Leadership Malpractice: John Conyers Resignation Is 50 Years Too Late

By Larry Elder Rep. John Conyers D-Mich. hospitalized for an undefined stress-related illness announced his retirement after serving more than 50 years in the House. Two other Conyers -- a son and a great-nephew -- immediately announced plans to vie for the elder Conyers seat. The great-nephew said His doctor advised him that the rigor of another campaign would be too much for him just in terms of his health. Despite his sudden retirement Conyers vehemently denies all accusations that he ever committed sexual harassment. My legacy cant be compromised or diminished in any way by what we are going through now Conyers said in a radio interview from the hospital. This too shall pass. My legacy will continue through my children. One former aide describes how the congressman who was driving while she was in the passenger seat attempted to fondle her: He was trying to feel me up with his right hand. I kept pushing his hand away. Then he put his hand on my neck and started trying to tickle me. We were on I-75 and he was driving erratically. I was saved by the bell because we got pulled over by the police for the way he was driving. Another former staffer claimed that Conyers would sit close to (her) while stroking and rubbing (her) thighs and that once while she was at Conyers home he came out of the bathroom completely naked. After initially defending Conyers as an icon House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi D-Calif. called for Conyers to resign. Her call for his resignation however came 50 years too late. For what has Conyers a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus achieved in his over half-century of service? Every two years since 1989 Conyers has introduced a bill for reparations for slavery. It has never gotten out of committee. This blacks-are-owed-something-because-of-slavery mindset is dangerous and counterproductive. It is this mindset that is the basis for affirmative action or race-based preferences. While affirmative action to achieve diversity is now a staple on college campuses some warned about its unintended negative consequences. Archie Epps was one. He served as one of Harvards first black deans. He criticized Harvard for admitting unqualified black students and warned the school as early as the late 60s about the perils of admitting scholastically unqualified students to achieve diversity. Epps predicted that lowered standards for incoming black students would lead to a higher dropout rate precisely what has happened. Similarly Judge Macklin Fleming a former Yale graduate wrote a letter in 1969 warning the dean of Yale Law School about its new quota policy which guaranteed that 10 percent of each entering class would be composed of black students. Fleming predicted that minority groups that outperform relative to blacks such as Asian-Americans would be penalized in favor of lesser-qualified minorities. He predicted that those admitted with lower standards would struggle academically. The students Fleming predicted would make demands for watered-down courses or would accuse racist professors of giving them poor grades. All of this he argued would create a supposition that minorities are not as competent as non-minorities. Their degrees would be viewed with suspicion. Conyers supports race-based preferences. Yet in 2000 The Detroit News evaluated the affirmative action programs of seven colleges and universities in Michigan. They reported: Among black students who were freshmen in 1994 just 40 percent got their diplomas after six years compared to 61 percent of white students and 74 percent of Asians. ... Universities knowingly admit students who have a high chance of failing. ... The 10 years worth of data analyzed by The News shows that the more selective a university is in choosing its students the more likely its students are to graduate. One history professor even said: Were throwing them out after taking their money and theyre getting nothing out of it. Were mugging (the majority) of them taking their money taking their dignity. I feel like I am participating in a vast criminal conspiracy. Conyers opposes school vouchers which would allow the money for education to follow the student rather than the other way around. In Detroit the average urban high school student reads several grades below grade level. Urban parents want vouchers so they can send their child to a private or parochial school and not to the underperforming public school chosen by government. Conyers opposes the privatization of Social Security. The libertarian think tank CATO Institute calculates that because blacks die at a younger age there is a net transfer of about $10000 from black workers to non-black workers. Conyers does not understand the connection between the welfare state and the demise of the nuclear black family. In 1965 25 percent of black babies were born to unmarried mothers. Fifty years later and over $22 trillion spent on the War on Poverty and now 72 percent of black kids are born out of wedlock. Conyers indifference about open borders allows unskilled illegal workers to compete for urban jobs and puts downward pressure on wages. It is long past time for Conyers to pack up his race cards and call it a career.