KILPATRICK and some of his supporters see themselves in that light. They believe what his New York spokesperson said about his prosecution — that it is a replay of apartheid in South Africa. No matter how desecrating that description can be to the legacy of Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and other giants of the movement against apartheid, there are still some who believe that Kilpatrick and his team are being lynched for helping Black people.
Others have made the unconvincing argument that the punishment faced by his administration was an assault on Black power. They claim that former mayor Coleman Young faced similar persecution. But Kilpatrick is not Mayor Young. Young was a Black leader who took over Detroit less than six years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Despite his flaws, he fought to tear down the walls of racism that were institutionalized in city government. One of which was to vigorously and fully integrate the police and fire departments.
It is important to note that Mayor Young came out of a generation of civil rights leaders and activists who experienced the trauma of Jim Crow and dedicated their political lives to ending the stench of racism that was blatant in the ’50s,’60s and ’70s. And in using the office of mayor to leverage and confront inequality, that was a signature of Detroit at the time, Young personified that struggle. In fact, Kilpatrick is a beneficiary of the positive changes made possible by the battle that Young and others waged.
As a member of the Joshua generation, Kilpatrick was historically and morally obligated to use the power of the mayor’s office to take care of the city and its people, just as he vowed when he took the oath of office. There isn’t much to define Kilpatrick as the personification of Black power understood in the context of the Young era.
As someone who covered his administration, I see him as a Black elected official who was smart, charismatic, persuasive and talked about his love for the city. He used his upbringing in the Shrine of the Black Madonna as an example of his life mission to fight for Black interests. Yet when the Association of African American Contractors during his first term needed him at a conference, he placed his trip to Dubai with a group of Arab-American businesses ahead of them. I remember how enraged those Black businessmen and women were that the mayor would put their issue on the back burner.
Lest we forget, despite the overwhelming support of City Council, his administration dismissed “African Town,” a proposed cultural and business district by calling it unconstitutional without consulting a constitutional expert. And when Robert Sedler, a respected White constitutional scholar, declared “African Town” was legal, the Kilpatrick administration did little to move the project forward.
As the Kilpatrick administration began to crumble, it was powerful White businessmen who came to his rescue with thousands of dollars. The exchange of dollars between Kilpatrick and the businessmen marked the insatiable political intercouse between wealth worshipping members of the economic class and the politically governing class in Detroit.
So to use Kilpatrick as a metaphor for Black leadership being destroyed in a highly publicized fraud and corruption probe where Blacks are the majority victims is a hard sell.
We never explored what Kilpatrick did for those powerful White men in exchange for the thousands of dollars he and his family received.
To his credit, Kilpatrick did work for neighborhood development and other projects. He was a skillful negotiator and knew how to represent Detroit well.
If Detroit needed an advocate they found it in him, despite the fact that some of the things he did were contrary to what an advocate would be expected to do.
Some believe that he would have been the best person to make the case for support of the auto industry in Washington during the bailout debate.
His former top deputy, Kandia Milton, and his brother, Dedan, are being sentenced this week for their role in a bribery scandal they admitted to involving sale of city property. His close confidante, Derrick Miller, has been reported to have allegedly misused millions in Homeland Security funding for Detroit
The Milton brothers will now face the consequence of blatant power abuse. These individuals share a similar political background with Kilpatrick with the Shrine of the Black Madonna, serving as the bedrock of values during their formative years.
That institution espouses Black political participation, the values of honesty and integrity.
MAYBE ONE day we will know the true story from the players in the Kilpatrick administration about what really happened.
The 19 counts of federal indictment for fraud and tax evasion against Kilpatrick does not dismiss his right to a fair trial and that he is innocent until proven guilty as dictated by the rule of law.
Yet power, according to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, is the great aphrodisiac. And those who are drunk with power exerting it unjustly and dishonestly will find themselves accounting for it someday.
Last week on “The Craig Fahle Show” on WDET-101.9FM, a caller defending Kilpatrick tried to explain his theory of what is taking place, and even had the audacity to link the federal probe of the Kilpatrick administration to President Barack Obama.
Not only was I taken aback, I was shocked that someone would dare to invoke President Obama’s name in this political scandal unraveling in Detroit.
When I tried to question the subterfuge, the caller reminded me that he had a political science degree and knew what he was talking about. He obviously forgot that what is happening right now in the city is political science in action. It would make a great project for students of political science and anyone who is interested in a career in politics and what political power means.
I recalled seven years ago at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History when the former mayor asked, “Can I get a good word from a brother?” to which I replied, “Give me something good to write about.”
Watch senior editor Bankole Thompson’s weekly show, “Center Stage,” on WADL TV 38, Saturdays at 1 p.m. This Saturday, July 3 will feature a discussion with Andrea Adams, Ebere Azuma and Austin Black, three young innovative leaders giving Detroit a new face. Jonathan Kinloch, Renette Jackson and Vince Keenan will form the political strategy team to discuss and analyze the upcoming district races in Detroit. E-mail bthompson@michronicle.com
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