Clinton remembered the late democratic lawmaker for his public service. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time i would invite my friend, when we love dear, our 42nd president of these United States of america, the honorable William Jefferson clinton. [applause] thank you very much. Bishop, its an honor to be back. Thank you and the other bishops and pastors who are participating and other religious leaders for in this audience. I want to thank monica, john, carl, nathan, the entire Conyers Family for inviting me to come and pay tribute to my friend. I want to thank this amazing array of political leaders who have come here. John conyers is 90. The governor, the lieutenant governor, the centers, the members of the house of representatives, the leaders of the congressional black caucus, the mayor, the county executive, the chief federal judge, reverend jackson, professor Michael Eric Dyson would deliver the eulogy. Dont worry. It says professor but it means preacher. Youll be just fine. Id like to thank the people of detroit for electing him 27 times. [applause] id like to thank you for giving him space and the support, not just to faithfully represent this district, but to represent people all across our country, and even around the world, on the things that we should all care about. He was out there banging the drum against apartheid in south africa long before it was a widely popular cause. [applause] he always supported the people of haiti, even when he could not support their government. He said the people deserve a better deal, and the United States should be a good neighbor. [applause] he worked for all of our cities, for jobs and appointment an opportunity, and peace and justice everywhere. Not every district gives their elected representatives the elbow room to do all those things. So i thank you for giving john. He never forgot about you either. Somebody who served as long as well as john did, its tempting to make sure you list every last built that he sponsored or cosponsored or had something to do with. And a way thats a big mistake. It has it tends to turn history into dry bones. The most important thing is to remember how different the Playing Field was when he began and when he ended. How steep the mountains declined were, how long the battles lasted, and how many real lives were improved by his labors. When john conyers came to washington in january of 1965, i just turned 18 years old. There were zero africanamerican senators. The Civil Rights Act have been on the books or six months, but still millions of African Americans could not exercise their constitutional right to vote. When john was assigned to the judiciary committee, its only africanamerican member, first big piece of legislation he worked on was the Voting Rights act. And [applause] he kept reminding his colleagues that civil rights bills were passed in 1957, 1960, 195460, 1964, and they kept Getting Better and better and better, except for one thing. They did not protect and guarantee the right to vote. He said he was afraid if we missed this last chance president johnson in his high level of popularity and enormous majorities for the Democratic Party in the house and senate, it might never come this way again. And when it passed, he said it was the most important thing he would ever work on. He had no way of knowing then that he would hang around in congress for 53 more years but he was probably right. For all the power in a democratic system flows through our willingness and our ability to intelligently and consistently exercise the right to vote. The effects of that bill were immediate. By 1968 the eight the percentage of africanamericans registered to vote had gone from six to 60 , nationwide. Even in the south where there had been extreme efforts to register voters and then, registration and alabama went from a the 60 , from 19 to 51 in louisiana. And when he did all this there were fewer than 1000 African Americans think about that in any form of local state or national offices, in this whole country. Today there are more than 10,000. [applause] the congressional black caucus, of which john was a cofounder, began this session with a record 55 members. [applause] they are getting very close to the actual percentage of africanamericans in the United States. And im grateful that nearly half of them are women im occluding the current chair. [applause] im also grateful, because barack obama, jimmy carter and bill clinton never wouldve become president without the Voting Rights act. [applause] over the years, john cosponsored every single reauthorization in the Voting Rights act, as well as the voter voter law to make it easy to register which one of the first loss i signed as president. He fought tooth and nail against every encroachment on the right to vote, including sponsoring legislation to restore crucial elements to the Voting Rights act that were unforgettably guided by that Supreme Court decision in 2013. Gutted. John knew there were no permanent victories in human affairs, but he also knew there were no permanent defeats. So we kept on going, right to the very end. One of the things that i like about it is he didnt give up on things he thought were important. I remember, i think john conyers was the first person who ever quoted Frederick Douglass to me in saying power concedes nothing without a demand. Never did and never will. He understood that. Just for my case after dr. King was killed in memphis, he introduced the