And I'm not even going to touch on how Obama let himself got caught up in self-aggrandizing radical nonsense of the church.
I'm talking about Kwame Kilpatrick, the thug mayor Detroit who was re-elected after a scandal-filled first term.
He was criticized for using city funds to lease a car for use by his family and using his city issued credit card to charge thousands of dollars worth of spa massages, extravagant dining, and expensive Moët et Chandon champagne. Kilpatrick would later pay back $9000 of the $210,000 credit card charges.[5]
By April 2005, Kilpatrick's approval rating in Detroit was sharply declining due to the scandals and a perceived lack of improvement in the city. As a result, the April 17, 2005 issue of Time Magazine listed him as one of the three worst big-city mayors in the United States.
Much like Bush who was given a second chance at fucking shit up during his first stint in office, Kwame fucked up even worse the second time around. Peep the scandals,
Red Lincoln Navigator
In 2005, WXYZ-TV reporter Steve Wilson reported that the city had entered an expensive one year lease for a luxury SUV. It was to be used to chauffeur the mayor's family. The lease was for $24,995; five dollars under the amount that would have required the approval of city council. Kilpatrick, chief of staff Christine Beatty, police chief Ella Bully-Cummings, and other members of the mayor's staff all denied that the red Lincoln Navigator was intended to be used by the mayor's wife and children. Eventually, Kilpatrick admitted the Navigator was for his family, claiming he had told the police chief that it was "too much" and to take it back.[57] Media coverage of this story was best known for a situation involving the mayor and his security team. Wilson had tracked Kilpatrick down in Washington, D.C., where he was attending a mayor's conference. When Wilson tried to question Kilpatrick about the Navigator lease, a member of the mayor's security team is seen on camera shoving Wilson against a wall.[58]
Washington D.C. Police Denies Kilpatrick After-Hours Courtesy Protection
Since 2002, the Washington D.C. police will only offer professional courtesy protection to Kilpatrick while he is conducting official business in the nation's capital. Washington police no longer provide after-hours police protection to Kilpatrick because of his inappropriate partying during past visits. Sergeant Tyrone Dodson of Washington explained by saying "we arrived at this decision because we felt that the late evening partying on the part of Mayor Kilpatrick would leave our officers stretched too thin and might result in an incident at one of the clubs." The Kilpatrick administration allege that the statements and actions of the Washington police are part a political conspiracy to ruin the mayor.[59]
Civic fund
On May 8, 2007, WXYZ reported that Kilpatrick used $8,600 from his secret Kilpatrick Civic Fund to take his wife, three sons and babysitter on a week long vacation to a five-star California resort, the La Costa Resort and Spa.[60] The fund, controlled by Kilpatrick's sister and friends, was created to improve the city of Detroit through voter education, economic empowerment and crime prevention. Tax and accounting experts said Kilpatrick's use of the fund was a violation of IRS regulations.[61] The story was also compounded after WXYZ's cameras caught Kilpatrick in a fit of rage grabbing the microphone out of the hand of reporter Ray Sayah and throwing it hard across the room such that it hit a wall, while Sayah tried to question him about the situation.
And then the shit hit the fan when he got caught perjuring himself in a text message scandal discovered by the Detroit Free Press.
Please give the Free Press a Pultizer for really getting a hold of the Dickensian aspect of the story.
After refusing to resign he played the race card and decried the "lynch mob" that was out to get him.
- "...And finally, and this may be the most talked-about part of this speech after laying out all of that, but I feel that I cannot leave this auditorium with my wife and my sons sitting there without addressing this issue. In the past 30 days I've been called a nigger more than anytime in my entire life. In the past three days I've received more death threats than I have in my entire administration. I've heard these words before 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. I don't believe that a Nielsen rating is worth the life of my children or your children. This unethical, illegal lynch mob mentality has to stop. And it's seriously time. We've never been here before. And I don't care if they cut the TV off. We've never been in a situation like this before. Where you can say anything, do anything, have no facts, no research, no nothing and you can launch a hate-driven bigoted assault on a family. I humbly ask members of council, I humbly ask the business community, I humbly ask the religious community, I humbly ask the brothers and sisters of the city of Detroit - I humbly ask that we say 'no more' together. I humbly ask that we say no more together. I love this city with every part of my being. I will continue to stay focused on building the next Detroit. God Bless you, Detroit. I love you."
