Keith Naughton, Newsweek, March 13, 2008
{snip} At the end of an otherwise routine state-of-the-city speech Tuesday night, [Detroit’s embattled mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick] went off on a racially explosive tirade against his critics and the media.
“In the past 30 days I’ve been called a n——- more than any time in my entire life,” he told a cheering, invitation-only crowd of 1,500 at Detroit’s gilded Orchestra Hall. “In the past three days I’ve received more death threats than I have in my entire administration. I’ve heard these words, but I’ve never heard people say them about my wife and children. I have to say this, because it’s very personal to me.” {snip}
An African-American man might be making a serious run at the White House, but here in Motown the old-school politics of race still define this struggling city. Census data show this is the most racially divided urban center in America, with 81 percent of the city black and a roughly equal percentage of the surrounding suburbs white. Politicians on both sides of Detroit’s cultural fault line—the 8 Mile Road made famous by Eminem—have stoked racial fears for decades in order to get elected and stay in power. {snip}
. . . Now Kilpatrick, 37, is fighting for his political life as he faces the prospect of perjury charges—a felony punishable by 15-years in jail—for what many people now believe was lying under oath about an illicit affair with his then-chief of staff, Christine Beatty. Last summer, while testifying in a whistleblower lawsuit brought by two Detroit cops, Kilpatrick and Beatty vehemently denied they were lovers and that they had fired the cops for investigating the mayor’s security detail, which could have revealed their clandestine relationship. Then the Detroit Free Press in January unearthed text messages that contradicted their sworn testimony. (Example: “I need you soooo bad,” Kilpatrick texted Beatty on his city-issued pager in 2002. “I want to wake up in the morning and you are there.”) Since then, court documents have become public—despite Kilpatrick’s efforts to keep them sealed—that disclose a secret deal the mayor cut last fall to settle the whistleblower suit in exchange for destroying the incriminating text messages, which mysteriously never came out at trial. The settlement cost Detroit taxpayers $9 million.
Kilpatrick’s strategy for survival initially followed a familiar narrative arc. {snip} Kilpatrick also embraced the Almighty, whom he said was “whipping” him for his transgression but had “ordained” him to be the mayor of Detroit. “I believe I’m on an assignment from God,” he told local radio station WMXD.
Then his tone turned tough. First there was the unsuccessful court battle over the lawsuit settlement, which went all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court. More recently Kilpatrick hired an A-list legal and PR team known for defending high-profile political figures. He lawyered up with Chicago defense attorney Daniel Webb, who represented former Illinois governor George Ryan in the racketeering trial he lost last year. (Kilpatrick has already indicated a willingness to fight any charges, with Detroit’s general counsel, Sharon McPhail, arguing there isn’t a strong enough case to prove perjury.) Kilpatrick also brought in Washington PR pro Judy Smith, who represented Monica Lewinsky and provided counsel to Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearings, when he famously accused his critics of engaging in a “high-tech lynching.”
{snip}
Will it work? One former Kilpatrick adviser sure doesn’t think so. “The mayor engaged in the most repulsive form of race baiting I’ve seen in 30 years of political consulting,” said veteran Detroit political operative Sam Riddle, who worked on Kilpatrick’s 2005 re-election. “That was no ad-lib. That was a calculated move to pimp the emotions of Detroit so he can build a political base predicted on the politics of race. But it won’t work. Detroit is fed up with this guy. They know he used their money to cover up the text messages, and they know he lied on the stand. He ought to man up like Eliot Spitzer and resign.” Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, a Republican, Wednesday called on Kilpatrick to resign after condemning his speech as “race baiting on par with David Duke and George Wallace.”
{snip}
The businessmen weren’t the only ones raising concerns. African-American commentators in Detroit’s local media scorned Kilpatrick’s racial remarks. “The shameful, divisive words he used to draw false lines between those who want him to own up and those he expects to give him a pass will serve only to prolong the agony in this community,” wrote Detroit Free Press columnist Stephen Henderson. “His words represent the height of irresponsibility, and seeped into gross negligence.”
