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Powerful
women
deliver
their
message
at the
62nd
Fight
for
Freedom
Fund
Dinner
in
Detroit
By Karen
Hudson
Samuels
and
Wendell
Bryant
Tell UIs
Detroit
DETROIT
(Tell Us
Det) -
The
powerful
voices
of U.S.
Senator
Elizabeth
Warren
and U.S.
Congresswoman
Maxine
Waters
brought
thousands
to their
feet at
the
Annual
Fight
Freedom
Fund
Dinner
at
Detroit’s
Cobo
Conference
Center
Sunday
evening.
Delivering
the
keynote
address,
Senator
Elizabeth
Warren
(D-Mass.)
spoke to
the
“ugly
truth”
of the
new era,
“Yes the
system
is
rigged,
rigged
for the
rich”
adding
that
“Systemic
racism
has
restricted
opportunities...Powerful
people
see
roses
but
don’t
feel the
thorns.”
The
plain
talk
said
Warren
was
intended
to send
the
message
that “We
know
what’s
going
on” and
that
righteous
voices
will not
be
silenced
in the
face of
social
justice,
or by an
administration
that
would
appoint
Jeff
Sessions
as the
Attorney
General
of the
United
States.
Warren
recounted
how
Republicans
voted to
silence
her
during
congressional
hearings
on Jeff
Session’s
nomination.
The
Senator
explained
she was
cut off
while
attempting
to read
a letter
written
in 1968
by
Coretta
Scott
King,
the
widow of
Martin
Luther
King Jr.
criticizing
Jeff
Sessions
as
nominee
to be a
federal
judge.
In the
letter
Senator
Warren
said
Mrs.
King
wrote
that
Sessions
has used
the
powers
of his
office
to
intimidate
and
frighten
elderly
black
voters.
“We will
not be
silent!”
said
Warren,
to
roaring
applause.
The
Honorable
Maxine
Waters
(D-CA,
43rd
District)
was the
recipient
of the
James
Weldon
Johnson
Lifetime
Achievement
Award.
She
inspired
the
audience
in
speaking
the
words of
Weldon’s
Negro
National
Anthem
"Lift
Every
Voice
and
Sing"
that we
will
“March
on until
victory
is won.”
In an
evening
that
made
tribute
to
women,
Waters
is the
most
senior
of the
12
serving
African
American
women in
in the
U.S.
Congress.
A
lifetime
of
service
has
earned
Waters
the
reputation
of being
one of
the most
powerful
women in
politics
today,
millennials
have
dubbed
her
their
“Rock
Start”.
Sally
Yates,
former
Deputy
Attorney
General
Sally
under
President
Obama
and was
awarded
the Mary
Church
Terrell
Freedom
and
Justice
Award.
During
her time
as
Deputy
Attorney
General
Yates
led
criminal
justice
reform
initiatives
Local
Southwest
entrepreneur
Jane
Garcia
was
honored
with the
Ida B.
Wells
Freedom
and
Justice
Award.
The
community
development
activist
the
board
chair
the
Latin
Americans
for
Social
and
Economic
Development
(LASED)
and a
member
of
Detroit’s
Board of
Water
Commission.
Greetings
for the
evening
were
delivered
by Dan
Gilbert,
chairman
of
Quicken
Loans
and Rock
Ventures.
And Rory
Gamble,
Director
of UAW
Region
1A.
Detroit
Mayor
Mike
Duggan
along
with the
Michigan’s
elected
officials
serving
in
Washington
also
delivered
welcoming
remarks
including
U.S.
Senator
Debbie
Stabenow,
U.S.
Senator
Gary
Peters
and U.S.
Congressman
John
Conyers
and U.S.
Congresswoman
Brenda
Lawrence.
Rev.
Wendell
Anthony,
president
of the
NAACP
Detroit
Branch
said of
Warren,
"She is
a
Senator
without
a need
for any
kind of
introduction.
She is a
firebrand.
She is a
people’s
person.
She’s
concerned
about
all the
things
we are
concerned
about:
Health
care,
education,
finance,
foreign
policy,
so she
is the
right
person
for this
task at
the
right
time.”
Maxine
Waters,
the
fiery
Democrat
from
California,
the
senior
African-American
woman
serving
in
Congress,
the
woman
who
inspired
the #BlackWomenAtWork
hashtag
after a
sophomoric
attack
by Bill
O’Reilly,
was also
in
attendance
at the
dinner.
Waters
received
the
James
Weldon
Johnson
Lifetime
Achievement
Award at
the
event.
The
Fight
For
Freedom
Fund
Dinner
of the
Detroit
Branch
NAACP
was
launched
in April
1956
under
the
leadership
of
Branch
President
Edward
M.
Turner,
Arthur
L.
Johnson
and Dr.
Lionel
F. Swan,
co-chairman.
Today,
The
Fight
For
Freedom
Fund
Dinner
is the
largest
sit down
dinner
of its
kind in
the
world.
Serving
approximately
10,000
guests
with a
first
class
meal,
world-class
entertainment,
and some
of the
world’s
renowned
keynote
address
speakers.
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