M-L-C-F
12th April 2014, 04:51
Ken Cockrel Sr., a great American Marxist. Died April 25th 1989.
http://thelastcolumnist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/KenCockrelSr..jpghttp://image1.findagrave.com/photos/2009/90/27008550_123862021707.jpg
Biography (http://daahp.wayne.edu/biographiesDisplay.php?id=101):
An attorney and politician, Ken Cockrel Sr. served as one of Detroit's most powerful voices for social justice in the 1960s and 1970s. A self describe Marxist-Leninist, Cockrel relentlessly challenged the racial and economic status quo in Detroit through his defense of African Americans in the courtroom, as an activist against police brutality, and then during a term as a city council member. Through his efforts on behalf of the people of Detroit, Cockrel became a leader in the city and was widely touted as a future mayor at the time that he died suddenly from a heart attack.
Cockrel was born in 1938 in Royal Oak Township. His father worked at the Ford Highland Park plant and his mother was the first African-American graduate of Lincoln High School in Ferndale, Michigan. Both his parents died when Cockrel was twelve years old and he went to live with relatives in Detroit. Cockrel attended Northwestern and Central High Schools but dropped out when he was seventeen. He served in the United States Air Force as an airman second class. After his discharge in 1959, Cockrel entered Wayne State University and graduated in 1964 with a degree in political science. He immediately enrolled in Wayne State's law school and received his law degree in 1967.
After receiving his law degree, Cockrel became a partner in the law firm of Philo, Maki, Cockrel, Rubb, Spearman, and Cooper and immediately launched a legal career that would change the social and political landscape of Detroit. Through a series of highly publicized cases, Cockrel highlighted the oppressive social structure under which Detroit African Americans lived. In his first such case, Cockrel, defended Alfred Hibbitt, who was accused of shooting two police officers in a 1969 shootout at the New Bethel Baptist Church. Cockrel won an acquittal for Hibbitt by citing the racist activities of the Detroit Police Department. Cockrel burst into the consciousness of all Detroit during the trial when he was charged with contempt for calling the presiding Recorders Court judge a 'lawless, racist, rogue bandit, thief, pirate, honky dog fool." He successfully defended himself against the contempt charge, partly by exposing that the Wayne County Jury Commission systematically insured that juries were overwhelmingly white, male, and middle class. In 1970 Cockrel successfully defended James Johnson who shot and killed a co-worker at a Chrysler auto plant. Cockrel won an acquittal by demonstrating the oppressive working conditions at the plant, which he argued pushed the defendant to a mental breakdown that resulted in the shooting. Cockrel also became the leader of the citizens group that led the protests against the Detroit Police Department's STRESS (Stop the Robberies-Enjoy Safe Streets) unit, which had a long record of police brutality in the African-American community. His successful defense of Hayward Brown, who was accused of shooting a Detroit police officer, hinged on demonstrating that Brown fired in self-defense because the actions of the STRESS unit had created a climate of fear among Detroit's African Americans. Coleman Young disbanded the STRESS unit when he became mayor in 1974.
Cockrel was elected to the Detroit City Council in 1977 where he continued his fight for social justice. He was particularly vocal in his opposition to the granting of tax abatements to businesses in an attempt to keep them in the city. Cockrel retired from the Council in 1982 and returned to private legal practice. Cockrel's dedication was recognized by a variety of organizations. In 1973 he received the Distinguished Achievement Medal from the Detroit branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Outstanding Leadership Award in Civil Affairs from the Cotillion Club. In 1976 he received the Frank D. Reeves Award from the National Conference of Black Lawyers.
In Memory of Kenneth V. Cockrel (http://www.johnsinclair.us/writings/20-features/861-in-memory-of-kenneth-v-cockrel.html)
(November 5, 1938-April 25, 1989)
By John Sinclair (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sinclair_%28poet%29)
The sudden and unanticipated death of Kenny Cockrel by a massive heart attack April 25th brought Detroit unprecedented heartache and grief.
