Cornell Squires (in yellow shirt) at twenty-year memorial for Lamar Grable, dead at the hands of serial killer kop Eugene Brown and his partner Vicki Yost Sept. 21, 1996. To Cornell’s right are Lamar’s mother and brother Arnetta and Aaron Grable. Lamar’s father Herman Vallery is seated at right, being interviewed by TV Media. Others are Juanita Young, seated in front of Cornell, Mertilla Jones, grandmother of Aiyana Jones, and Joshua Lopez. Oct. 22 Coalition members Young and Lopez flew in from New York for the event. Cornell Squires along with Arnetta Grable and Herman Vallery helped co-found the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality.
CORNELL’S GRANDCHILDREN CORDAI AND ARI, BY HIS BELOVED SON CORNELL EMMANUEL, LOVED THEIR GRANDPA, WHO THEY CALLED “PAPA BEAR.”
UPDATE: FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS:
KERNAN FUNERAL HOME
1020 FORT STREET, LINCOLN PARK
VISITATION SUN. NOV. 27 1-5 PM
SERVICE MON. NOV. 28 AT FUNERAL HOME
FAMILY HOUR 10 A.M. SERVICE 10:30 A.M.
CORNELL EDWARD SQUIRES, Sunrise JUNE 18, 1957 Sunset NOVEMBER 19, 2018 Loving father of Cornell. Cherished son of Vester and the late Eugene. Dear brother of Eugene Jr., Jeanette and Calvin (Kelly). Proud grandfather of Cordai and Ari. Loved dearly by nieces and nephews Freddie, Maurice, Morgan and Camille.
For further information, visit http://www.kernanfs.com/obituaries/Cornell-Squires/
Commentary by Voice of Detroit staff
November 20, 2016
The late Mayor of Jackson, MS. Chokwe Lumumba at appeals court hearing where Mr. Lumumba represented Squires. They are now both at rest with the ancestors.
DETROIT — The world is a much smaller place today since the passing of our beloved brother, dear friend to so many, dear son, father, brother and grandfather, and fellow activist Cornell Squires on Nov. 19, 2016, at the age of 59.
His heart was larger than that world. It will never be the same without him; we will mourn him for the rest of our lives, but be assured that we will follow in his footsteps as well. He taught so many so much and was an inspiration for the ages.
Cornell Squires, born June 18, 1957, passed away unexpectedly but peacefully, likely of a heart attack, as he was assisting his long-time dear friend Arnetta Grable, Sr. at the hotel where she was temporarily staying in Southfield, Michigan. He took a brief rest in a chair, and went to sleep. Then he went home to Allah, the Great Spirit, God, or the many other names under which people know that eternal life force. Cornell himself was extremely spiritual and began each day by calling his dear mother Vester Squires to pray with her.
Cornell Squires (r) and supporters of his son and young cousins who had been framed up by “Robocop” William Melendez march on Detroit’s old 4th Precinct in 2000. This was three years before the feds charged Melendez and 17 other cops with running a Ramparts-style ring that terrorized the southwest side. Squires’ son was falsely accused of attempted carjacking; his young cousins’ home was invaded by Detroit police who planted drugs there. Squires himself was previously assaulted by Detroit cop Robert Feld, a beating which Squires father Eugene Squires and mother Vester Squires stopped.His father had a heart attack which later proved fatal. Cornell was a co-founder of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality along with Arnetta Grable and Herman Vallery.
Mrs. Squires, Cornell’s son Cornell Emmanuel and Cornell Emmanuel’s mother Carla, grandson Cordai, Cornell’s brothers, Mrs. Grable and her son Aaron Grable and daughter’s friend Shae gathered at the hotel after his death, along with several fellow activists including this writer, to grieve his passing. His family will be announcing his funeral arrangements shortly, which will be published here.
Cornell Squires () with anti-foreclosure activists (l to r) Beverly Kindle-Walker, Kamala El, and Queen Mother Dr. Nefertiti-El.
“It’s time for younger and older men alike to stand against corruption, police brutality, and all injustice in our communities,” Cornell, a reporter and photographer for Voice of Detroit, wrote in an article April 9, 2015, last year.
“Americans must stand up for the truth and our personal freedom! All human beings have a constitutional right for equality and God given rights no man can take away! God is the true lawgiver.”
He continued, “America has a double standard in our legal system and we must demand a new legal system immediately! This is also an unfair, hateful, malicious, ungodly and disrespectful system to our city’s residential homeowners and the taxpayers in our communities.” (See full article at http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/04/19/stop-police-murders-and-frame-ups-of-our-black-youth-jail-killer-cops/.)
