Conyers’ dedication to voting rights and work on hate crimes, prison reform and slavery reparations are a constant reminder to the organization that our power and influence should be used to speak up for those who have traditionally been left voiceless in our society, and to unapologetically advocate for solutions for people who look like us. “We all have families who are longing for peace in the world and an end to the suffering caused by poverty, disease, and hunger,” he once said in a declaration for the founding of Global Families Day. “Untold numbers of our friends, our neighbors, our parents, and our children, are hoping that there is more understanding, more generosity, more genuine friendship, and more caring among people of all faiths and cultures.”
YLD Chair Nicholas Austin said, “Representative Conyers’ death – just days after the passing of Rep. Elijah Cummings – truly comes as a blow to those of us who grew up with better qualities of life thanks to his never wavering fight for better outcomes for us. It is not lost on me that we have lost two vanguards in the civil rights movement just days apart. As we continue to watch an entire generation of African-American heroes and trailblazers depart this life for the next, I am ever mindful that we have a responsibility to them and their legacies to take up the mantle of leadership and continue to blaze the trails for those who will follow in our wake, and I urge our membership to use this time of mourning to reflect on what role we play in the bigger landscape.”
