We’re extremely humbled and excited as we have now pierced 82 countries with our podcast. Thank you to every person who has taken the time to be a part of our broadcasting family.
Some interviews are work. This interview was enjoyable.
Taking the witness stand today we have the high privilege and distinct honor to speak with Mr. Art McKoy, a tough-as-nails Vietnam Army veteran who for more than 50 years has been the outspoken lightning rod leader of Black-on-Black Crime Incorporated.
Black on Black Crime Incorporated’s mission is to help draw attention to the issue of crime, poverty and violence in Greater Cleveland, Ohio. To help make our communities safer, to provide positive alternatives for young people and assist whoever asks for help to the best of its abilities, as well as reducing the incidence of Black-on-Black crime, of course.
Art has been an outspoken critic of the Cleveland Police Department, a flag bearer and firebrand for truth, justice and peace in the inner-city of Cleveland, as well as a staunch community activist and civil rights leader for many decades. He has long “spoken the truth” about the police, both the “over-policing” and “under policing” in communities of color impacting upon the city. Art is a hope-dealer! Just landing Art on Light ‘Em Up was a huge achievement. Art’s schedule is extremely busy, (we got him for 50 minutes) but he was very gracious to speak with us the day after election day, when Cleveland made history once more by electing its youngest ever Black mayor, Justin Bibb. Art said, “We needed to get rid of some of those old folks from City Hall - those that “go along to get along”.
We drilled deep on:
♦ How to move the City of Cleveland forward and the biggest problems that need to immediately be pursued with the new administration.
♦ How he’d bring “social justice” closer to the people of Cleveland if he was the Mayor or Chief of Police.
♦ What is the City of Cleveland doing about its young men of color being gunned down in its streets?
♦ Why the City of Cleveland has a problem with women-of-color going missing.
♦ Fixing the Community Relations Board.
♦ The Voinovich Rule.
♦ Building a coalition between the predominantly Black east side and predominantly White and/or Hispanic west side of Cleveland.
♦ His thoughts 9 years after Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams were shot at 137 times and murdered by Cleveland Police.
♦ Issue 24 (which established a Civilian Review Board to review Cleveland police actions taken in the line of duty).
♦ The endless struggles that the police have in policing themselves.
Art knows better than most that Cleveland and communities of color (in general) have been witness to and “are suffering from too much pain.” He is a survivor of a vicious attack in 2018 in the doorway of his own place of business, in East Cleveland (The Superfly Barber Shop) where he was “sucker-punched” by an enraged customer, over a “5-dollar line” (touch-up hair cut) that he was providing to a young patron. The punch shattered Art’s lens to his eye, broke his nose and he was left for dead. 6 months later, by the grace of God, he recovered!
Art is a survivor, a warrior, and a good man. He is known by the deeds of the people who he has helped. Art is “pressing forward”. He knows all too well that “justice comes to those who fight, not those who cry”. Art has been and always will be to us “The Real McKoy”.
You can find Art on Facebook at The University of Common Sense and you can hear him every Sunday night on WERE 1490 AM from 5pm to 7pm where he hosts The University of Common Sense. Art for 14 years hosted the #1 radio show “Black on Black Crime” on 1100 AM WTAM.
This is an interview you certainly do not want to miss.
Executive Producer
Phil Rizzo