DANFORR honored at Women’s Equality Day event

Shalece Daniels at June 30, 2006, DANFORR action. WW photo: Cheryl LaBash

Detroit National Organization for Women held its annual commemoration of Women’s Equality Day on Aug. 26 at an event on Detroit’s waterfront, honoring four women as “Feminists of the Year.” The awards were presented to the Hon. Alma Wheeler Smith, an African-American state representative; Polly Howe of the Michigan Pay Equity Network; women’s rights activist Diane Russell of Macomb County NOW; and Kalimah Johnson, an African-American lesbian performance poet who devotes most of her creative efforts toward uplifting and empowering women who are survivors of rape, incest, domestic violence and discrimination. The program was chaired by Detroit NOW president Jacqueline Steingold.

Special Recognition Awards were presented to Marisol Ybarra, NOW activist and former leader of Wayne State University’s Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance and Students for Choice, and to the Detroit Action Network For Reproductive Rights.

Organizers Shalece Daniels and Kris Hamel accepted the award for “outstanding contributions to the feminist community” on behalf of DANFORR. Daniels told the audience, “We need to get more young women involved in the struggle to save and advance our rights. That’s part of what we’re all about.” Hamel noted DANFORR’s friendship and alliance with Detroit NOW and encouraged everyone to continue to work together for reproductive freedom and equal rights.