Guess what Kwame. You are a nigger. In every negative sense of the word. You brought this on yourself and your family. And now he is the first sitting Mayor in Detroit to be charged with multiple felonies.
Eight charges for him and seven for the smut he perjured himself with. And it's not just the lying and the stealing.
The dude even has some shady stripper murders attached to his name.
I thought the Clay Davis storyline was secretly the best part of Season 5 of The Wire. It was so true to the story, the city and real life events. It happened in real life, it is happening now and will happen again. Clay Davis exploited the sense of black victimhood and persecution on black radio and the press and rode the wave straight to acquital.
I would pray that Kwame doesn't get the free pass Clay Davis got but over 60 Ministers in the city of Detroit have decided to pledge their unwavering support for Kwame Fitz.
This is how the community reacts after more than half a decade of this man shaming the city, cutting their budgets and using their tax dollars on whores, luxury cars and champagne as well as making it that much harder for any black politician to be respected?
By explicity condoning his shameful behavior?
About 60 Detroit ministers pledged their unwavering support for embattled Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick this afternoon.
Pastors representing multiple denominations, gathered at Corinthian Baptist Church in Hamtramck to publicize their belief that Kilpatrick deserves forgiveness and compassion.“The mayor is not standing alone,” said the Rev. E.L. Branch, pastor of Third New Hope Baptist Church in Detroit. “We’re holding him up in prayer all the way through.”
Moments before the ministers convened, Kilpatrick was arraigned in 36th District Court on eight felony counts, including perjury. The Free Press published text messages shared between Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff Christine Beatty that revealed the two lied under oath about a extramarital affair and the firing of former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown.
“We’re called to stand with him at a time of trial in his life,” said the Rev. Skip Wachsman, pastor of Genesis Lutheran Church in Detroit. “He’s not guilty of anything; he has been charged.”
Two weeks ago, the pastors' council voted 34-24 not to issue a letter calling for Kilpatrick to resign over the scandal. The council, which represents 400 clergy members, endorsed Kilpatrick's policies in his 2005 re-election bid.
Truly tragic. What to expect from an institution that foments homophobia, poor-me victimization, materialism and radical political thought that removes blacks so far from the mainstream that they can never get anything done in this society.
I was recently forced to attend a black church service where the preacher tucked his massive diamond chain piece in his shirt pocket while preaching that the congregation needed to make an extra donation for the broken boiler.
How about you pop two diamonds off your chain and buy the whole building central heating?
He also extolled the merits of 'looking good' and ordered his church to stop with the "natural hair" and go get a perm.
I wish I was making this shit up.
The Wire said it perfectly when the newspaper editor said "I feel a little more white after watching that" when Clay Davis left the court after beating all his charges.
Watching Kwame exploit black ignorance yet again has got me feeling whiter than ever.
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Funny I just finished called Kwame a nigger on an email thread. Why do these cats have no sense of history, of group identity? Do they not realize that we all pay for their foolishness as it is played out in the national media. This is not about just him and his "administration" (to use the term loosely) this is about black elected officials, black executives, black workers, everywhere who are damaged immeasurably by the actions of a few high profile idiots. He ought to be drop squaded for this. Dope post btw, nice research, im gona pass this on.
ReplyDeletegreat stuff, kwame is hands down the most corrupt in the US. he's like boss tweed and tammanny hall, which ran NY for, what, 5 decades? the stuff this guy has pulled is really ludicrous, can't wait to see it play out.
ReplyDeletehaha
ReplyDelete"Please give the Free Press a Pultizer for really getting a hold of the Dickensian aspect of the story."
Beautiful.
Also... Kilpatrick is a joke. Insightful post as always Resource, keep up the good work.
