[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 172 (Wednesday, October 30, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6295-S6296]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING JOHN CONYERS

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Congressman John Conyers, Jr., a civil rights icon, lifelong public 
servant, lover of jazz, and champion for his beloved hometown of 
Detroit.
  Congressman Conyers was born in Detroit on May 16, 1929, and spent 
the next 90 years fighting for his city, our State, our Nation, and the 
equality of all people. He deeply understood the challenges Detroit 
families face. In the words of Kary Moss, executive director of ACLU of 
Michigan: ``He was of Detroit and for Detroit.''
  He knew what it was like to wake up and head to the factory; after 
graduating from Northwestern High School, he worked as a welder at a 
Lincoln plant before earning bachelor's and law degrees from Wayne 
State University.
  He knew what it was like to serve this Nation in uniform; he enlisted 
in the Army and served a tour of duty during the Korean war.

[[Page S6296]]

  He knew what it was like to fight for equality; he marched alongside 
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Selma, AL; cofounded the 
Congressional Black Caucus; and even hired civil rights icon Rosa Parks 
as a secretary and receptionist in his office.
  He knew what it was like to devote his life to public service, 
spending 53 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and rising to 
lead the Judiciary Committee. He fought to make Dr. King's birthday a 
national holiday, protect the Voting Rights Act, change mandatory 
sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, and create death benefits for 
police officers and firefighters who died in the line of duty.
  Public service was his calling, and jazz was his passion. He had an 
encyclopedic knowledge of this most American form of music, gained 
through hosting a jazz radio show in the 1970s and spending as much 
time as possible in Detroit's jazz clubs. He introduced a congressional 
resolution in 1987 designating jazz as ``a rare and valuable national 
American treasure'' and helped establish the Smithsonian Jazz 
Masterworks Orchestra.
  Only five people in history have served longer in the House of 
Representatives than Congressman Conyers, and the people of Detroit 
always knew that Congressman Conyers, sporting a crisp shirt and dapper 
suit, was in their corner.
  My deepest condolences go to his wife, Monica; his sons, John and 
Carl; his family and many friends; and the city of Detroit.

                          ____________________