Conyers was born in Detroit in 1929. He was elected to
Congress in 1965 and immediately became a forceful voice in
the Civil Rights Movement, co-sponsoring the Voting Rights
Act of that same year.
Conyers was the first African American to chair the powerful
House Judiciary Committee and helped spearhead the 1994
Violence against Women Act.
Conyers and 12 other African American members of the House
of Representatives founded the Congressional Black Caucus in
1971.
“We always knew where he stood on issues of equality and
civil rights in the fight for the people,” Rep. Rashida
Tlaib, who now represents Conyers’ district, tweeted.
“Sad to hear of the passing of former Congressman John
Conyers,” the Rev. Al Sharpton stated. “He worked with us on
many civil rights cases as Chair of the House Judiciary
Committee and helped lead the fight for the Martin Luther
King [Jr.] Holiday.”
“Most of us from Michigan loved our congressman. He was
idolized and was absolutely an icon. Not only was he an icon
of the civil rights movement but we looked to him for
leadership. This is a massive loss. All of us in business,
the clergy, the community, respected, admired and aspired to
be like John Conyers,” Said Hiram Jackson, president and CEO
of Real Times Media.
“Congressman John Conyers decades ago held the first U.S.
Congressional Hearings on Racially-Motivated Police
Brutality; led the House Judiciary Hearings on Criminal
Justice and Prison Reform in America; was co-founder of the
Congressional Black Caucus (CBC); and was a leading
congressional advocate for the freedom of Angela Davis, the
Wilmington Ten, and all political prisoners in the United
States,” remarked Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., the president and
CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
“Conyers was a constitutional scholar and political
visionary whose longstanding vision for freedom, justice and
equality was unparalleled in the Congress of the United
States,” Chavis continued. “May God bless the
freedom-fighting memory and legacy of The Honorable John
Conyers.” Chavis stated.
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