But for Kilpatrick, media attacks like that will only serve to strengthen his case with his base. Decades of divisive politics in Detroit have conditioned voters on both sides of 8 Mile to believe that each is out to get the other. That’s why white suburbanites boast about how many years it has been since they’ve visited the city. And it’s why Kilpatrick finds an accepting audience for his accusations of bigotry. “Using the N word was part of the necessary pandering he had to make to his voters,” said Detroit political consultant Eric Foster. “He’s telling his base, ‘The white media and the white folks are attacking your black mayor, and I need you to rally around me’.”
{snip}
Original article
(Posted on March 13, 2008)
Comments
No big deal, Everybody still breathing knew this poor slob would yell racism at some point. Thing is though, he’ll get away with it.
Tom Iron…
Posted by Tom Iron... at 6:23 PM on March 13
“Decades of divisive politics in Detroit have conditioned voters on both sides of 8 Mile to believe that each is out to get the other. That’s why white suburbanites boast about how many years it has been since they’ve visited the city.”
Ditto Philadelphia, which is now, too, a filthy crime ridden dung heap. Coincidentally, I was talking to a friend today telling him that it’s been years since I stepped inside the boundry of the city where I grew up, the city where all the bruthas love each other every day and every night — with gunfire.
At one point in the not too distant past Philadelphia was the country’s fourth largest city by population with somewhere around two and a half million people. In the past twenty years the city has lost one million people — one million!
Why? For the simple reason that as the city’s black population has increased, the white one has decreased. And that for the simple incontrovertable reason: White people simply do not want to live with black people. Period.
Posted by White, Jewish, and Proud at 6:58 PM on March 13
Ex-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, at least had the stones to resign his position. Kilpatrick, predictably, is saying people are out to “lynch” him. This only goes to show that blacks accept as normal and routine, actions that (most)Caucasians would find repugnant. The gulf between Caucasians and b;acls is wider than the Gulf of Mexico, and getting wider.
How is the election of Obama supposed to correct all this and bring us together? Does anyone expect Kilpatrick and Spitzer to join hands and sing “Kumbaya”?
Posted by Soprano Fan at 7:11 PM on March 13
Kwame Kilpatrick is an excellent example of why Africa is Africa and America is America.
I can actually hear African bongo drums and singing while I read this story. Which tell me that “Kwame Is Leader #1.”
Although I have to admit that Kwame still has some work to do if he ever wants to replace Marion Barry as the “Blackest” politician in America.
Posted by John Gaddis at 8:03 PM on March 13
If Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick had any decency, he would step down from office like Elliot Spitzer. How long do you think we’ll have to wait until he hands in his resignation?
Posted by Sardonicus at 9:07 PM on March 13
It took this long for “Big Diamond” to pull this one? Dis playa be off on his game.
Is anyone else beyond annoyed of these tactics by blacks in the hotseat? It’s like a skip on a record of the worst song in the world playing over and over and over again.
Posted by ZKR at 9:09 PM on March 13
More incitement to hate by a comrad of Obama’s racist preacher, who works overtime to urge blacks to hate whites.
So with these types, plus other politicians, Jesse, Al, and their ilk, plus all the anti-white hate rhetoric constantly bombarded by parents into small black ears day in and day out, it is no wonder that raging murders and assaults against whites occur so often in this country.
But the disgusting thing by far is the absence of anything critical of it all by the spineless white leadership, thereby giving tacit approval to black on white crimes.
It is up to us to protect ourselves.
