Essential: Social Justice Awards & Fundraising^ Reception

Thursday, November 12, 2015 Museum of Contemporary Art MOCAD • 4454 Woodward Avenue • Detroit 48201 Presenting the 2015 Maurice Sugar Voice for Justice Award to Civil Rights Legend Dean Robb

Preceded by the Leonard Grossman Memorial Lecture Poet Jamaal May “Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”

Mark Twain

The law firm of Pitt McGehee Palmer & Rivers knows that everyone has a voice, but not everyone is heard. Every day we work to give our clients that opportunity as one of the largest and most experienced employment and civil rights law firms in .

Congratulations to our beloved Dean Robb Civil Rights Legend Maurice & Jane Preceding the Reception: Sugar Law Center Leonard Grossman 4605 Cass Avenue Detroit, MI 48201 Memorial Lecture with poet www.sugarlaw.org Jamaal May 313-993-4505 Introduction by Catherine Grossman

Essential: Social Justice ^ Awards & Fundraising Reception Welcome John Philo, Executive Director & Legal Director Community Justice The Community Benefits Movement (short video) Rashida Tlaib, Community Partnerships & Development Director Awards Presentation Bill Goodman, President of Sugar Law Center Board of Directors Remarks by our Maurice Sugar Voice for Justice Awardee Dean Robb Closing Remarks Tony Paris, Lead Attorney Essential Advocacy Committee Catherine Grossman Joseph Lipofsky Jeanne Mirer Sid Simon Thank You Sue Marx Smock, Chair 2015 Essential Advocacy for Social Justice Sponsors David Whitaker

Defender Sustainer Friend of Sugar UAW International AAUP-AFT Local 6075 Building Movement Detroit Peoples Platform ACCESS Judge Avern Cohn Advocate Blanchard & Walker, PLLC Covenant Community Care Pitt, McGehee, Palmer & Rivers, P.C. Kazan, McClain, Satterley & Greenwood Sara Gleicher UAW-Ford National Programs Center Michigan Nurses Association Deborah Gordon Law UAW Region 1A Nacht Law Deborah Groban Olson Marygrove College Equitable Detroit Coalition Partner Michigan AFL-CIO David J. Houston & Elizabeth Keenan Law School Progress Michigan Jeanne Mirer AFT-Michigan Restaurants Opportunities Center OPEIU Local 494 Goodman-Hurwitz, P.C. (ROC)-Michigan Public Justice Foundation Richard Goodman-Katie Kalahar UNITE HERE, Local 24 Ronald Reosti

Graphic Design: Barbara Barefield DesignWorks

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 1 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 Dean~ It is difficult to imagine anyone who has fought harder to fulfill Ernie Goodman’s dream for a better world than you. From the fight against fascism during WW II to the fight against the repression of the late ’40s and ’50s to the civil rights movement to the current movements against the 1%, your life stands as a glimmering presence that inspires all of us. Maurice Sugar was proud to call you his friend and colleague and would be equally proud were he with us today. We love you and are delighted to honor you.

Goodman & Hurwitz, P.C. 1394 E. Jefferson Avenue • Detroit, MI 48207 • 313-567-6170 u [email protected] William H. Goodman • Julie H. Hurwitz • Kathryn Bruner James • Nicholas H. Klaus Elaina Bailey • Anneliese Failla • Sharon Konop • Karene Meneses • Sean Riddell • Kara Sullivan

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 2 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 Working for Economic & Social Justice S ugar Law Center

he Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice team thanks T you all so much for your partnership in fighting for economic justice for individuals and communities across the country. We are proud of the work we have done in support of the community benefits movement, combating wage theft, supporting laid- off workers, and promoting environmental justice in urban, immigrant, and low- Sugar Law’s John Philo with Grace Boggs and others at the ??????????????? income communities. ?????????????????????????