Cut down from within at perhaps the height of his considerable powers as a champion of the people and spokesman for human and economic rights, Ken Cockrel's death left us for the first time in 25 years without the hope that he would some day lead our city into the 21st century through the force of his penetrating social analysis and fearless personal integrity.
The memorial service held for Ken at Rackham Auditorium in the Cultural Center on Saturday, April 29th, brought together hundreds of Ken's friends and followers to comfort one anothcr and listen to a moving procession of eulogies, including tributes from Mayor Young, Governor Blanchard, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Dennis Archer, Rev. Nicholas Hood and Bishop Thomas Gumbleton as well as Kenny's brothcr Sye, son Ken Jr., co-workers Mike Hamlin and Deborah Gaskin, and ace comrade-in-arms Justic Ravitz.
Compositions by Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington were offered by a group of Kenny's musical friends, including Donald Walden, Phil Lasley, Kenny Cox, Jeribu Shahid and Roy Brooks. A particularly touching tribute was a brief videotape edited from hours of newsreel footage which showed Ken speaking at and on various stages of his public life, setting it out for the people in the way only Kenny Cockrel could.
On the Friday afternoon before the service I received a phone call from playwright Ron Milner, in Los Angeles on business. He'd composed a tribute to our late comrade that he wanted me to read for him at Rackham. I took it down over the phone, and Shahida Mausi arranged for it to be read the next morning.
Friday night I read Ron's piece between the acts at a poetry session at the Union Street Gallery, and Melba Boyd suddenly appeared to deliver a poem she'd composed for Ken, which she asked me to read for her at the memorial service.
Thus I came to have the honor and privilege of representing Detroit's literary community in delivering our collective eulogy to our fallen comrade, Kenneth Vern Cockrel. The pieces by Ron Milner and Melba Boyd are printed here along with the Obituary which first appeared in the program distributed at the memorial service at Rackham Auditorium.
We offer them to you as an infintesimally small token of our love and respect for this powerful brother who for so long offered us a huge measure of hope for the future. --Detroit, Fall 1989
OBITUARY
Detroit lost some of its luster Tuesday, April 25, 1989. Former City Councilman Kenneth V. Cockrel, one of our brightest and most vibrant stars, died late that evening at the age of 50.
Known for his brilliant intellect, sharp wit and quick tongue, Ken touched the lives of Detroiters in every quarter of this city.
After his honorable discharge from the Air Force in 1959, he attended Wayne State University, earning his BA in 1964 and his JD in 1967.
After his graduation from law school, Ken continuously and consistently gained and focused the public spotlight on critical social issues through his leadership in such left and progressive movements as the Black Workers Congress, the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, and the anti-STRESS campaign. He provided skillful and colorful representation of such politically significant clients as James Johnson, Hayward Brown and Madeline Fletcher.
In 1977, he was elected to the Detrolt City Council where his powerful contributions led to a redefinition of problems and issues, the impact of which has not yet been fully measured.
In 1982, he returned to private practice, once again bringing his love and energy to this city and his fellow citizens through his practice of law. Since 1988, he has been a partner in the law firm of Sommers, Schwartz, Silver and Schwartz, P.C.
Recently he had been mentioned as an exciting prospect for Mayor of Detroit. But, more than any of his great achievements, he will be remembered by family, friends, acquaintances and adversaries alike, as a man of integrity who fought for what he believed in and inspired others to do the same.
Ken is survived by his wife, Sheila Murphy-Cockrel; his son Kenneth Vern Jr.; his daughter Katherine Victoria; his former wife, Carol L. Cockrel; his uncle and aunt, Golden and Beatrice Kennedy, who raised him; brothers, Sye and Jesse; and sisters, Novella and Dr. Shirley Cockrel Akpulonu.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The family of the late Kenneth V. Cockrel acknowledges with sincere appreciation the many comforting messages, floral tributes and other expressions of kindness evidenced at this time in thought and deed.