Posted by w.r. at 9:39 PM on March 13
As usual, Every black that fails blames it on white racism, the politics of deflection. Only problem is, it’s old, very old, and most whites will only feel outraged by diatribes like this and not wring their hands with guilt like the milquetoast liberal leftists. It doesn’t seem to occur too blacks who try to use this type of intimidation that it only makes them look MORE guilty and not less. We are all responsible for our own mistakes and wrongdoings whether we are white, black, yellow, or red. Trying to put the blame on others is crude and infantile. It does not demean those you accuse, but only oneself.
Posted by at 9:54 PM on March 13
I think Kwame will survive this episode. It doesn’t matter that he lied to the jury in a case that ended up costing a bankrupt city $8 million. The old race card was pulled out the other day and will continue to be pulled out as needed until this thing blows over. Some Kwame cheerleaders were referring to Bill Clinton the other day as if Bill Clinton’s sexual transgressions somehow make it okay for Kwame to do similar things.
Kwame has a lot to lose. If he is thrown out of political office, convicted of a felony and has his law license revoked, what will he do? He’d have to make an honest living and they are not going to let that happen to him. Afterall, he is “the most charismatic politician in Michigan” according to his supporters.
Black politicans like Kwame do not like white people criticizing them and seem always to find a way to make themselves feel vindicated and even shift blame to others on top of it. Kwame’s behavioral problems are coming from within his own mind.
Posted by at 9:55 PM on March 13
Is there any question as to why Detroit
hasn’t made a decent automobile in decades?
The designs are good and they’re made with
quality parts. It’s the poor workmanship
that goes into them that has destroyed
the best of Americas automakers. I wonder
how many of those high paying assembly jobs
have been lost forever because of the poor
attitude of the black employee?
I’ll bet the Japanese and Germans have been
happy to take up the slack.
Posted by rbkxox at 10:16 PM on March 13
More tragic-comic theater from Michigan’s Lagos, Nigeria on the river. Take heart, brutha Kwame, a congressional seat awaits! You’ll be a shoo-in!
Posted by Proactive at 12:39 AM on March 14
Just another shameless black shamelessly playing the race card to deflect attention away from his own corruption and incompetence. And hasn’t Detroit just flourished under his leadership too!
Posted by at 1:22 AM on March 14
I feel very confident that this guy will survive all this and eventually be elected to the US Congress, and become a regular guest on CNN commenting on racism in America.
Posted by abc at 6:10 AM on March 14
He’s showing just what he is. A low class whining racist slob.
Posted by at 6:17 AM on March 14
“Now Kilpatrick, 37, is fighting for his political life as he faces the prospect of perjury charges—a felony punishable by 15-years in jail.”
Good let him go get a real job instead of using the government as his personal piggybank. It seems like running for office is the best way for some losers to climb up the socio-economic ladder….it is disgusting that this can happen in the US of A….it boggles my mind to see these morally corrupt individuals in positions of power…doing what they do because they “CAN”….but since they don’t get in there without being put there….I have to say the there is something wrong with the mindset of people who vote these losers into office….(sic)
Posted by Lisette at 8:32 AM on March 14
Did anyone notice how hard it is to find example of white racists?
They brought up two examples: George Wallace who died in 1998 and David Duke who has been pretty much out of the news for years.
Posted by Dennis at 9:30 AM on March 14
Who are these people who have been calling him the “n” word for the last 30 days?
He doesn’t say.
So either he is trying to protect these name callers or he made the story up.
I am guessing he made the story up.
Posted by Dennis at 9:45 AM on March 14
I cannot believe people like Kwame Kilpatrick actually hold public office. It’s a testament to what a black majority will vote for. Why would any self respecting Anglo-European vote for someone like Kwame Kilpatrick or Barak Hussein Obama.
Posted by ChiefofClanFearghus at 12:18 PM on March 14
David Duke was never a race baiter. Duke made his statements clearly and easily understood, he is a separatist, not a hater.
Black bigots ala sharpton, jackson, kwame, obama and on and on are just that: haters, racists, bigots.
Wake up people - they hate you and want you under foot. Why else would 90% of blacks vote for Obama? They would vote for any black (any black - OJ included), they just want blacks in power and you being subservient.
