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Review:
World
Premiere
of Judge
Damon J.
Keith's
Documentary
Outstanding
By
Laydell
Wood
Harper/Tell
Us
Detroit
DETROIT,
MI (Tell
Us Det)
- The
recent
World
Premiere
red
carpet
screening
of “Walk
with Me:
The
Trials
of Damon
J.
Keith”
paid
tribute
to one
of
Detroit’s
greatest
treasurers
the
Honorable
Damon J.
Keith.
Judge
Keith
who will
turn 93
years
old on
July 4th
attended
the
premiere,
and
commented
after
the
screening,
“It
brings
tears to
my eyes
when
looking
at it.
It
brought
back
memories.
I just
hope
that I
have
made a
difference
as a
lawyer
and a
judge.”
And, yes
he has
made a
difference
in so
many
ways
that
have
changed
a
nation;
A nation
that
would
not be
the same
without
the
Honorable
Judge
Damon J.
Keith.
This
extraordinary
documentary
film by
25 year
old
filmmaker
Jesse
Nesser
and
sponsored
by Ford
and the
DTE
Energy
Foundation
documents
the
legal
rulings
made by
Judge
Keith;
Rulings
that
have
influenced
the
nation.
“He
wanted
to take
the
constitution
and
apply it
to this
century,”
said
Congressman
John
Conyers.
What a
joy it
was for
me and
the
audience
to see
Judge
Keith
play an
active
role in
the film
and to
hear
Judge
Keith’s
voice in
his own
words
instead
of a
narrator.
The film
opened
with the
judge
walking
slowly
down a
long,
dark
hallway,
with
hands
clichéd
behind
his back
as if in
deep
contemplation.
Shortly
after he
was
shown
standing
and
gazing
outside
of the
Fisher
YMCA.
The
Judge
began to
speak
about
the
significance
of the
“Y”.
Blacks
were not
allowed
in the
“Y” at
the
time.
The film
took us
on a
guided
tour by
car with
Keith
through
the
Detroit
neighborhood
where he
grew up.
Now
blighted
and
mostly
vacant
lots
where
homes
previously
stood,
he
pointed
to the
lot
where
his
family
home
once
stood at
3860
Hudson
Street.
One of
the most
touching
moments
of the
film was
when
Keith
spoke of
his late
wife,
Dr.
Rachel
Boone
Keith.
As he
spoke of
the day
of her
passing
he
became
still
very
emotional
even
eight
years
after
her
death.
The
camera
stopped
for what
seemed
to be
nearly 5
minutes
while
this
gentle
giant
wept. He
recalled
being on
the
bench in
Cincinnati
and was
called
to the
phone
for an
important
phone
call to
receive
the
shocking
news. He
described
the day
he left
for
Cincinnati
telling
his
bride
(as he
often
called
her) he
would be
back in
a few
days.
Ironically
the two
major
sponsors
of the
Premiere
film
where
once
high
profile
landmark
cases in
Judge
Keith’s
courtroom;
Stamps
v.
Detroit
Edison
Company,
1973
(different
from DTE
Foundation);
Ordered
Detroit
Edison
to pay
$4
million
to black
employees
and
start an
affirmation
action
program
in a
historic
job
discrimination
case.
Robert
Gallagher
tried
the
Detroit
Edison
case
before
Judge
Keith.
Blacks
were
only
hired at
Detroit
Edison
to do
menial
jobs.
Analyst
found a
code for
black
applicants.
It was a
black
dot on
the
application
that
kept
blacks
from
getting
a
promotion,
that was
the
indicator
for the
color of
their
skin.
On and
off the
bench he
is a
humble
servant
in the
community.
When
Rosa
Parks,
(Judge
Keith
called
her
Mother
Parks)
was
beaten
and
robbed
in her
home
Keith
immediately
called
his
friends
Al
Taubman
and Max
Fisher
to find
her a
safer
more
secure
home at
Detroit’s
Riverfront
Apartments.
According
to the
Detroit
Free
Press
Mother
Parks
was
Keith’s
friend
and
comrade
in the
battle
for
equal
rights.
What is
important
for
young
people
to learn
from
this
film is
that
Judge
Keith
did not
start at
the top
he began
his
courageous
journey
doing
menial
jobs to
help
fund his
law
school
tuition.
It’s
important
to note
that in
1949
Judge
Keith
was a
law
school
graduate
and a
Janitor
in the
Detroit
News
building.
As he
cleaned
the
toilets
and
floors
in the
bathroom
one
night,
and took
his
lunch
break
with a
law
dictionary
in hand
a white
Detroit
News
reporter
came in.
As he
was
leaving
he asked
Keith,
“What
are you
reading?”
Keith
responded
I’m
studying
for the
Bar
exams.
The
white
reporter
laughed,
“A Black
lawyer?
You
better
keep
mopping.”
In the
film the
white
reporter
is
played
by
Detroit
News
Editor
Nolan
Finley.
Judge
Damon J.
Keith,
U.S. 6th
Circuit
Court of
Appeals
repeated
more
than
once in
the
documentary:
There’s
not a
day that
passes
that I’m
not
reminded
that I
am
black.
Mitch
Albom,
Detroit
Free
Press
Columnist
along
with
Judge
Damon J.
Keith
and
filmmaker
Jesse
Nesser
had an
on-stage
post
screening
conversation
after
the 90
minute
film.
Former
Michigan
Governor
Jennifer
Granholm
and her
mother
flew in
from
California
to
attend.
As the
audience
of
nearly
60%
white
and 40%
black
attendees
watched
in awe
of Judge
Keith’s
remarkable
accomplishments
particularly
in the
area of
civil
rights,
nine
innocent
people
were
massacred
in
Charleston,
N.C. at
the
Emanuel
A.M.E.
Church.
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