Trajan12
Deity
Priceless
What Prompted the Debate
What Prompted the Debate
DETROIT -- When Monica Conyers, president pro tem of Detroit's City Council, called the council president "Shrek" during an angry exchange at a hearing in April, one city resident found the remark immature.
"That's something a second-grader would do," says 13-year-old Keiara Bell.
During a panel discussion Ms. Conyers had with local schoolchildren two weeks after making the remark, Miss Bell admonished the 43-year-old Ms. Conyers for her behavior. The eighth-grader didn't back down when the councilwoman engaged her in debate.
Ms. Conyers was peppered with questions by Miss Bell, who said, "You're an adult. We have to look up to you. We're looking on TV and we're like, 'This is an adult calling another adult a Shrek?'"
Ms. Conyers is the wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., the chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary. She declined to comment for this story, but her chief of staff, Linda Bernard, says Ms. Conyers believes she is "being targeted by the press" because "her husband was recently in New York City and is considering having hearings about police brutality."
In Miss Bell, Motown has found an unlikely folk hero: a child demanding that politicians exercise civility and restraint. Her parents, Marsha and Harry Bell, say they are proud of their daughter's poise and grit. "That's my baby," says Mrs. Bell in an interview. The mother of four sells candy in Detroit neighborhoods from the trunk of an old gray Cadillac.
The Detroit News, which convened the panel, posted video of the discussion online, and it has been viewed more than 107,000 times on YouTube. Miss Bell has been featured on local news broadcasts. People in Ohio, Georgia and New York have sent congratulatory letters to her school. Michigan State Sen. Irma Clark-Coleman came to Miss Bell's school to present her with a personal letter and a certificate honoring her "eloquent oratorical skills." And Sam Riddle, the panel's moderator and Ms. Conyers's former chief of staff and current political adviser, said he is hoping to draft her into politics. As soon as the debate concluded, Mr. Riddle says he told Miss Bell, "When you get ready to run for office, I'll be managing your first campaign, pro bono."
Miss Bell says she is unsure about pursuing a career in politics, because "you have to be on your p's and q's all the time and your life is like an open notebook." But she is pleased that she has provoked a discussion about etiquette in public life. Leaders in Detroit "need to know that it's important to behave like an adult," she says.
Her battle cry comes as some of the city's most powerful officials are entangled in scandal. On March 24, Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick was indicted on charges of perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice after text-message interchanges with an aide allegedly suggested he had lied under oath in a lawsuit against him and the city. The Detroit City Council voted last week to begin proceedings to remove the mayor from office. Chris Garrett, a spokesman for Mr. Kilpatrick's legal team, says the mayor "is confident that the full airing of all the facts in this case will result in his full and complete vindication."
Miss Bell, too, believes the mayor should go. "He refuses to stand up and be a man and apologize," she says.
[Keiara Bell]
The eighth-grader attends Courtis Elementary/Middle School. The public school, located in a decaying neighborhood dotted with abandoned houses, enforces a strict dress code -- collared shirts must be tucked into dark pants, and jeans aren't allowed. At the beginning of each day, the student body recites a nine-paragraph "affirmation" that begins, "I am a positive force in this world. I am courteous, kind, respectful and smart. Oh well, I may even be brilliant."
Studying the Scandal
In her civics and social-studies classes, she has been studying the scandal involving the mayor. Miss Bell tends to fidget in her chair. But she's a diligent student who raises her hand frequently and ranks at the top of her class. One night this month, she stayed up until 10 completing a report that cited 88 facts about local politics.
In school, Miss Bell also has kept up with incidents involving Ms. Conyers, who as council president pro tem is third in line to be mayor. In February, at a meeting of pension trustees for the city's General Retirement System, Ms. Conyers got into an argument with DeDan Milton, a fellow trustee and an aide to Mr. Kilpatrick. According to a police report filed by Mr. Milton, Ms. Conyers threatened to have her brothers beat him up and to "shoot [Mr. Milton] with her gun." Ms. Conyers filed her own police report, alleging that Mr. Milton "spoke to her in a threatening manner" and that she "verbally defended herself."
Both parties withdrew their complaints in March. Ms. Bernard, Ms. Conyers's chief of staff, says that Ms. Conyers doesn't own a gun and that her comment was taken out of context. "What she said was, 'I have a bigger gun than you,' and that was a reference to her husband," the congressman, says Ms. Bernard. Through Mr. Kilpatrick's spokesman, Mr. Milton declined to comment.
About two months later, on April 11, came the Shrek incident. During a video-recorded council hearing to discuss a police whistle-blower lawsuit, Ms. Conyers repeatedly interrupted City Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr., as he tried to question a witness. Mr. Cockrel began banging his gavel, calling for Ms. Conyers to be quiet while he had the floor. The video shows she shouted at him: "You not my daddy, you do that at home, not here. OK? Exactly. So treat me with respect because I'm tired of that. Be respectful. You may not do that at home but you gonna do it up here. Grow up. Control your house and you know how to treat other women better...Shrek."
Mr. Cockrel, as it happens, is bald, as is the big green ogre in the Shrek movies.
"Shrek?" asked Mr. Cockrel. "I will call this to adjourn!"
Ms. Bernard says Ms. Conyers "was provoked by being repeatedly interrupted when she had the floor and she was frustrated." Reached for comment, Mr. Cockrel said the video of the scene with Ms. Conyers speaks for itself. Of young Miss Bell, he added, "I think she is awesome, just like a whole lot of folks do."
Student Panel
A few weeks later, a Detroit News employee who is the daughter of a Courtis teacher contacted principal Walter Stokely about getting a panel of students to ask Ms. Conyers questions. The principal and a teacher took the students through a mock discussion to prepare. "I played Monica Conyers," says Mr. Stokely.
According to a video of the actual discussion, Ms. Conyers told Miss Bell that she found Mr. Cockrel's behavior disrespectful. Miss Bell said, "But you didn't have to call him a name."
"But now you're telling me what I should have and should not have done," said Ms. Conyers.
"You're an adult. You have that choice," said Miss Bell.
"I'm what?" said Ms. Conyers.
"You're an adult," said Miss Bell. "You had that choice....Sometimes people need to think before they act."
After the Detroit News posted the video on its Web sites, Ms. Conyers invited the Courtis students back to the municipal building, where she awarded them with "Spirit of Detroit" citations.
Miss Bell says she has learned a lot in the past month. For one, she says, "an experience like this can turn a girl into a young lady."
