Former Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) passed away at the age of 90 on Sunday.
The Detroit police confirmed that Conyers had died of natural causes.
Conyers was in office for 52 years, making him the longest-serving African-American in Congress. He was elected in 1965 and continued to serve up until 2017, when he resigned in wake of several accusations of sexual misconduct against him.
“I recognize that in this present environment, due process will not be afforded to me,” he said in a statement at the time.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) won his seat in the 2018 midterms.
From John’s statement when he was essentially ejected:
Worth remembering.
But the allegations against him were not anonymous or vague and, like Minority Leader at the time, Nancy Pelosi, I found the allegations serious and credible.
We all have to take the exit at some point. I remember the good things John Conyers did so I wish his exit could have been cleaner.
And I hope the women he mistreated are doing well in spite of it.
I agree with your statement. Representative Conyers did many good things in his life and during his tenure. But in the end the accusations did seem valid. I think your comment was very well phrased and I will not try to add to it further.
Everyone has a mix of good and bad in them. Even if we end up deciding a person isn’t fit for a particular job and/or deserves censure, that doesn’t necessarily devalue the things they accomplished. (Yeah, that treads perilously close to the Cyrus argument, but I think there’s still a big difference.)
As a parent of two wonderful daughters, I co-sign.
I look at a sexual harassment story like Jon Conyers’ and it’s becoming more and more believable to me that Al Franken was railroaded by allegations that were either flimsy or flat out lies. Conyers’ allegations are a clear example of sexual harassment where a person in power was trying to abuse his authority over his subordinates and did things that were surely wrong like coming out of a shower with his employee nearby. None of Franken’s staff ever accused him of anything and Franken’s allegations have too many things that don’t add up such as details not passing scrutiny, accusers that were talking to each other before talking to reporters, and reporters not trying to find more sources before publishing their stories. All 9 of the allegations were published individually with the accuser and a few friends or family members claiming they were told about the incident afterwards, but never witnessed it.
After her CNN accusation went public where she claimed Franken cupped her breast, Stephanie Kemplin subsequently claimed that she thought she smelled alcohol on Franken’s breath when it happened. That’s complete BS for a few reasons.
The reporters also failed to follow up with people who witnessed the incidents and just believed the accusers. Zack Roth at Huff Post stated his accuser was a friend that he’s known for years which shows a possible confirmation bias and he never stated he corroborated the account with the two friends of the accuser who were there at the time.
I just wish other journalists would actually look over all of the claims to give them proper scrutiny instead of just assuming Franken is guilty because he had 9 accusations. 9 allegations doesn’t mean they are 9 credible allegations.