Detroit, Michigan – The Michigan Civil Rights Commission celebrated its 50th anniversary in Detroit on September 18 and 19.
On September 18, iconic Judge Damon Keith gave the keynote speech at the anniversary gala held in the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Judge Keith – a living legend in Michigan often compared to Justice Thurgood Marshall – spoke with emotion about the 21st century assault on voter in rights in the United States.
Mel Larsen, the Republican coauthor of Michigan’s landmark civil rights legislation, the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, was honored alongside descendants of his black Democrat coauthor, Daisy Elliott.
Larsen then moderated the first panel in the conference held September 19 in the Wayne State University School of Law.
U.S. Judge Linda Parker spoke candidly about criminal demographics: how almost everyone convicted of violent crimes is uneducated and low-income.
Rev. Bertram Marks, pastor at 1st Community Baptist Church in Detroit, questioned what the Black Church is doing in the 21st century to advance the cause of civil rights. He said most churches struggle to pay the bills with declining membership and fail to embrace new civil rights movements.
Rev. Marks spoke of defending marriage equality in socially conservative black churches. “I got tossed out of a lot of churches,” he said.
Dr. Peter Hammer, director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights, moderated the second panel. “Arab Americans are on the front lines now of civil rights in our country,” Dr. Hammer said.
The first speaker, Hassan Jaber, professor of Arabic and director of ACCESS, cited a poll: 42 percent of Americans support profiling of Arab Americans by law enforcement.
Todd Morrison, president of the Michigan Deaf Association, spoke on civil rights issues with deafness. “The biggest problem we have is courts not willing to provide (deaf) interpreters,” Morrison said.
Steve Tobocman, executive director of Global Detroit who serves on the Michigan Foreclosure Task Force, talked of economic opportunity and civil rights. He called out the “profound exclusion” of minority businesses from venture capital.
He also sounded a theme familiar in St. Louis through the Mosaic Project. “The 10 highest immigration states have African-American unemployment rates 4 points below the national average,” Tobocman said.
The afternoon session featured a local media roundtable where editors and reporters responded to the Ferguson crisis and protest movement. The moderator was Arthur Horwitz, publisher of The Detroit Jewish News and chairman of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission.
Jerome Vaughn, news director at WDET, said the city’s bankruptcy and emergency management process are more primary problems in Detroit than police practices.
Bankole Thompson, editor of The Michigan Chronicle, pointed out that Detroit police have already been through the Department of Justice scrutiny that is just getting underway in Ferguson and St. Louis County.
Sarah Alvarez, a reporter for Michigan Public Radio, said media play an important role in a protest movement by telling the public which advocates are legitimate and which official or agency is responsible for what is being protested.
Horwitz, as a publisher of an advocacy newspaper who chairs a civil right commission, concluded the anniversary panel by asking for comments on advocacy media.
Jerome Vaughn, whose radio station is not technically an advocacy medium said, “We are all advocates for the City of Detroit. And I am an advocate for democracy.”
