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Ian Conyers joins Arab Radio Friday to discuss Michigan’s 13th Congress race
Ian Conyers, the nephew of long serving and popular Congressman John Conyers, who retired in 2017 and creating the vacancy the 13th District seat, will join award winning Palestinian American journalist and radio talk show host on live radio on Friday July 17, 2020 on WNZK AM 690 beginning at 8 AM in Detroit.
Conyers, who ran for the 13th District vacancy in 2018, will discuss the dynamics of the contest between Brenda Jones and Rashida Tlaib who both won elections sot serve in the office in 2018. Jones won the race to complete Conyers term in office while Tlaib won the race to serve in the subsequent, current two-year term.
Many believe Tlaib, a former Michigan legislator, only won because African American voters were split in the two elections. Tlaib defeated Jones by only 900 votes. In this rematch in the Michigan Democratic Primary election on August 4, Brenda Jones and Rashida Tlaib will go head-to-head in a one-on-one battle that observers have described will have surprises.
Critics have accused Tlaib of seeking personal celebrity rather than rolling up her sleeves and working for the residents of the 13th Congressional District, which is nearly 70 percent African American and was represented by Conyers, an African American who served in Congress from 1965 until his retirement.
Ian Kyle Conyers (born October 28, 1988) is an American politician who is the youngest state Senator in Michigan history. represented the Detroit Lincoln Park South Gate and Alen Park in the Michigan Senate for one term. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Conyers sat on the Economic Development & International Investment, Energy & Technology, and Banking & Financial Services Committees in the State Senate. He was minority vice chair of the Transportation Committee.
He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi and a Masters graduate of Georgetown University .
Conyers and all three of the other candidates who were also in the race to fill the new, current term, have since endorsed Jones in the upcoming election. Between them, the four candidates, Conyers, Bill Wild, Coleman Young II and Shanelle Jackson received a combined 34,499 votes. In the crucial full term battle, Tlaib led Jones by a vote of only 27,841 to 26,941, a difference of only 900 votes.
Tlaib has been also criticized from inside the Arab American community, Despite her image as a champion for Palestinian rights, a critic of the conservative right and President Donald Trump, Tlaib has also engaged in internal community politics that has been divisive.
Ray Hanania was targeted by Tlaib in 2105 because Hanania, a syndicated columnist at the time, was a friend of Imad Hamad the former head of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Hamad and Tlaib had a controversial fight over their roles at ADC.
“I was not involved and yet Tlaib because very personal in email attacks and criticism, back before she wa sa congresswoman,” Hanania said.
“Despite those issues, I have repeatedly reached out to Tlaib to interview her on radio and to interview her for news stories on major issues and she and her staff have refused. Tlaib has also blocked me preventing me from following her social media, which is her choice but only reflects the troublesome conduct that has fueled dividing the Arab community.”
Jones apparel on the radio show without conditions last week and Hanania said he is proud to have Conyers, a former Michigan Legislator, to join the radio show.
“Ian Conyers has a lot to say and I an privileged that he feels he can share that with me on the radio show Friday morning July 17 on WNZK AM 690,” Hanania said.
“The door remains open for Tlaib to set aside her pettiness and allow me to interview her..
Hanania’s family originates from Jerusalem and Bethlehem in occupied Palestine where the family lost much land in Jerusalem and continues till this day to fight for land blocked in and denied to the family adjacent to the illegal settlement of Gilo.
Hanania has covered American politics for more than 45 years including 17 years as the Chicago City Hall Reporter covering Mayors Richard J. Daley, Michael A. Bilandic, Jane M. Byrne, Harold Washington, Eugene Sawyer and Richard M. Daley. The only Chicago mayor who has refuse to allow Hanania an interview, similar to Tlaib, is controversial former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The radio podcast and the story about the interview will be posted her following the interview.
If you are not in the Greater Detroit region, you can listen to the radio show live at 8 AM EST (7 AM Chicago, 3 PM Jerusalem) by using one of these links.
https://www.radio.net/s/usarabradio
Click here to listen to the interview July 10 with Brenda Jones.
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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
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