Cornell Squires (2nd from r) with Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor, framed up and imprisoned by Whirlpool’s political lapdogs, and other Detroiters including Cindy Darrah, Marcina Cole, and Kim Green. They traveled to Benton Harbor May 24, 2014 for Pinkney court hearing.
Cornell Squires cannot be replaced. He was unique in that he had no personal agenda. He was motivated by a true love for the people, as Che Guevara said. He cared about each individual he worked with, their families, and their individual problems. He freely gave his heart and hard work to each person he worked with for justice.
When called to help, he would arrive with his large, calm, reassuring presence, comfort those who needed it, and go on with whatever work was needed for them.
Cornell fought to free juvenile lifer Charles Lewis, attending and covering his court hearings. He was a dear friend of Lewis’ mother and sister Rosie and Wendy Lewis.
As a paralegal with We the People for the People, RicoBusters, the Detroit Active and Retired Employee Association (DAREA), the Coalition to Free Rev. Edward Pinkney, the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, the National Oct. 22 Coalition, the Detroit Black Farmers, and numerous other groups, he personally assisted thousands of people across Detroit and Michigan in saving their homes, their children from state kidnapping and from prison, and their very lives in the battle against police murders.
Cornell recently did tireless paralegal work to stop the outrageous imprisonment of Mary Stafford, sentenced to 1-10 years by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Michael Hathaway after a “deed fraud” trial of Mrs. Stafford and her husband Clifford Stafford, rife with judicial and prosecutorial misconduct, and based on falsified evidence.
Cornell took on the battle against the Dearborn police in the case of Terry Jerome Jones, injured for life by Dearborn police for “walking while Black,” down Michigan Avenue on Sept. 4, 2011. He helped Jones’ cousin Antoinette Austin initiate and fight an ongoing lawsuit against the city and the police. He went on to cover the brutal killing of Kevin Matthews, another mentally challenged man, by a Dearborn cop on Dec. 23, 2015.
VIDEO BELOW BY CORNELL SQUIRES
Earlier, with his dear friend the late great attorney Leonard Eston, one of the last great legal warriors from the 1960’s, Cornell fought hundreds of cases, many times with no compensation. Cornell and Leonard Eston successfully restored the law license of the late people’s hero and Mayor of Mississippi, Chokwe Lumumba, also a friend of Cornell’s.
Leonard Eston
One of the people they helped was Ed Wilcox, a Detroiter whose neck was broken by the six white Southfield cops in 2009. They pulled him out of his car, threw him on the ground, put a foot on his neck, and tasered him four times. He nearly died from the beating.
He survived chiefly by yelling just so he could breathe before a friend took him to the hospital, and doctors discovered a disc had nearly severed his spine, which would have left him a paraplegic. He still suffers from seizures causing his arms and legs to shake, pain, and has to take medication just to sleep.
Cornell and Leonard Easton worked with him on a federal lawsuit which got thrown out of the Eastern District six times before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals sent it back and ordered the district to deal with it. After Eston passed, Cornell kept working with Wilcox, filing a case with the U.S. Department of Justice, going to U.S. Rep. John Conyers, and also to Barbara McQuade of the Detroit Attorney General’s office.
Gwen Mingo, still at home in Brush Park.
Another dear friend Cornell went all out to support in her battles against her own eviction and the gentrification of Brush Park was Gwendolyn Mingo. She herself became a leader of hundreds, fighting to preserve the homes of families who had lived there for decades. The area has now become a playground for the well-to-do, including a complex of sports arenas for the Red Wings, Pistons, Tigers, and Lions, all of them owned by multi-billionaires, surrounded by luxury condo developments, restaurants and retail establishments. But through Gwen’s efforts, aided by Cornell, Arnetta Grable, Ron Seigel of the Michigan Citizen, and numerous others, she still lives in her own home there.
Cornell was also a City of Detroit retiree. He worked for 12 years as an EMS technician, and fought the administration to get better ambulances and conditions for the workers. Then he was forced to fight for his disability pension, which he only started receiving last year, many years after he had to leave the job due to stress and harassment by management.
Cornell Squires (rear) interviewed and reported on massive lay-offs taking place in the Detroit Water and Sewerage Dept. He is shown here with (l to r) laid-off workers Sammy Barber, Edward Collins, and Dean E. Fox Sr. after interview at Bert’s.
He joined the struggle with the Detroit Active and Retired Employee Association after the emergency manager takeover of Detroit, and the phony bankruptcy which followed. He worked on the legal committee which helped draft ongoing lawsuits against the drastic cuts retirees experienced to their annuity savings fund and health care.
