Conyers at career end?

• Author: Lusane, Clarence
• Position: John Conyers

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TIME MAY BE RUNNING OUT on John Conyers, one of the most venerable members of Congress. He's a veteran leader of both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He has served more than forty-seven years in the House of Representatives, and, in the past, has never really faced serious challengers. But this year, the Detroit-based Congressman is facing perhaps his most difficult political race as a result of redistricting, strong contenders, an untimely scandal, and the inevitability of aging. Collectively, they may accomplish what has been a rare occurrence in the modern history of black Congressmembers: defeat while in office.

It is hard to find a progressive who would dispute Conyers's integrity and commitment.

"His work over the decades exemplifies the core values of black politics, particularly the values of resistance, social justice, freedom, and self-determination," says Daryl Harris, chair of the political science department at Howard University.

"He has consistently spoken inconvenient truths and sought accountability where desperately needed," says George Mason University professor Michael Fauntroy. "He has been at the vanguard of black politicians who combined street fire and suite sophistication."

The son of a labor organizer, Conyers is a legendary progressive who fought Nixon's shredding of the Constitution, Reagan's illegal Central America contra wars, and George W. Bush's tax cuts for the rich and pointless invasion of Iraq.

Conyers also confronted Presidents Jimmy Carter over budget cuts and Bill Clinton over welfare reform, crime legislation, and NAFTA.

Most recently, he opposed Barack Obama on the nature of the deal the President made with the Republicans to raise the debt ceiling. Despite that kerfuffle, Obama formally endorsed Conyers in this year's race, calling him a "tireless champion" for Michigan's working families.

"Everyone looks to him," says Representative Karen Bass, Democrat of California, citing Conyers's "institutional knowledge and guidance especially on social justice issues."

In 1965, he entered Congress in a period of high black political activism in both the streets and then increasingly in electoral politics. Only two years after he arrived in the House of Representatives, Detroit experienced one of the most costly and deadly urban uprisings of the time. More than forty people died, hundreds were injured, and more than 2,000 buildings were burnt...