The world owes a lot of gratitude to Detroit, according to U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, Georgia's first Black senator.
Detroit brought the world General Motors, Warnock said, and strong unions and organized labor that fought for livable wages for workers across the nation.
And it was Detroit's Motown that was the soundtrack to the Civil Rights Movement of the '60s. Its rhythm had thousands of people both marching and dancing in the streets.
"The world owes Detroit a big (debt of) gratitude just for Aretha (Franklin) alone," Warnock declared on Sunday at the NAACP Detroit's 68th annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner, which brought an eruption of applause from the audience.
"Motown, you taught us how to sing our song."
Even Ambassador Andrew Young of Georgia, a close friend to Martin Luther King Jr. and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, described Detroit and its people as blessings at the dinner.
The massive annual dinner at Huntington Place, hosting at times as many as 10,000 guests, is a celebration of Black leadership and political influence and cultural prominence, attracting speakers of national prominence.
This year's dinner capped off a series of events honoring the 60th anniversary of King's 1963 Detroit Walk to Freedom, at which the civil rights icon gave an early version of his "I Have a Dream" speech. The NAACP's June Jubilee included a summit on civil rights topics at Wayne County Community College, a commemorative walk down Woodward Avenue, the unveiling of a statue of King at Hart Plaza and the Freedom Fund dinner.
On Sunday, while Warnock recognized the political and cultural influence Detroit has had, and continues to have, he also implored the crowd to continue the legacy of King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement.
Warnock said that 60 years ago, King Jr. spoke in Detroit of the importance of democracy.
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"Where do we go from here?" Warnock asked. "Sixty years later, we are caught between chaos and community."
Chaos, he said, looks like the Jan. 6, 2020 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
"We do not get to say that's not who we are," Warnock said. "In a real sense, that's who we've always been — but that's not all that we are."
By contrast, Warnock said, an example of community looks like him, someone who grew up in public housing with his 11 siblings and was the first in his family to go to college, and to end up as the first Black senator of Georgia.
"Only in America is my story possible," he said.
"We have to decide which America we will be — and it's in that spirit that I fight."
Both Warnock and Young were honored with awards at the event, along with four others: Erin Keith, a staff attorney at the Detroit Justice Center (Great Expectation Award); Kenneth Nixon, president of the Organization of Exonerees (Great Expectation Award); state Sen. Stephanie Chang (Mary Church Terrell Freedom and Justice Award); and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Kyra Harris Bolden (Ida B. Wells Freedom and Justice Award).
Speakers at the dinner emphasized criminal justice reform, ending police brutality, affordable housing, economic mobility, education, voting rights, and fighting for democracy "above all else," as Warnock put it.
"We must continue to sing, we must continue to fight ... We must stand up time and time again and say 'this is the people's house,'" Warnock said.
Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. She can be contacted at 313-264-0442, asahouri@freepress.com or on Twitter @andreamsahouri.
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NAACP Detroit's annual Fight for Freedom Fund dinner hosts national leaders - Detroit Free Press
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