Cornell worked with Bert Dearing of Bert’s Warehouse and Theater to draft a federal lawsuit which put a stay on the foreclosure and takeover of Dearing’s property, part of the assault on Black-owned businesses in Detroit. Cornell himself was previously a business owner, of a car lot on Detroit’s southwest side. He also worked tirelessly to find opportunities for the youth in his distressed far southwest neighborhood for recreation and employment.
Photo by Cornell Squires at Doll’s Go-Kart Track on Oakman near Grand River. Cornell was good friends with owners Ron and Darleen Hereford, and worked with them to stop theft of this property, and the frame-up of their son.
Cornell recently began attending meetings of New Era Detroit, held at Bert’s Warehouse every Thursday. He was excited to see young Detroiters beginning to organize independently for the future of the youth and of Detroit.
All of those who benefited from Cornell’s love and hard work will have many stories to tell. The Voice of Detroit invites all to contribute to the coverage of this great man’s life by either submitting their comments below or writing their own articles and sending them to diane_bukowski@hotmail.com or the Voice of Detroit, P.O. Box 32684, Detroit, MI 48232.
Cornell Squires speaks at rally against tax foreclosures and home auctions. He called all foreclosures illegal because of the lack of yearly property assessments. He was recently working on exposing the fact that all the Wayne County Sheriff’s Deeds in these foreclosures have been illegally notarized with a rubber stamp, not a signature, and are invalid.
Cornell’s death felt like a grenade lobbed through our chests, leaving a huge hole that will nonetheless eventually heal, cradling him and his heart and spirit at the center of our beings.
Part of the story of Cornell’s life with the Voice of Detroit, the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, the Detroit Active and Retired Employees Association, and the battle for Michigan’s juvenile lifers is portrayed here in photos. There will be much more to come after his home-going ceremonies are complete.
Cornell, you carried out your mission with courage, bravery, unbounded love, and unflagging determination and you were loved by thousands. When God felt it was time and your mission was complete, he called you home. Rest in his loving arms and the arms of your late father Eugene Squires, and late brother Odell Squires, in power and in peace, and in our love.
The world as we know it will never be the same without you. Love you forever, Cornell.
At April 28, 2015 rally for Terrance Kellom, 19, executed by ICE and Detroit police earlier that month, members of the Original Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality: (l to r) Lamar Grable with his mother Arnetta Grable Jr., Butch Carrington, Arnetta Grable Sr., Herman Vallery, and Cornell Squires.
Cornell (right) marched with protesters in Inkster April 3, 2015 against the brutal beating of Floyd Dent by “Robocop” William Melendez, the same cop who framed Cornell’s son.
Cornell (center) helped his dear friends Luis and Cecilia Espinoza fight for custody of their youngest child against CPS in 2011. He also worked with them to stop the foreclosure of their home.
Cornell Squires with dear friends
Cornell is shown at right with (l to r) Mailauni Williams, her mother Lennette Williams, behind them Ron Hereford, and Arnetta Grable, Sr. He and Arnetta fought for Lennette to maintain custody of her daughter and control of her finances against vicious Probate Court officials who savaged a settlement awarded to the Williams family related to hospital neglect in Mailauni’s birth.
CORNELL SQUIRES WAS AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF RICOBUSTERS. ONE OF THEIR MANY VIDEOS IS SHOWN BELOW.
Related stories:
NO JUSTICE FOR YOUNG DETROIT DAD TERRANCE KELLOM; WORTHY REFUSES TO PROSECUTE KILLER COP(S) AGAIN
‘RICOBUSTERS’ FIGHT CRIMINAL INJUSTICE SYSTEM, ‘DOMESTIC TERRORISM’ BY CORPORATE OLIGARCHY
FAITHFUL SERVANT
MY HEART DIANE, BLESS YOU, YOU COVERED IT ALL.
HE WAS A GREAT MAN, A TRUE MAN OF GOD, SO FULL OF LOVE,
HE HAD A SPECIAL LOVE FOR YOU, JUST SO PROUD RIGHT NOW
TO BE ABLE TO SAY THAT WE KNEW, LOVED & SHARED CORNELLS
DREAM.
Oh, how much we’ll miss you Cornell, such a shining star
that God put in our lives, & you never let us down.
THE HARVEST IS FULL BUT THE LABORERS ARE FEW.
Acts 20:24
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
I CAN HEAR THE LORD SAYING WELL DONE GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT.