Longtime Michigan Congressmember John Conyers Jr. has died at the age of 90. Conyers was the longest-serving African American in the history of the U.S. Congress. Throughout his five decades as a U.S. congressmember, he co-sponsored the original Voting Rights Act of 1965, and he helped found the Congressional Black Caucus. He opposed the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also pushed for Medicare for All and legislation to study reparations for slavery. He spent 15 years fighting to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a national holiday. In 2017, Conyers resigned from Congress after multiple women accused him of sexually harassing or groping them. This is Congressmember Conyers speaking on Democracy Now! in 2010 about the Out of Afghanistan Caucus, a group of lawmakers who were fighting against the escalation of the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

Rep. John Conyers: “It’s never been clear to me that through war we can bring peace, especially when we’re the invaders. We’re the ones using drones. We’re causing civilian deaths to many people who would otherwise be more friendly to us. We’re creating the terrorists. This is not being lost on most of the people in the country now.”

That was longtime Michigan Congressmember John Conyers Jr. speaking on Democracy Now! back in 2010. He died Sunday at his home in Detroit at the age of 90.