The institute for policy studies hosted this 50minute event. Welcome to this historic evening to celebrate the first congressman to serve in congress for over 50 years, congressman john conyers. [applause] we thank pacifica radio and we thank cspan for being here so hundreds of thousands if not millions more across the country can share in this celebration. I am John Cavanagh, director of the institute for policy studies. My colleague, karen dolan and i , will be your moderators for tonight. We had the honor to introduce a few people who will make some remarks to celebrate congressman conyers. First, as a tribute to congressman conyers and the way he works, the way he builds strong coalitions to fight for what is right in this country, there are 19 other groups that have joined i. P. S. In honoring congressman conyers here tonight. I mention them as among the hundreds of groups that have worked with the congressman over the years, that have partnered with this man for this half century. Let me mention the 19. The naacp, the sentencing project, the nation, now celebrating its 150th anniversary, that is prejohn conyers for the nation. Peace action, National Peoples action, jobs with justice, Restaurant Opportunities Centers united friends of the earth. , Social Security works. Campaign for americas future. Progressive democrats of america, council for a livable world, alliance for justice, fund for constitutional government, win without war, Economic Policy institute, and the center for economic and policy research. [applause] it is wonderful to work with these groups. Many of their leaders are here tonight. We all salute you, congressman conyers. I want to thank the owner of eatonville, a leader in many fights championed by congressman conyers, for opening his restaurant to us tonight. We have many more people who wanted to be here. We had to cut off the list because so many people wanted to celebrate congressman conyers. You will hear more about this mans extraordinary accomplishments tonight. We put a onepage summary in front of you. That was a very hard thing to do to put that in one page, but in front of you on your table. To put this milestone in perspective, in the history of the United States, only six others have served in congress for 50 years. I have little doubt that nine years and 18 days from now, this is an invitation, on january 25, 2024, we will be gathered here once again as congressman conyers sets the record of 59 years and 22 days, surpassing the man he came to work for here in washington first, congressman john dingell, who has just retired. Put that in your calendars. That is the date. The first tribute comes from the codirector of the campaign for americas future. He is a former i. P. S. Director. Bob is out of the country. Im going to read two paragraphs from his tribute which i will then give to congressman conyers. This is from bob. Consider this. Representative conyers has been elected, reelected 25 times, in a series of nailbiters with his lowest winning percentage dropping to 77 . Even in the worst years, three out of four of his constituents wanted him back here championing their interests. Consider this as well. Representative conyers was the leading proponent and organizing force in making dr. Martin luther kings birthday a national holiday. [applause] this is bob saying this. At the time as a young radical at i. P. S. , i thought this quaint at best. Now i realize what an achievement it was. Each year across america, every family and child in school pay tribute to Extraordinary Movement leader. An African American who never held office, never amassed a fortune, never picked up a gun but roused people to march in the streets, was arrested and harassed for his beliefs, and transformed the country. The king holiday was and is a brilliant, enduring contribution to making america better. It is an incredible achievement we will celebrate next week. John conyers, of movement leader, a savvy legislator, a smart politician, a pragmatic visionary dedicated to making america better. Let us celebrate john conyers. His life, to quote langston hughes, aint been no crystal stair but he surely has climbed it to the very top. Karen and i will turn to several distinguished guests some of you have met on your way in to offer brief tributes to congressman conyers. We will end up by giving congressman conyers the floor to say a few words of his own. Since we have such a distinguished lineup, we are asking you each to try to keep your remarks to about four minutes or less if you want. Karen will give you a gentle reminder if you go over. To start with, i want to call forward to the microphone civil rights leader, now professor julian bond. [applause] julian bond was born on january 14, 1940, in nashville. He does not want all this. I invited him to Dartmouth College in the early 1970s and he came and raised hell. I want to say he has been a leader in so many different ways, both of the Southern Poverty Law Center and for many years the board chair of the naacp, and we are honored to have you with us tonight. Julian bond. Thank you. Thank you a great deal. It is a great pleasure to be here tonight. It is a tremendous pleasure to appear at an event celebrating john conyers. I first met john conyers when i campaigned for him and what i think was his First Campaign for congress of the United States. We walked up and down streets in detroit shaking hands, kissing babies, doing all the things you do. Of course, he won that election and every election since then, as you have heard. He won them by amazing margins almost as large as the margins of steve cohen in his district in memphis. It is a great pleasure to be associated with john conyers and be back here again. I was trying to write down the things that have happened in the 50 years since he entered congress and things which might happen in the 50 years we have yet to see him