JOB LOSS JUSTICE tens of thousands of dollars in penalties. Criminalizing the Unemployed The Sugar Law Center has seen drastic increase in both Sugar Law Center, along with the the amount of these intakes and the egregiousness of (UAW) and individuals from around the state, filed suit the charges. The state’s robo-adjudication system is not in the federal court against only deterring working people who are between jobs officials at the State of from filing and collecting insurance benefits they are Michigan’s unemployment entitled to, but, it is jeopardizing an essential safety net, insurance agency. The resulting in delays that out-of-work folks cannot afford. lawsuit claims that the Sugar Law Center and other named plaintiffs in the case state’s automated system are being represented by the law firms of Blanchard & of alleging fraud and Walker, PLLC and The Nacht, Roumel & Salvatore, P.C. imposing severe penalties of Ann Arbor. is illegal and violates Worksite Closings & Mass Layoffs persons’ rights under the Constitution and under The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification the Social Security Act. Act (WARN Act) requires employers to give advance notification of job loss. This Act mitigates the The automated system devastating effects of layoffs by providing meaningful makes a determination opportunities for workers to transition to other of whether claimants have employment and enroll in retraining programs while committed fraud and then assesses the maximum providing local governments an opportunity to plan amount of monetary penalties before any hearing and services and respond to lost tax revenues. Such laws any meaningful opportunity to respond. The penalties are part of a social safety net providing some measure imposed are severe, ranging from several thousand to Continued on page 5

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 3 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 Above, Rev. Joan Ross with ???????? at the first ever State- wide Community Benefits Confer- ence in Detroit. Left, Sugar Law’s Tony Paris, Rashida Tlaib and Catalina Rios participating in the week of Working for Economic & Social Justice #TakeonHate- S ugar Law Center withAction. Continued from page 3 of protections towards a fuller realization of our right to We continue to provide legal economic and social security. and advocacy support to several groups in Michigan, Illinois, Sugar Law continues to represent workers across the Minnesota, Massachusetts, country on federal and state WARN Act claims to ensure and Philadelphia. Sugar that employees are provided advance notification of Law Center is still pushing plant closings and mass layoffs. Along with our co- forward in advocating for counsel, this year we have represented and successfully the first community benefits obtained recoveries on behalf of Virginia mine workers, ordinance at Detroit City New York electronics manufacturing employees, Illinois Council. The ordinance is warehouse distribution workers, Michigan plastics currently being considered manufacturing employees and others. and requires those developers receiving public subsidiaries to enter into a community benefits COMMUNITY JUSTICE agreement with the host neighborhood. In the Community Benefits meantime, we continue to support local organizations like Friends of Riverside Park who recently fought for a We held the first ever Statewide Community Benefits Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with a recent land Conference, titled “Justice for Our Neighborhoods,” swap deal that would alter the usage of the public park. with fifteen municipalities represented from Kalamazoo to Detroit. With the tremendous partnership of Equitable The community benefits process, a community-driven Detroit Coalition, Economic Justice Alliance of Michigan, solution to negative impacts of developments, continues Progress Michigan, CDAD, and Michigan Black Chamber to prove to be an effective approach in addressing of Commerce, we were able to educate and train environmental harm, displacement, unemployment and residents on communication skills, organizing tools and underemployment, lack of small businesses having access community benefits strategies across the country. to service and supplier contracts and other negative impacts on local neighborhoods.

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 4 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 Photo: Barbara Barefield

Clockwise from top: demonstration in downtown Detroit; Rashida, left, spoke on a panel at the National Lawyers Guild Convention about the community benefits movement; Linda Campbell of the Equitable Detroit Coalition testifies before Detroit City Council.

Water Affordability the constitutionality of such laws and are litigating the discriminatory impact of this law on communities of We are proud to be part of a legislative committee color in federal court. to develop policy changes needed to make water affordable, accessible, and clean. The recommendations Environmental Justice include a water affordability bill of rights, creating a The Sugar Law Center joined with communities across protection program for seniors, families with children, the country to sue the Environmental Protection pregnant women and others, as well as preventing water Agency (EPA) for years of delay in failing to investigate bills from being attached to property tax billing system environmental justice complaints. The complaints arise with higher interest rate. from discrimination by various states when granting Democracy Emergency permits for facilities that disproportionately impact communities of color and that add to the environmental Our office continues to oppose Michigan’s emergency burdens of communities already hit hard by pollution. manager law and to Each of the complaints were filed between 1992 and prevent their spreading 2003 and have yet to be acted upon the EPA. The Sugar to other states facing Law Center and the other plaintiffs in this case are being financial stress. The laws represented by attorneys from Earthjustice. permit appointed state officials to assume all the governing powers WORKPLACE JUSTICE of local elected officials Stop Wage Theft and local elected school We prevailed in one of the largest class action lawsuits, boards and to radically helping over 5,000 temporary workers, majority being alter the fabricate of local African American and Latino employees, gain justice in government without their wage theft claim. input from citizens. Together with our allies, In partnership with MOSES and ROC-Michigan, we held we have challenged Continued on page 7

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 5 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 We honor Dean Robb and the Sugar Law Center for their dedication and work fighting for justice.

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Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 6 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 Working for Economic & Social Justice S ugar Law Center Continued from page 5 a Wage Theft Town Hall this spring in the east side of Detroit. Workers left equipped with a better understanding of their rights when employers fail to Sugar Law Center is representing workers in a wage theft suit pay minimum wage, overtime pay, prevailing wage, against A-Plus Painting in federal court. In a lawsuit filed against living wage or when they illegally implement excessive the company and its owner, the workers claim that A-Plus failed deductions, fees and other forms of wage theft. to pay minimum wage for all hours worked, did not pay overtime, and required them to work in inhumane conditions. The lawsuit Some of our more recent fights in this area include the also claims that to avoid critical worker protections, A-Plus Paint- cases of, Ramirez et. al. v. A-Plus Painting , Yancey et. al. ing misclassified their workers as independent contractors. v. Prudential Security and Eberline v. Douglas “The plaintiffs, who come from J. where we represent immigrant workers on multiple states, painting crews, temp. security guards recruited make multiple from Detroit neighborhoods for high-profile allegations against events, and cosmetology school students A-Plus Painting that demonstrate a working in salons operated by for-profit pattern of con- schools. In each of these cases, we are seeking sistent wage and to ensure the right of low income individuals to hour violations and be paid for hours worked. If you know someone worker abuse.” who worked for A-Plus —Tony Paris (shown above), Lead Attor- Painting, worked as a ney at SLC. temp. security guard at Prudential Security, or “In the world’s greatest nation, our own citizens are forced to enrolled in a for-profit make third world choices: between buying food or keeping cosmetology school the lights on, paying the rent or paying the heating bill.” or other low wage or — Rashida Tlaib, on MSNBC’s Morning Joe temp. workers not Left, John Philo at a protest to stop the being properly paid for massive foreclosures their work, please have in Wayne County. them contact our office. Right, Sugar Law welcomed Mothering Thank you for supporting Justice to its offices us and being a vital part for their phone of the Sugar Law Center bank in educating Michigan families on for Economic & Social their fight for paid Justice. sick leave.

“Striving for social justice is the most valuable thing to do in life.”~Albert Einstein Bravo to Dean Robb & Sugar Law for your work making the world a better place. d to B. ~Barbara & Spencer Barefield ul A wo ogic wil from erywhe r t, I L l get you ev re. we e not a physicis ou I .” ginatio y If n a n will take “ robably b ia Im p e a music

313-574-6847 • barefieldclayworks.com 313-891-2514 • spencerbarefield.com [email protected] [email protected] | Jazz composer, guitarist Graphic Design | Photography | Ceramic Art Producer of Palmer Woods Music in Homes

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 7 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 We’re so proud of our Past President and Visionary Leader, Dean Robb!

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 8 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 Leonard Grossman Memorial Lecture Jamaal May Poet

Jamaal May was born and raised in Detroit. His first book,Hum (2013), won a Beatrice Hawley Award and an American Library Association Notable Book Award and was an NAACP Image Award nominee. LEONARD GROSSMAN Hum explores machines, A native Detroiter, Leonard technology, obsolescence, Grossman was raised in metro- and community. politan Detroit and was a founding In an interview, May member of the Sugar Law Center. stated of his first book, He received a B.A. and law degree “Ultimately, I’m trying from the , to say something about and went on to a career in real dichotomy, the uneasy spaces estate development. Leonard was between disparate emotions, a past president of the Michigan and by extension, the uneasy Branch of the American Civil spaces between human connection.” Liberties Union. May’s poems have appeared widely in Leonard was also a board member journals such as Poetry, New England Review, The Believer, and Best American of the Fund for Equal Justice and Poetry 2014. May’s honors and awards include a Spirit of Detroit Award, the Cranbrook Peace Foundation. an Indiana Review Poetry Prize, and fellowships from Cave Canem, Bread For many years he was the Loaf, The Frost Place, the Lannan Foundation, and the Stadler Center for treasurer for the annual Buck Poetry at Bucknell University. He is the 2014-2016 Kenyon Review Fellow at Dinner, which raises money for Kenyon College and a recipient of the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship in Italy. progressive causes. A recognized leader in this region’s progressive May has taught poetry in Detroit public schools and worked as a freelance community, he was content to sound engineer. He has taught in the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA work behind the scenes without program, and codirects, with Tarfia Faizullah, the Organic Weapon Arts seeking the limelight. Chapbook and Video Series. The Sugar Law Center created the lecture series to honor his legacy.

To Dean Justice is a Constant Struggle. You have been a constant presence

Photo: Barbara Barefield in this struggle! Congratulations to a true hero Jeanne Mirer

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 9 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 Martin Luther King Jr., left front, stands next 2015 Maurice Sugar Voice for Justice Award to Dean Robb at the first interracial conference of southern and northern lawyers in Atlanta in 1963, Dean Robb Civil Rights Legend organized by Robb. Dean Robb was born on a Southern Illinois farm on February 26, 1924 to Zenas and Mary Robb. Both of his parents were teachers and farmers where the family lived in an isolated area known as Lost Prairie. Early on, his parents instilled in him a strong work ethic and appreciation of com- munity. In high school, his passion for being involved in numerous activi- ties did not diminish even though he had to hitchhike ten miles home and do farm chores. After studying at the University of Illinois, Robb decided to join the Navy. He returned to college two years later and became a part of organizations that tried to eliminate racial discrimination on campus and participated in early sit-ins of segregated businesses. These experiences led him to explore a career in social work ministry for the Presbyterian Church. In 1946, Robb moved to Detroit to live at the Dodge Community House in Hamtramck. He then found himself attracted to labor law because he felt that the law had potential to do more for freedom than the churches. During this time, he was greatly influenced by a couple of lawyers and as a team they formed the first interracial law firm in America: Goodman, Crockett, Eden and Robb. This law firm became famous for its defense of victims of harassment by police for their race or political views, free speech, deportation charges, and much more. In the fifties, Robb worked to become an expert in personal injury and trial law. As a result of his networks around the country, the American Trial Lawyers Association (ATLA) was formed. At this point in his career, ques- tions arose on why he mixed his civil rights work with representing injured people and other victims. He responded with, “Actually they are all about the same. People who have been deprived of their livelihood because of work injuries or unnecessary physical occurrences are not much different from people who have been deprived of their freedom of independence by political, racial to religious bigots and tyrants.” Dean Robb embodies the spirit of the Maurice & Jane Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice. As an early champion of the labor and civil rights movements, he was instrumental in organizing a historic inter- racial National Lawyers Guild seminar in Missis- sippi to train volunteer attorneys to defend Dean Robb in the courtroom … and on the farm. victims of racial discrim- ination. As a result, over two-hundred volunteer attorneys from Michi- gan alone worked on these southern civil rights cases. Dean Robb with the Viola Liuzzo family. Robb also served as a lead trial counsel in a civil lawsuit against the FBI filed by the family of murdered Detroit freedom rider Viola Liuzzo, who was shot and killed on the final day of the Civil Rights March from Selma Bill Goodman, Julie Hurwitz and Claudia Morcom listen to Robb Continued on page 13 speaking at a National Lawyers Guild Convention in Detroit.

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 10 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 Dean Robb with Nelson Mandela Photo: Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University

William Kunstler, left, and Robb

In 1966, a celebration for George Crockett’s inauguration as Recorders Court judge with members of the Goodman firm. From left are: Dean Robb, Robert Millender, Maurice Sugar, Crockett, Ernest Goodman and George Bedrosian. Time to take a stand, below, and time to take a seat, relax and enjoy nature, left. Dean and Cindy Robb with Jesse Jackson

Dean Robb in the courtroom … and on the farm.

Julian Bond, Robb and Maryann Mahaffey

Michael Bill Goodman, Julie Hurwitz and Claudia Morcom listen to Robb Ernie, Dick, Freda and Bill Goodman with Moore and speaking at a National Lawyers Guild Convention in Detroit. Robb, second from right. Robb

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 11 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 The Michigan Nurses Association is proud to stand with Sugar Law Center in the ongoing fight for workplace rights and economic justice.

Stronger Together.

minurses.org

Equitable Detroit Coalition, the member organizations, families and individuals it represents, express our appreciation to Sugar Law Center for Social and Economic Justice, for your continued commitment and dedication to the advance of “just” and “equitable development“ in the city of Detroit.