I hear the skit from Kanye's first album..."Youse a nigga and I don't mean that in no good way."
ReplyDeleteI live in Detroit, and it's like I'm living though an episode of THE WIRE every single day. Those pulpit pimps may be throwing their support around Kwame, but your average resident is sick and tired of him.
ReplyDelete(I seriously think Kwame stole his second term in office.)
It's funny about all the black ministers supporting Kilpatrick. As soon as the indictment story broke a black talk show host named Warren Ballentine fecetiously said that people in Detroit were about to get checks that said 'KKNG' on them; Kwame Kilpatrick Not Guilty and apparently that has happened.
ReplyDeleteI will disagree on the "radical political thought." Black political thought needs to be radical. Radical is how we have gotten anything done. MLK wasnt mainstream and neither was Thurgood Marshall. Mainstream is Hillary Clinton and John McCain who in particular kisses the same ass that smeared him terribly in 2000.
Barack Obama is the most Perfect Negro since Sidney Poiter's character in "Guess Who is Coming to Dinner" and the mainstream has found a way to make him "too black" so fuck the mainstream.
"And I'm not even going to touch on how Obama let himself got caught up in self-aggrandizing radical nonsense of the church."
ReplyDeleteSo much wrong with this sentence; it is ridiculous.
There is nothing "radical" about the entire incident unless by "radical" you mean "non-white".
Moreover, there is nothing self-aggrandizing about the church. The church is easily the most integral and important component of the Black community.
I am sorry you learn about Blackness by reading the news, but, please...do better.
Obama cannot expect an easy road as a black man belonging to some angry ass church where tell you AIDS is caused by the gov't and other typical black conspiracy theories.
ReplyDeleteBlacks are getting AIDS in 2008 because closet homos are spreading it to partners male and females not wearing condoms.
Regardless of how it got there.
Non-white and radical are different.
You can be non-white lover and not a raving lunatic.
The black church is a mental illness in the black community.
Pie in the sky fantasies and misplaced rage.
Classic.
ReplyDeleteA few things, though:
It’s tempting to argue that assholes like Kilpatrick make the rest of us look bad—I know that I’ve said that before—but it’s a bullshit argument. Most white people (and most black people, honestly) are going to view black people as inferior regardless. That mindset is embedded in American culture. These “niggers” (your preferred term) reinforce existing white racism; they have no real effect on white opinions and behavior; the only effect they have is to annoy decent black people by forcing us to endure white people’s smug satisfaction when a black person fucks up.
While you are right to condemn these degenerates (my preferred term), you’re ignoring the larger problem: white supremacy, which ensures that all black people have to bear the sins of the least among us, while white people have the luxury of being treated as individuals.
e.g. How many white journalists have plagiarized and/or fabricated stories? Too many to name, yet what’s the first name that comes up when white people want to discuss it? Jason Blair. And what’s the reason they give for his continued employment despite his incompetence? Yep—Affirmative Action.
About the black church:
Reverend Wright isn’t that radical; he’s squarely in line with mainstream black political thought. I think the occasional batshit conspiracy theory is part of the price we have to pay for being so (justifiably) critical of American power.
Plus, being within the mainstream of (white) American political thought isn’t anything to brag about. Remember that when mainstream white America was on the Iraq war bandwagon, these “crazy radical” black people were right about Iraq and Bush from day one.
Mainstream white America, left and right, believes that a black man critiquing American foreign policy with a blowback argument, criticizing America’s treatment toward blacks, and condemning the Israeli govt.’s policy toward Palestinians constitutes “hate speech” comparable to something you’d hear at a Klan rally. I don’t even believe in the concept of “hate speech,” but this is some bull.
I’m not religious, and I don’t go to church. There is a lot of intolerance and corruption in the black church, as there is in all churches, and you may think that it may have outlived its usefulness, but I have to at least give the black church credit for being one the few spaces where black political thought and organization regularly occurs, despite all the negatives.
One parting thought: If your goal is simply to get a safe black man in power, why don’t you throw your support behind Ward Connerly?
