community activists annually with a "Libby" Award for Community Activism, named for a former Free Press editor, Libby Gregory, who lost her life in 1991 in an airplane accident. 

A Youngstown native, she studied criminal justice and political science at Columbus State Community College, media and communications and African American studies at Youngstown State University, and public policy and African American studies at Mesa Community College.

She is the founder and CEO of Heartbeat Movement Inc, a multiracial, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit social justice organization directed solely by Ohioans. Heartbeat Movement focuses on legislative and policy change to end systemic racism, institutionalism, injustice, and inequality.  

In 2021, Cynthia founded Accountability Now Ohio, that sought to create a civil course of action for rights deprivations via ballot initiative. Accountability Now Ohio also lobbied state legislators to introduce bills to reform policing in Ohio.

Cynthia’s passion to change the system has grown since her nephew Kareem Ali Nadir Jones was shot and killed by Columbus police in 2017. He was harassed for no good reason and ordered to get on the ground. He was then tragically shot in the face, neck, and in the back while on the ground by two white officers. Both are still with the Division.

She has been unwavering in her fight to change or end qualified immunity for law enforcement in the state of Ohio, which if successful, could remove the legal shield police have from being sued civilly by victims of excessive force. Her current efforts with her group the Ohio Coalition To End Qualified Immunity is to put a constitutional amendment on the Ohio ballot.

Ending qualified immunity is a grassroots effort led by the parents, families and friends of those deceased by police violence. Their mission is this: “Eliminating the use of qualified immunity as a defense in Ohio’s civil courts is absolutely necessary to ensure no one is above the law.”

“The ballot initiative is going to end qualified immunity for all government workers,” said Brown, “We are asking them to clarify the true meaning of qualified immunity. That’s the only way we are ever going to get accountability. I have come to the conclusion that you can train them all you want, but if they are going to kill in a split second you are going to get the same result if you don’t try to de-escalate the situation first.”

“Like the civil rights movement, it’s going to take law to change things. The civil rights movement changed a lot as far as my parent’s generation, when they couldn’t vote or go to certain restaurants, hospitals or drinking fountains. That’s how you change things,” she said.

Cynthia is the recipient of several awards including a 2020 Trailblazer Award, a 2021 Hero Award and a 2022 Ohio Senatorial Citation, to list a few.

The Free Press Awards dinner will be free and open to the public on Thursday, November 9 from 5-8pm at the Vanderelli Room, 218 McDowell Street in Franklinton. In addition to honoring Cynthia, the 2023 Free Press Activist Artist Award will be presented to Alicia Jean Vanderelli of the Vanderelli Room art gallery. The dinner features music and food from the Americas including vegan and gluten-free options courtesy of Gary Witte and Winie Wirth.

Following the awards presentation, renowned peace activist and author David Swanson will speak on “War Abolition and the Ukraine Problem.”

RSVP: colfreepress@gmail.com or on Facebook