08/02/2024
Hon. Adam A. Shakoor became the first Muslim Judge in North America, including Canada and Mexico. Shakoor was appointed to the Common Pleas Court in Wayne County Michigan, by the then late Gov. William Milliken in 1981.
During his tenure, Hon. Adam A. Shakoor served for two terms, by election of his fellow Judges, as Chief Judge and Public Administrator for District Court. He became the youngest Chief Judge of the 36th District Court elected at 38 years old overseeing its judicial and administrative operations of thirty-one (31) Judges, six (6) Magistrates and over five hundred (500+) employees. The 36th District Court is the largest court of its kind in the United States of America that is housed under one roof, which annually processes over 500,000 cases. Prior to being appointed Judge, advocated for Muslim inmates and brought a lawsuit against the State of Michigan Corrections Department that for the 1st time allowed various Muslim inmates their right to have an Imam hired by the state corrections department, dietary changes as to food selections consistent with their faith and fasting during the month of Ramadan.
From 1989-1993, Shakoor served as Deputy Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Detroit under the late Coleman A. Young, Detroit’s mayor for twenty years. Mayor Young also named Shakoor Detroit’s “Crime Czar,” and Shakoor developed crime fighting strategies focused on prevention, especially in the area of substance abuse; community policing; youth “boot camps” designed to rehabilitate rather than punish (adopted as a model by the State of Michigan and featuring substance abuse counseling, vocational training and health education); and forfeiture of assets seized from drug dealers by the Detroit Police Department.
Judge Shakoor was the first to introduce the concept of making Election Day, the first Tuesday in November, a national holiday. In 1996, he founded the National Day of Freedom, Inc., a non-partisan, non-profit corporation toward that end, saying that “…any movement we make as a nation toward full participation in our elections only enhances our democracy” (Detroit Democratic Club letter dated 8/12/96). The formal announcement of the organization, and the idea, was made June 19, 1996 (Juneteenth) at the Detroit Branch of the NAACP. Former Congressman John Conyers. Additionally, Adam Shakoor served as an Attorney for Civil Rights Pioneer, Mrs. Rosa L. Parks, and as Trustee of her Living Trust from 1995 until the time of her death, October 24, 2005.
Hon. Adam A. Shakoor parents, Harvey L. Caddell Sr. and Ether Hart-Caddell, were both noted human rights and labor activists in Detroit in the 1930’s and 1940’s. One of their early actions was to resist attempts by the City of Detroit to move blacks out of their homes, as the Detroit Police Department allowed white marauders to come in and intimidate and threaten residents. Shakoor's parents were one of the first black families to move into the Sojourner Truth Homes. These homes were one of the first low-rise public housing projects built specifically for African Americans by President Franklin Roosevelt’s Administration.
Shakoor's father, Harvey L. Caddell Sr., was a Detroit labor organizer to the first black local union CIO-UAW President, Hodges Mason. His mother, Esther Hart-Caddell, was a noted educator in the Detroit Public Schools creating the the SUAM DWYPES program which focused on the scientific method of experiments. This program now known as the foundational blocks of STEM, educational techniques used today to engage black students and to aid them with excelling in science, technology, engineering, and math subjects. Shakoor followed in his mothers’ footsteps and continued a legacy of education, having taught Business Law, Criminal Justice, and African American Studies for the past 45 years at Wayne County Community College District.
The late Hon. Adam A. Shakoor received over 200 plus rewards, Honors and Accolades in his lifetime.