Duke never lied to you - never.
Posted by jdavis at 3:48 PM on March 14
Well, if one believes that there are quantifiable intellectual differences between the races (which everyone who studies such matters does), I guess that makes every informed person a racist.
This truth is, of course, reinforced by every utterance of people such as the arch-buffoon Kwame Kilpatrick.
Posted by john at 4:51 PM on March 14
Don’t Blacks understand how bad it looks when they scream racism every time things don’t go their way?
Intelligent people everywhere see through this tactic instantly.
If Obama is crying racism after Geraldine Ferraro’s comments, he’ll need a crying Beach Towel when the Republicans turn their guns on him. I heard a Rep. strategist comment on Canadian Public Radio recently that “when we get through with him, he’ll be a Muslim Terrorist Sleeper Cell Crack-Dealer Child-Molester.”
I can’t wait for THAT press conference!
Posted by dave in canada at 9:13 PM on March 14
Dave in Canada wrote:
If Obama is crying racism after Geraldine Ferraro’s comments, he’ll need a crying Beach Towel when the Republicans turn their guns on him.
“When the Republicans turn their guns on him.” Now there’s a punchline. You’re talking about the same Republican Party (including its Presidential nominee) that’s too scared to use Barack H. Obama’s middle name? The one that dismisses Obama’s links to radical black racist pastor Jeremiah Wright and his black nationalist Trinity UCC? Much less use it as a campaign issue.
Those “eight questions” that Obama whined about having to answer will be the toughest eight he gets all year.
Posted by Question Diversity at 9:22 PM on March 14
Obama is so “proud of his Islamic black heritage and his natural black father’s abandonment at Obama’s age of two “; why isn’t he not living in his black ancestrial homeland and running for president there; racism on Obama’s part ?
Posted by Michigan patriot at 10:37 PM on March 14
The only part that was missed is that of the 9 council members, that usually sit behind the mayor on stage, only 4 did during that speech. The president of the council, Ken Cockerell sat in the audience and Kwame attacked him if front of everyone for it. Ken Cockrell stated the exact things that everyone else did, he was trying to play a race card & he isn’t buying into it. He also said that it didn’t surprise him that Kwame went in that direction. Everyone in Detroit is waiting for Kwame to take responsiblity for his actions, but so far, he’s just blaming everyone else for the problems he’s caused. As Ken Cockrell said, ‘Kwame not only gives the press ammunition, he loads the gun and hands it to them!’
Posted by Chuck Hayes at 2:00 PM on March 15
‘Why? For the simple reason that as the city’s black population has increased, the white one has decreased. And that for the simple incontrovertable reason: White people simply do not want to live with black people. Period.’
Posted by White, Jewish, and Proud at 6:58 PM on March 13
WJ&P,
I too am a former Philadelphian who grew up very near the old Connie Mack Stadium, the former home of the Phillies. I saw my neighborhood go from a place where people actually slept on their front porch furniture on hot summer nights to a place where you weren’t safe to go out after dark and where you’d awaken in the morning to find your porch furniture stolen.
All the “development” going on in Center City is nothing more than a Potemkin Village done in the hope of attracting business. It’s too late. I really believe that Mike Nutter’s heart is in the right place, but it’s too late.
Posted by at 7:44 AM on March 16
Isn’t it amazing the lengths blacks will go to to avoid accepting responsibility for their actions.
Posted by at 1:16 PM on March 16
I’d like proof that Kwame has been called the N word and sent death threats. Where’s the proof?
Sounds like an effort to generate unmerited sympathy for himself.
Typical demagogue.
Posted by Citizen at 1:43 PM on March 17
David Duke should sue for false light defamation being placed in the same category as this race baiter. I have read a lot of Duke’s work and nothing remotely so crude can be found in his well thought out presentations
Posted by Mikeh at 1:57 PM on March 18
