FILE - In
a Dec. 15, 2013 file photo, Senior
Judge for the U.S. Sixth Circuit
Court of Appeals Damon Keith speaks
about Nelson Mandela, in Detroit.
Keith, a federal judge famous for
being sued President Richard Nixon
and an iconic national figure in the
civil rights movement died Sunday,
April 28, 2019, according to Swanson
Funeral Home in Detroit. He was
96.(Ricardo Thomas/Detroit News via
AP, File)
Cecile
Keith
Brown:
Judge
Damon
Keith, a
force
for
justice
and good
in the
world
By
Aaron
Best
Tell Us
USA News
DETROIT
- Flags
were
lowered
and
federal
court
offices
closed
for the
day in
parts of
Michigan
to honor
prominent
Judge
Damon J.
Keith ,
who was
a figure
in the
civil
rights
movement.
A
funeral
service
for
Keith
was
Monday
at
Hartford
Memorial
Baptist
Church
in
Detroit.
Judge
Damon J.
Keith
was a
force
for
justice
and good
in the
world,
said his
daughter
Cecile
Keith
Brown
during
his
nearly
three-hour-long
funeral
service
Monday
at
Hartford
Memorial
Baptist
Church
in
northwest
Detroit.
"There
won’t be
another
Judge
Damon
Keith,"
she said
of her
father,
the
senior
judge on
the U.S.
6th
Circuit
Court of
Appeals,
who died
April
28. "But
you all
know the
real way
to honor
Judge
Keith,
our Dad,
is in
what you
do every
day. Do
you play
with
your
children?
Do you
encourage
them? Do
you
listen
to a
student
who
needs a
chance,
advice
or a
job?
"Will
you have
the
courage
to speak
up when
it’s
uncomfortable?
Will you
stand up
for
justice
for all
people —
stand up
against
racism,
sexism,
Islamophobia,
homophobia,
all the
phobias,
all the
isms?
Michigan
Gov.
Gretchen
Whitmer,
who
spoke at
the
service,
ordered
U.S. and
Michigan
flags
within
the
state
capitol
complex
and on
all
state
buildings
to be
lowered
Monday
to
half-staff.
Federal
court
offices
for the
Eastern
District
of
Michigan
were
closed.
"Judge
Damon
Keith
was a
civil
rights
icon,"
Whitmer
said in
her
proclamation.
"In his
decades
of
public
service,
he stood
up for
what was
right,
even if
it meant
facing
attacks
and
threats
from
others.
Because
of his
strength,
his
determination,
and his
commitment
to
ending
racism
in our
country,
Michigan
is
grateful
and
better
for it."
Keith,
who was
remembered
as a
legal
trailblazer,
died
April 28
at age
96. He
served
more
than 50
years in
the
federal
courts,
and
before
his
death
still
heard
cases
about
four
times a
year at
the 6th
U.S.
Circuit
Court of
Appeals
in
Cincinnati.
Dignetaries
in
attendance
were
senators
Debbie
Stabenow
and Gary
Peters,
former
U.S.
Sen.
Carl
Levin.
Gov,
former
Govs.
Jennifer
Granholm
and Rick
Snyder,
Lt. Gov.
Garlin
Gilchrist,
Detroit
Mayor
Michael
Duggan,
and
former
mayors
Dennis
Archer
and Dave
Bing.
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