serve. [laughter] when he was elected to congress, there was no Voting Rights act. Had it not been for his efforts, there would not be a Voting Rights act now. [applause] and of course, his efforts now he is doing his best to make sure the Voting Rights act is put together once again and once again we will have these protections americans need so badly to enable them to go to the polls and vote. 50 years ago, there was no civil rights act. John conyers helped to shepherd that through the congress to make it possible. I could go down a long list of achievements he has helped to create, bills he has helped to pass. I have to mention his continuing appeal to the congress of the United States to pass reparations. [applause] the number supporting reparations are relatively small now, but they are larger than last year or will be larger this year than last year. They were larger last year than the year before. They were larger the year before than the year before that. Hes going to be around long enough to make sure he is there when they are signed into law by president whomever it happens to be. When i was talking to the people arranging this and they said maybe five minutes, i said what about four minutes. I wish i had said three minutes. I have so much to say about congressman conyers. He is a wonderful person, a wonderful servant. A wonderful man who represents what we all hope our congressmen would be and should be. It is my great pleasure to say hello to him thank you for what you have done. Keep it up. I know you will keep it up forever if you can. Thank you, thank you, thank you. [applause] thank you so much, julian bond. Next im going to call to the microphone our favorite members of congress and a favorite number of the other 19 groups. Like many of the others you will meet, an organizer before she was a congresswoman, and an organizer as a congresswoman. She has made a top priority with congressman conyers winning Affordable Health care for all americans. She has been a huge champion of Worker Rights across this country. We had the wonderful privilege with several of the people here, to travel through poor parts of the United States with congressman conyers, danny glover, representative shakowsky, to lift up the economic rights of ordinary people in this country. There is no greater champion i can think of than our next person. Please welcome jan schakowsky. [applause] i am so honored to be a long those of you in this room who love john, to be able to be here to just say a few loving words about him. When i was first elected to congress, that was in 1999 that i arrived here, a lot of friends would say, what is the most surprising thing that has happened to you, that you have experienced in congress . I said to them i have the privilege of serving with heroes who have changed this country in such fundamental ways. The remarkable thing is the passion they still have for the work ahead, for the jobs they do. First on that list was the great john conyers. I still feel that, john, every day, the honor of being able to serve with you knowing the great history. I just want to say that you can read his biography. You can go to wikipedia. But i want to mention what a tiger and champion he is right now in the congress. It is one thing to be there in 1965. Frankly, i am jealous. That must have been a time when almost every day there was the passage of transformative legislation that has shaped our country even today. It is not so easy now to have that kind of dedication and passion. Many of us have seen john has been a fighter when it comes to the government surveillance and leading legislation to put limits on government surveillance of all americans. John was the leader on health care for so long and still is. Singlepayer . That is john conyers. [applause] h. R. 676. We have been fighting for that. I still think we are heading in the right direction. John is now the Ranking Member and hopefully we are still going to see him as the chairman once again of the Judiciary Committee, will be leading us. This is day two of wonderful honors for john conyers. Some of you were in the room yesterday when this magnificent portrait of john conyers as former chairman of the Judiciary Committee was unveiled. A portrait that will now hang in the Judiciary Committee for generations to come to see him. That we are not ready for that. We have john right now. We are pushing forward as progressives. I think with john in the lead, we are going to make progress on Voting Rights, on civil rights on human rights. That we are going to pass an economic agenda, maybe not this cycle, but next cycle that we are all going to be proud of that will raise the wages of ordinary americans, put us back to work, and building middleclass with organized labor in the lead. I am thrilled and honored and kind of overwhelmed i have the privilege to stand before all of you. I know i am in the right room. When i saw the list of organizations, that is our progressive movement. You are our progressive movement. Be optimistic. John is still here fighting. You can continue fighting. He has been doing it for some 50 years. You have a few more years to go. Lets do it together. Thank you, john. [applause] thank you so much congresswoman shakowsky. Now i have the pleasure to introduce another hero of mine. This activist, actor, hero traveled the country with congresswoman shakowsky, john conyers, and myself with the economic bus tours in the 1990s. Moviegoers will know him from countless films from color purple to the Lethal Weapon series. The world knows him for his passion and activism. A native californian, danny was born in San Francisco, the son of james and carrie glover. He has been a leader in civil rights issues and most recently in the successful effort to free the cuban five. [applause] and to normalize relations with cuba. Please welcome to the stage mr. Danny glover. [applause] this