You know that intiial Obama line slipped past me somehow, and as I reread I started to ask you about it, only to see that someone beat me to the punch.
ReplyDeleteI think you are a little off base here HR. Let me put this out there, I'm a Marxist, and atheist, in part, because I saw the kinds of foolishness that goes on in the black church. And I think Wright making the comment about the gov't creating AIDS as a form of genocide, is irresponsible, and actually makes it more difficult to have a discussion about race (do we really need to give white people another excuse to avoid the subject? lol).
But, I think to be overly critical of Obama because his Pastor made a stupid remark is to fall into the trap thats been set for mainly white voters. Except for the HIV piece, what the Pastor has said about 9/11 and about the country being controlled by rich white people is essentially true, and his comments are really only being highlighted because they are truths that make many white people uncomfortable and Obama's opponents find that useful.
I think to characterize Obama's church as "some angry ass church" based on 4 soundbytes is to allow what are essentially race baiting tactics to win. Kind of like letting the terrorists win. :)
BTW, we see things eye to eye on the church, although I dont say things like 'The black church is a mental illness in the black community' anymore, because they really cut people deep and you end up alienating good people. No different than how the Rev. Wright ought to have been rephrasing some of the things he said.
You (the HR) shouldn't be overly critical of Obama or Wright as a black man when this media and this country is so thoroughly racist and none of these clowns are being taken to task by anyone for saying and doing far worse things.
And btw, there is absolutely nothing radical or anti-white about saying 'this country is run by rich white people ' as your segue into saying 'vote for Obama, hes not rich or white!' LOL! Shit thats just textbook pandering.
Lastly, GO14 is correct. Black politics ought to be radical, mainstream politics only got us gains when there was a fear that radicalism was gaining a foothold.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"Blacks are getting AIDS in 2008 because closet homos are spreading it to partners male and females not wearing condoms."
ReplyDeleteSweet Jesus. Stop watching Oprah.
"You can be non-white lover and not a raving lunatic."
The problem is that Pastor Wright is not a raving lunatic. His beliefs are pretty typical of elderly Black people who lived through Jim Crow, recall the Tuskegee Experiment and recognize the similarities between, say, Israel and Palestine and apartheid in South Africa.
You sound like an ungrateful such-and-such. You wouldn't even be in this country were it not for the Black church. If it were not for the Black church, there would have never been a Civil Rights movement and your parents would have had no reason to immigrate.
FYI: The reason that Kilpatrick has found any support whatsoever within the Black community is that he was charged with perjury related to a CIVIL CASE.
ReplyDeleteThat is unheard of. Witnesses lie. That is typically accepted within the civil context.
Sure, he was wrong and is shaming Black people, but that does not mean that he is not being railroaded and that does not mean he is not a victim of racism.
People are standing up for him for the same reason they stood up for the Jena Six Coons.
People are standing up for him for the same reason they stand up for Black murderers sentenced to death.
The judicial system is treating these people--in the wrong or no--unfairly. And, you had better believe that should you ever be caught up in the system--by your own fault or by happenstance--you will be treated unfairly, too.
From Detroit...
ReplyDeleteI personally know people in the Detroit's police and fire department who have talked about this man’s philandering and criminal behavior for years. During the last election his people were caught voting absentee ballots of mentally incompetent people. It was on the news and much more. When the text messages recently came out the police department was heard cheering throughout the city. The next day all televisions and personal radios were removed as a punishment to the officers by the city. The city for years and years has refused to address unsafe conditions for firefighters and the city. They have broken OSHA rules day after day with little consequence. Whenever individuals in the fire department in frustration have leaked things to the media, they have subjected to weeks of inspections and write ups. Don’t forget these perjury charges are from a whistle blower trial. This is NOT a black thing! While I know that black people have been subjected to all levels of injustice and brutality, this is not that! This is corruption in its purest form. It should not be tolerated no mater what skin it’s wrapped in. The sooner he is removed from any position of power the better. As citizen of this country, we should not allow this type of behavior from any polititian!