Bill Text: IL HR0615 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Mourns the death of former U.S. Representative John Conyers.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-11-14 - Resolution Adopted [HR0615 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-HR0615-Introduced.html

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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,

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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

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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.