is not a roast. [laughter] i was just thinking about how part of the family lore is that when my father was released from the army in San Francisco at the end of world war ii, he says come on, carrie my mother, we are going back to detroit. I have a job waiting in detroit. Mother said, you better find a job here. We are going nowhere. This is gods country, San Francisco. That is why i was born in San Francisco. But this might have been my congressman, really. Imagine in 1965. But i am thinking about all the things we talk about. Certainly, we have an opportunity here. Irvin jim, the secretarygeneral of south africa, some dynamic young men and women bringing new leadership to south africa. I know they will be at johns and you will have open arms because he is always bringing people together. We know car has taken a strong stand. Others have taken a strong stand on reparations. John is there. Whenever you talk about reparations, john was there talking about it, and it is resonating in brazil and everywhere in the latin american community, the idea of reparations and everything. Not only that. We talk about surveillance. John was right there particularly when it came to zambia. John was right there knocking on the door. Continued to unveil the lies and bringing truth to power. Thank you, john. [applause] before i introduce the next speaker, i want to Say Something danny just introduced. The person who came the furthest tonight to be here at this event is the leader of south africas biggest and most militant metalworkers federation, irvin jim. I would like irvin to stand and be recognized for his work. [applause] i would like to invite you all tomorrow evening, danny glover and irvin jim will lead a conversation about contemporary issues in south africa and the dynamic movements emerging and the new leaders, so please come. Now it is my pleasure to bring up here, i was going to say congressman conyers oldest friend in this year until julian bond told his story. But i want to invite up mark raskin. Mark raskin and dick barnet cofounded the institute for policy studies in 1963 as a think tank designed to speak truth to power. Prior to founding i. P. S. , mark worked as a special staffer to president kennedy. He cofounded i. P. S. One year before congressman conyers was elected. They have worked together and been dear friends ever since. One other piece i want to say about mark and about congressman conyers. You have heard about his fight on civil rights, reparation, and health care. With mark and others in this room, congressman conyers has been a leader of the out of iraq caucus, out of afghanistan caucus, going back to the out of vietnam caucus. We salute that, the diversity of his issues and pioneering work. Please welcome the i. P. S. Cofounder mark raskin. [applause] thank you. It is wonderful to be here with you. I just have a few words. There are so many memories i could share about our dear friend, john conyers. Like all of you, i have been inspired by his work to end illegal wars and on behalf of the poor and it pressed. There is only one thing he and i have in common in this room. We are among the only 50 or so living memories of nixons enemies list. [cheers and applause] nixon was totally correct as in seeing john as a threat. [laughter] he was a veteran of the korean war who became a prominent critic of the vietnam war. He went on to not only vote to impeach nixon, but over the past 50 years, he has proved to be a very dangerous threat to the forces that want to destroy or undermine our democracy. So i would like to toast my fellow members of nixons enemies, a great guardian of democracy, my great friend john conyers, who will be leading all of you in the next 50 years with the wonderful things he was able to accomplish. Thank you very much, john, our love to you. For all of its passion and all of its good, thank you. [applause] thank you, mark. Karen is going to introduce our next speaker. I just realized as he entered the room, there are three members of nixons enemies list now in the room. Karen will tell you more. Almost on cue of nixons enemies list entered congressman charles rangel. [applause] congressman rangel is a war hero and history making lawmaker. He is a Founding Member of the Congressional Black Caucus. He made history as the first African American of congress to lead the powerful ways and means committee. He is a leading advocate for it equal rights and equal opportunity. He has boosted the incomes of millions of americans with the earned income tax credit and pumped billions of dollars into a revitalization of communities across the nation. Welcome, mr. Rangel. Thank you. One of the difficulties in getting old, especially when you are 84, is how does it can a kid celebrate his 50th anniversary in the congress . Another awkward thing is when you are working side by side with someone that you dont really appreciate the courage, the work, and the contribution they are making because you see them as part of a bigger force. I never had this difficulty with john conyers because while we were looking at adam clayton powell, looking at the civil rights legislation, while we were looking at manny celler, i was looking at john conyers. Throughout all of this, the person has survived and excelled in the congress, i have never seen john conyers grab a mic. For those of us in this business, that is hard to understand. He has never been addicted to press conferences. He has never been able to say, why not me and i did the work for that. As we see the legislation passed, including a bill passed when i was chairman of the ways and means, long before there was an obama, john conyers was pushing for National Health insurance and was the leader in this nationally. And of course, i had to show that i was really on the enemies list in order to get on the Judiciary Committee when i first came down here. [laughter] unlike Barbara Jordan