HR0615 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0615 LRB101 15369 MST 64575 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of former U.S. Representative John James Conyers Jr.; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Conyers was born in Highland Park, Michigan on May 16, 1929 and grew up in Detroit; he attended Wayne State University, where he received both his undergraduate and law degrees; he served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War as part of a unit of African-American combat engineers; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Conyers became a civil rights activist and took part in the voting rights efforts in Selma, Alabama in 1963; he also served as an aide to U.S. Rep. John Dingell; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Conyers made his first run for Congress after Michigan's congressional districts had been redrawn after a 1962 Supreme Court decision that made it unconstitutional to draw districts in a way that under-represents minority voters; one of his early supporters in his 1964 campaign was Rosa Parks; he hired her after the election, and she remained on his staff until she retired in 1988; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Conyers was consistently a progressive voice; he supported such liberal causes as gun control, anti-poverty programs, and universal health care; he held hearings to spotlight police misconduct and also supported legislation urging a study of the possibility of offering reparations to the descendants of slaves; and

WHEREAS, Just days after the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rep. Conyers introduced a resolution calling for a national holiday in his name, which took 15 years to come to fruition; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Conyers retired on December 5, 2017; his service in Congress spanned 10 presidencies and 52 years; he was in the U.S. House of Representatives for over one-fifth of the entire existence of the U.S. Congress; in 1964, he went to Jim Crow Mississippi during Freedom Summer and offered legal representation to black voting-rights activists, and one year later, he was in Congress supporting the Voting Rights Act as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Conyers was the only congressman ever endorsed by Martin Luther King Jr.; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of former U.S. Representative John Conyers and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Rep. Conyers as an expression of our deepest sympathy.