Marilyn Kelly
Template:TOCnestleft Marilyn Kelly
The Justice Caucus
On June 7, 2009, The Justice Caucus hosted the 2009 Spirit of Millie Jeffrey Award Dinner to Benefit the Camp Millie Progressive Grassroots Training Organization. Marilyn Kelly, Michigan Supreme Court Justice, attended the event.[1]
2013 14th Annual Douglass-Debs Dinner
167 people attended the fourteenth annual Frederick Douglass-Eugene V. Debs Dinner at UAW Local 600 in Dearborn on Saturday, October 19, 2013. Honorees were retired Michigan Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Kelly and Reverend Charles Williams, II, Pastor of King Solomon Baptist Church. Keynote speaker was Joel Bleifuss, publisher of In These Times magazine.
Dinner co-chairs were Rory Gamble, Director of UAW Region IA, and David Hecker, President of the American Federation of Teachers-Michigan. Entertainment was provided by actress Karen Kron who performed a selection from Emma, an upcoming Matrix Theater production on the life of radical activist Emma Goldman and by folksinger Julie Beutel.
Justice Kelly received the Douglass-Debs Award for her strong defense of workers’ rights and consumers’ rights during her tenure on the court. She has also worked to expand ordinary citizens’ access to the courts. In addition, Justice Kelly has been an advocate of public education. She served for twelve years on the State Board of Education.
Reverend Williams is a local labor, civil rights, and social justice advocate. He is the local leader of the [[National Action Network]] which organized last summer’s commemoration of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1963 Civil Rights March through downtown Detroit. He has been one of the leading voices protesting against the Detroit bankruptcy.
In his keynote address, Joel Bleifuss emphasized the importance of electoral work in promoting progressive change.[2]