first bill to make his birthday Martin Luther king day. [applause] just four days after. It took 15 years to pass but john never gave up, and he kept reaching out to republicans as well as democrats. And he passed it 15 years later and president reagan signed into law. It was more than a day on the calendar that recognized that the struggle for equality deserves a special place in the nations awareness and reverence and dedication, and we could find no better way to do it than by honoring its most eloquent spokesperson. Who paid the ultimate price for convictions we should all share. After Matthew Shepard and james byrd were murdered in 1998, he sponsored our bill, my administrations bill to strengthen and expand the federal government power to prosecute hate crimes. We tried and tried and i couldnt get it passed in my eight years, john kept on introducing it. And finally it was signed into law by president obama in 2009. In 2009. It took all that time, but john kept on pushing. I could keep a lot of examples, his devotion to universal coverage of healthcare, the civil rights, the responsible gun safety legislation. John was a cosponsor of the brady bill for the background checks, 2 million have been denied guns because simple background checks. As bad as the current state is coming would be far worse if that village never passed, and we should honor john conyers by making those checks universal now. [applause] he cosponsored the family and medical leave law. By the time i i left office, 3y people had claimed when the baby was born or a hair was sick. Its not gotten so important to people and so may people in the workplace that last year alone, 20 Million People took advantage of the family and medical leave act. Why do i say this . Because people think policy is boring until they need it. [applause] thats boring. Dont bother with all that policy stuff. Just tell you i should take. John conyers got up every day and worked his mind, and a very fine mind it was. [applause] and he also did some simple things that proves that his brain was connected to his heart, which is i find as i grew older, quite important. There is no better example than how he responded to rosa parks moving to detroit. [applause] and i know everybody in this church knows the story, but this funeral will be reported on. Its important that every american know this. Rosa parks couldnt make a living at home in alabama. She need to make a living. Even an icon has to eat, by clothing, have a place to sleep. We often forget that. John conyers, a young congressman then, do that rosa parks was in a six. So he hired her. [applause] and she worked for him in his local district for 20 something years, 23 years i i think until she retired. Probably never got a boat out of it, but its something to meet the said as much about who he was and what he believed in and what he cared about as anything he ever did. [applause] i wish hillary could have come with me today, but she and my daughter chelsea are off on an obligation promoting a book they wrote, and she sends her regards and prayers. But she said dont forget to tell the truth about john, bill, why you really like him. And i said can you meet because he stuck up for me when they were trying to string me up . [laughing] she said, she said no, he was come he was quite good at that. But now. But, no. You really liked him because he thought jazz music would be mandatory in heaven. [laughing] the most important thing ever done. I have two enduring memories of john conyers that were entirely personal. One was when he and his dutifully dressed young son there went with me, or took me to the detroit auto show, as i was, as a kid i grew up hanging around my dads little buick business in the town of only 6000. And later when he moved to another town and ran the parts department, my job was to take inventory. It was a big deal. Im so old i can remember when you could still fix your own car. It was a car. You were supposed to be able to fix it if you bought it. The second thing i remember is that an incredible gift he got while hampton within was nearing 90 to come play for me at the white house, and it was 1998, and the band was there and he was no longer young but still in great form. And they asked me to sit in with the band come at a think we played my funny valentine, but heres the interesting thing. I thought a lot about this. Jazz is an interesting form of music. Theres a tune you have to know, i key you have to play it in, and a core structure you have to follow. But thats not all. You got to also make up a little as you go on. You have to be creative about how you use the tools. And thats the way politics is. Constitution is the tune. It will offset the keys, thats the rules. And the facts, well, they form the basis i which we live or doubt, and our creative or destructive. John conyers on a biography might have been subtitled jazz in the key of life. Thats why he got fundamental language. So i ask you to think about that. His friends, lionel hampton, greatest hit was called flying home. Our friend john, hes finally flying home. He made some beautiful music in the key of life. Like all great jazz musicians, coltrane, miles, charlie parker. He was not perfect and that made his achievements all the more important. [applause] and all the more meaningful. So remember that when you go home. Remember the circumstance, the action, the impact, and make your own music. God bless you, friend. Thank you. [applause] next, i discussion o