Conyers with Mandela
John James Conyers is the epitome of Black Power. Yet, Conyers also represents Black Power gone wrong. Conyers was the longest-serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He is an undisputed hero of the Civil Rights Movement; a legislator of uncommon influence and power. The Good Godfather was an aging icon that stayed at the ball too long. It was due to a lack of Black investment in elective politics.
Conyers did the right thing by resigning.
The Detroit Free Press in an editorial had also called on Conyers to quit and contended his legacy will be marred forever by the accusations that he made unwanted sexual advances toward female staffers. New York Congressman Gregory Meeks had also urged Conyers to step down. Conyers’ office had downplayed payments to the alleged complainants as “severance;” the Free Press likened his acts as “paying hush money.”
It was about time for Conyers to depart. The acclaimed young lion we once knew and turned into a paper tiger right before our eyes. John Conyers came to the fore in the 1960s championing civil rights and Black equity. He was a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969. He established a reputation as an advocate for socio-economic and political justice for Blacks. Yet it was time for Conyers to move on; if not for the ethical cloud he faced, under the Robert Mugabe Rule of been-there- too-damn long.
John Conyers Jr. was born in Detroit in May 1929. He graduated in 1947 from Northwestern High School. After high school, he followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the United Automobile Workers Union (UAW). Conyers worked for the Lincoln Car Factory, where he became a director of education for UAW Local 900.
Conyers enlisted in the United States Army in August 1950 and became a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. After having experienced combat in the Korean War, Conyers returned to Wayne State University where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1957 and a Juris Doctor degree in 1958. After passing the bar in 1959 Conyers became a legislative assistant to Fifteenth District Michigan Congressman John Dingell, Jr. With Dingell’s support Conyers was elected to Congress at age 35.
In 1971 Conyers was one of the 13 founders of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). He achieved notoriety in 1974 as a member of the House Judiciary Committee; then in 1983, he introduced the legislation that created the Dr. Martin Luther King national holiday. Conyers currently once chaired the House Judiciary Committee. He was married to the former Monica Esters and they have two children, John III and Carl Edward.
Conyers was well-liked by most Black people. “John Conyers is America’s congressman, because he’s worked courageously to help pass laws that guarantee civil rights, fairness in labor relations and government accountability,” said Rev. Dr. Jim Holley in 2005 at Detroit’s Historic Little Rock Baptist Church. Conyers sponsored a bill to establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday and initiated Black Reparations legislation in 1989.
Conyers has a passion for politics and ran for Mayor of Detroit in 1989 and 1993 but was defeated in the primary in both elections. In his Congressional tenure Conyers has helped Detroit receive hundreds of millions of dollars; funds for public housing. He also helped create Empowerment Zones. Conyers came onto the issue of reparations due to Detroit realtor Raymond Jenkins’ persistence in pursuing ways to address our nation’s epic wrongs.
“Slavery is a blemish on this nation’s history, and until it is formally addressed, our country’s story will remain marked by this blight,“ is what Conyers has been telling the nation’s activists, legal experts, scholars, politicos and community leadership for almost 40 years.
Conyers’ sponsorship of Reparations for the enslavement has been either a farce or tragedy of incompetence; not on Conyers’ part for sure. Most Blacks have forgotten HR 40 legislation. He’s not the one at fault.
In 1865, Union Army General William Tecumseh Sherman promised enslaved Black people that they’d receive 40 acres and a mule. Conyers’ Congressional agenda has been more symbolism than substance. If Blacks had rallied behind and given maximum support, Conyers would have accomplished more in correcting the ills of enslavement; it could have yielded descendants of enslaved Blacks between $6 and $14 trillion.
William Reed is publisher of “Who’s Who in Black Corporate America” and available for projects via [email protected]