He was a great man, who did a lot for the people and workers of Detroit, and the surrounding areas. A man I greatly admire, and deeply respect. I wish I could've met him. :(
http://thelastcolumnist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/KenCockrelSr..jpghttp://image1.findagrave.com/photos/2009/90/27008550_123862021707.jpg
Biography (http://daahp.wayne.edu/biographiesDisplay.php?id=101):
An attorney and politician, Ken Cockrel Sr. served as one of Detroit's most powerful voices for social justice in the 1960s and 1970s. A self describe Marxist-Leninist, Cockrel relentlessly challenged the racial and economic status quo in Detroit through his defense of African Americans in the courtroom, as an activist against police brutality, and then during a term as a city council member. Through his efforts on behalf of the people of Detroit, Cockrel became a leader in the city and was widely touted as a future mayor at the time that he died suddenly from a heart attack.
Cockrel was born in 1938 in Royal Oak Township. His father worked at the Ford Highland Park plant and his mother was the first African-American graduate of Lincoln High School in Ferndale, Michigan. Both his parents died when Cockrel was twelve years old and he went to live with relatives in Detroit. Cockrel attended Northwestern and Central High Schools but dropped out when he was seventeen. He served in the United States Air Force as an airman second class. After his discharge in 1959, Cockrel entered Wayne State University and graduated in 1964 with a degree in political science. He immediately enrolled in Wayne State's law school and received his law degree in 1967.
After receiving his law degree, Cockrel became a partner in the law firm of Philo, Maki, Cockrel, Rubb, Spearman, and Cooper and immediately launched a legal career that would change the social and political landscape of Detroit. Through a series of highly publicized cases, Cockrel highlighted the oppressive social structure under which Detroit African Americans lived. In his first such case, Cockrel, defended Alfred Hibbitt, who was accused of shooting two police officers in a 1969 shootout at the New Bethel Baptist Church. Cockrel won an acquittal for Hibbitt by citing the racist activities of the Detroit Police Department. Cockrel burst into the consciousness of all Detroit during the trial when he was charged with contempt for calling the presiding Recorders Court judge a 'lawless, racist, rogue bandit, thief, pirate, honky dog fool." He successfully defended himself against the contempt charge, partly by exposing that the Wayne County Jury Commission systematically insured that juries were overwhelmingly white, male, and middle class. In 1970 Cockrel successfully defended James Johnson who shot and killed a co-worker at a Chrysler auto plant. Cockrel won an acquittal by demonstrating the oppressive working conditions at the plant, which he argued pushed the defendant to a mental breakdown that resulted in the shooting. Cockrel also became the leader of the citizens group that led the protests against the Detroit Police Department's STRESS (Stop the Robberies-Enjoy Safe Streets) unit, which had a long record of police brutality in the African-American community. His successful defense of Hayward Brown, who was accused of shooting a Detroit police officer, hinged on demonstrating that Brown fired in self-defense because the actions of the STRESS unit had created a climate of fear among Detroit's African Americans. Coleman Young disbanded the STRESS unit when he became mayor in 1974.
Cockrel was elected to the Detroit City Council in 1977 where he continued his fight for social justice. He was particularly vocal in his opposition to the granting of tax abatements to businesses in an attempt to keep them in the city. Cockrel retired from the Council in 1982 and returned to private legal practice. Cockrel's dedication was recognized by a variety of organizations. In 1973 he received the Distinguished Achievement Medal from the Detroit branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Outstanding Leadership Award in Civil Affairs from the Cotillion Club. In 1976 he received the Frank D. Reeves Award from the National Conference of Black Lawyers.
In Memory of Kenneth V. Cockrel (http://www.johnsinclair.us/writings/20-features/861-in-memory-of-kenneth-v-cockrel.html)
(November 5, 1938-April 25, 1989)
By John Sinclair (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sinclair_%28poet%29)
The sudden and unanticipated death of Kenny Cockrel by a massive heart attack April 25th brought Detroit unprecedented heartache and grief.
Cut down from within at perhaps the height of his considerable powers as a champion of the people and spokesman for human and economic rights, Ken Cockrel's death left us for the first time in 25 years without the hope that he would some day lead our city into the 21st century through the force of his penetrating social analysis and fearless personal integrity.
The memorial service held for Ken at Rackham Auditorium in the Cultural Center on Saturday, April 29th, brought together hundreds of Ken's friends and followers to comfort one anothcr and listen to a moving procession of eulogies, including tributes from Mayor Young, Governor Blanchard, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Dennis Archer, Rev. Nicholas Hood and Bishop Thomas Gumbleton as well as Kenny's brothcr Sye, son Ken Jr., co-workers Mike Hamlin and Deborah Gaskin, and ace comrade-in-arms Justic Ravitz.
Compositions by Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington were offered by a group of Kenny's musical friends, including Donald Walden, Phil Lasley, Kenny Cox, Jeribu Shahid and Roy Brooks. A particularly touching tribute was a brief videotape edited from hours of newsreel footage which showed Ken speaking at and on various stages of his public life, setting it out for the people in the way only Kenny Cockrel could.
On the Friday afternoon before the service I received a phone call from playwright Ron Milner, in Los Angeles on business. He'd composed a tribute to our late comrade that he wanted me to read for him at Rackham. I took it down over the phone, and Shahida Mausi arranged for it to be read the next morning.
Friday night I read Ron's piece between the acts at a poetry session at the Union Street Gallery, and Melba Boyd suddenly appeared to deliver a poem she'd composed for Ken, which she asked me to read for her at the memorial service.
Thus I came to have the honor and privilege of representing Detroit's literary community in delivering our collective eulogy to our fallen comrade, Kenneth Vern Cockrel. The pieces by Ron Milner and Melba Boyd are printed here along with the Obituary which first appeared in the program distributed at the memorial service at Rackham Auditorium.
We offer them to you as an infintesimally small token of our love and respect for this powerful brother who for so long offered us a huge measure of hope for the future. --Detroit, Fall 1989
OBITUARY
Detroit lost some of its luster Tuesday, April 25, 1989. Former City Councilman Kenneth V. Cockrel, one of our brightest and most vibrant stars, died late that evening at the age of 50.
Known for his brilliant intellect, sharp wit and quick tongue, Ken touched the lives of Detroiters in every quarter of this city.
After his honorable discharge from the Air Force in 1959, he attended Wayne State University, earning his BA in 1964 and his JD in 1967.
After his graduation from law school, Ken continuously and consistently gained and focused the public spotlight on critical social issues through his leadership in such left and progressive movements as the Black Workers Congress, the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, and the anti-STRESS campaign. He provided skillful and colorful representation of such politically significant clients as James Johnson, Hayward Brown and Madeline Fletcher.
In 1977, he was elected to the Detrolt City Council where his powerful contributions led to a redefinition of problems and issues, the impact of which has not yet been fully measured.
In 1982, he returned to private practice, once again bringing his love and energy to this city and his fellow citizens through his practice of law. Since 1988, he has been a partner in the law firm of Sommers, Schwartz, Silver and Schwartz, P.C.
Recently he had been mentioned as an exciting prospect for Mayor of Detroit. But, more than any of his great achievements, he will be remembered by family, friends, acquaintances and adversaries alike, as a man of integrity who fought for what he believed in and inspired others to do the same.
Ken is survived by his wife, Sheila Murphy-Cockrel; his son Kenneth Vern Jr.; his daughter Katherine Victoria; his former wife, Carol L. Cockrel; his uncle and aunt, Golden and Beatrice Kennedy, who raised him; brothers, Sye and Jesse; and sisters, Novella and Dr. Shirley Cockrel Akpulonu.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The family of the late Kenneth V. Cockrel acknowledges with sincere appreciation the many comforting messages, floral tributes and other expressions of kindness evidenced at this time in thought and deed.
He was a great man, who did a lot for the people and workers of Detroit, and the surrounding areas. A man I greatly admire, and deeply respect. I wish I could've met him. :(