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 12 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 2015 Maurice Sugar Voice for Justice Award Maurice & Jane Sugar Dean Robb Civil Rights Legend Maurice and Jane Sugar are Continued from page 10 well known for their legacy of to Montgomery in 1965. His strong sense of justice also activism on behalf of workers led him to continue his fight for equality in champion- and for advancing the labor ing the establishment of a protected class for members rights movement. of the LGBT community. He continues to be active with Maurice Sugar was born and numerous legal groups, including Trial Lawyers for Pub- raised in Michigan, moving to Detroit at a young age lic Justice (founder), and studying law and economics at the University of Sixth Circuit of Michigan. He and his wife were both politically active and the American Trial their interest in worker protections directly influenced Lawyers Association his legal career, where he made a name for himself (governor), Mich- representing unions and serving as general counsel to igan Trial Lawyers the United Auto Workers Union from 1937 to 1946. Association (presi- The Maurice and Jane Sugar Law Center for Economic dent), ATLA national and Social Justice was founded as a national non-profit, committee on Civil public-interest law center in order to continue the Rights (co-chair), legacy of these upstanding individuals. Throughout its Detroit Bar Associ- history, Sugar Law has highlighted the interdependence ation’s Negligence of civil and economic rights, pursuing economic justice Law Committee by supporting grassroots campaigns for a living wage, (chair), and he is a representing communities of color in challenging lifetime member of environmental racism, and pressing for corporate and

the NAACP. government accountability. Photo: Barbara Barefield Barbara Photo:

Here’s to you, Boss. We love and salute you. Dick & Katie

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 13 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 14 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice is a national nonprofit public-interest law center, dedicated to defending the rights of working people and their communities. We work for economic Staff and social justice by demanding legal and moral ac- countability from corporations and government. When John Philo, Executive Director & Legal Director people anywhere in the U.S. face workplace or social Rashida Tlaib, Community Partnerships & Development Director injustice, the Sugar Law Center and its broad network Tony Paris, Lead Attorney of cooperating attorneys provide representation to Special recognition to our support team enforce their legal rights. Connor Brown Amanda Kaye Jack Schultz Sugar Law Center is proud to be affiliated Kathleen Garbacz Alyssa Pillow Petioni Taron Smith with the National Lawyers Guild. Phyliss Jeden Catalina Rios and of course our phenomenal interns this past year. Maurice & Jane BOARD OF DIRECTORS Sugar Law Center William Goodman Joseph Lipofsky Sue Marx Smock 4605 Cass Avenue • Detroit, MI 48201 Holly K. Herndon Jeanne Mirer Mark D. Stern www.sugarlaw.org • 313-993-4505 Julie H. Hurwitz Jerome L. Reide David Whitaker

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 15 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 16 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 Marygrove College has a long legacy of blazing trails. We continue to honor the spirit and values laid in stone by our founders, MARYGROVE COLLEGE the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHMs) and we challenge ourselves Undergraduate Admissions (313) 927-1240 to lead—as they do—by example. Master in Social Justice (313) 927-1418

8425 W. McNichols, Detroit, MI 48221

www.marygrove.edu

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 17 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 18 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 We congratulate Dean Robb Sugar Law’s 2015 Voice for Justice Awardee

Davi d Blanchard focuses on helping Angela Walker provides advice and people get back to work, stay at work, advocacy for employees facing discrimination fighting wage theft, and preventing at work, fighting a wrongful termination, or retaliation and wrongful termination. being denied compensation and benefits to which they are entitled.

221 N. Main Street, Suite 300 • Ann Arbor, MI 48104 • 734.929.4313 • www.bwlawonline.com

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 19 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015 Your Host Jacques Driscoll [email protected] 313-962-5588 248-515-0894, cell Green Dot Stables 2200 W. Lafayette, Detroit, MI 48216 Johnny Noodle King 2601 W. Fort, Detroit, MI 48216 Huron Room 2457 Bagley, Detroit, MI 48216

THE

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS -- AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, LOCAL 6075 WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY CHAPTER

SALUTES THE

SUGAR LAW CENTER

AND THEIR

TIRELESS EFFORTS

DEFENDING DEMOCRACY AND WORKERS’ RIGHTS

AND

FIGHTING FOR COMMUNITIES

WE THANK YOU

CHARLES J. PARRISH MICHELLE FECTEAU PRESIDENT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice 20 Essential: Advocacy for Social Justice 2015

The men and women of the International Union, UAW salute the Sugar Law Center. We stand in solidarity with you in the fight for social justice.

Dennis Williams President Gary Casteel Secretary-Treasurer Vice Presidents Cindy Estrada, Norwood Jewell, Jimmy Settles