November 24, 2017
This week, we were disheartened to learn that Congressman John Conyers, who has represented part of the Detroit metropolitan area since 1965, entered into a 2015 confidential settlement of a wrongful termination claim from a female staffer. The staffer asserted that she was fired for rebuffing Conyers’ repeated sexual advances (Source: “She Said a Powerful Congressman Harassed Her. Here’s Why You Didn’t Hear Her Story,” by Paul McLeod, and Lissandra Villa, Buzzfeed News, 11/20/17). Buzzfeed further reported that, in early 2017, a second staffer had withdrawn a complaint that Conyers had engaged in a similar pattern of behavior with her and that the Congressman’s senior staff members retaliated against her for asserting the complaint (Source: “Another Woman Accused Rep. John Conyers of Sexual Harassment in Court Filings This Year,” by Paul McLeod and Lissandra Villa, Buzzfeed News, 11/21/17). These twin revelations were followed up by attorney, Melanie Sloan, going on the record to accuse Conyers of abuse during her tenure on his staff. Sloan alleged that Conyers berated her and criticized her appearance and that when she attempted to raise the issue with Congressional leadership, she was dismissed as “mentally unstable” (Source: “Ethics lawyer says Conyers mistreated her during her years on Capitol Hill,” by Kimberly Kindy, Steve Hendrix and Michelle Ye Hee Lee, The Washington Post, 11/22/17).
These stories are graphic examples of Congress’ arcane process for addressing claims of sexual harassment and the appalling lack of transparency of that process. Congress has spent $17.2 million in the last twenty years on 264 settlements of employment law violations, which includes claims of sexual harassment, yet we have no idea if our representatives are guilty of wage and hour violations or a pervasive habit of sexually harassing female staff members (Source: “Over the Past 20 Years, Congress has paid $17.2 million in settlements,” by Phillip Bump, The Washington Post, 11/17/17).
Lost in our righteous fury over these transgressions is the fact that Buzzfeed’s original source for its Conyers scoop was Mike Cernovich. Cernovich is, in Buzzfeed’s words, a “men’s rights figure turned pro-Trump media analyst,” (Source: McLeod, Villa, Buzzfeed News, 11/20/17). Cernovich is infamous as the source of the ludicrous “Pizzagate” story accusing Hillary Clinton of running a child pornography ring out of a D.C. area pizza parlor. We should note this, not to discredit the Buzzfeed story, which was thoroughly reported and confirmed consistent with the standards of professional journalism, but to understand how the right wing will weaponize our newfound intolerance for sexual harassment and abuse against us.
The choice of Congressman John Conyers as one of the first targets for exposure is no accident. Consider his record. John Conyers is one of the founders of the Congressional Black Caucus and one of the original members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Conyers has introduced a single payer Medicare for All legislation in every session of Congress since 2003. He has introduced legislation to explore reparations for African Americans in every session since 1989. Conyers has been a member of the powerful House Judiciary Committee since being appointed as a freshman representative in 1965. None of this absolves him of responsibility for his execrable behavior. None of this suggests that Conyers is beyond reproach. It is to point out that those who seek to entrench patriarchal white supremacy will not hesitate to exploit the hypocrisy of progressive politicians who are personal Neanderthals.We need to have the cold-eyed clarity to recognize when a “champion” like Conyers is a liability who has forfeited his right to power. The loss of advocates like John Conyers is going to leave a mark, but a true commitment to democratic ideals means that no group of citizens is expendable. We cannot sacrifice women or people of color on the altar of progressive policy goals. The answer is not to enable men who advocate for equity in public, while subjugating or objectifying women in private, but to recruit progressive women of color to run for office. We should give Conyers a plaque and a gold watch, but know when it is time to move on.