Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick lashed out at his opponents and the news media Tuesday night, accusing them of showing a "lynch mob mentality" in the aftermath of the scandal over his exchange of sexually explicit text messages with a former top aide.Well then. Of course, lynch mobs attacked people simply for being black, so I can only assume this is what Kwame Kilpatrick wishes to claim happened to him. He might consider that it could have something to do with the corruption and perjury charges he seems clearly to be guilt of.
Kilpatrick, who is black, said he and his family have been subjected to racial slurs, as well as threats.
"In the past three days, I've received more death threats than I have in my entire administration," he said. "I've heard these words before, but I've never heard them said about my wife and children," he continued, his voice rising as he wagged his fingers and gestured with his arms.
"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."Well, geez, no one who has received death threats should resign from the office of the mayor! Okay, more seriously, I understand that receiving death threats and racial slurs is terrible and frightening for a man with a family. And there's no serious observer of the mayor's situation that would condone those actions, including myself. But being threatened with death doesn't really absolve one from serious criminal charges. Neither does being called nasty names. And do finger-wagging and accusations of illegality really befit a man with as many ethical and legal lapses as Kwame? (Note, too, the final sentence, and remember that a mentality can never be illegal--not even those of the lynch-mob variety. Although REAL lynch mobs are correctly illegal.)
Kilpatrick said future mayors "will remember this as a time when we thought not only about us, but about the future -- a time that we put aside divisions and found a new hour of healing and hopefulness in which we joined together to transform the city that we all love."There's no real story here. Kilpatrick wants people to forget, frankly. But he broke the law in a serious way, and he needs to go. Not, of course, that most Detroit officials differ substantially in their approach to their positions; but Kwame got caught, and if Detroit needs anything, it is a display of backbone in enforcing the law.
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