WASHINGTON, Oct 28, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – John Conyers, the longest-serving
African-American member of the US Congress who resigned following sexual
harassment allegations in 2017, died Sunday, his family said. He was 90.
“Today, the city of Detroit, The United States and the world lost a
fearless civil rights leader and hero,” his family said in a statement.
“My husband was a fighter; when your back was up against a wall, he was
right there with you. Not just for me, but for everyone,” his wife Monica
said.
Conyers was a political powerhouse from Detroit who co-founded the
Congressional Black Caucus and employed civil rights icon Rosa Parks on his
congressional staff, where she worked for 23 years.
He weathered multiple scandals during an illustrious 53-year career in
Congress but suddenly resigned in late 2017 over a series of sexual
harassment accusations by former staffers.
Conyers was abandoned by party leadership when the seriousness of the
allegations against him — which he maintained were “not true” — became
apparent. His resignation marked a stunning and rapid fall for one of
America’s civil rights pioneers.